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Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea

Groupers species are extremely vulnerable to overfishing and many species are threatened worldwide. In recent decades, Mediterranean groupers experienced dramatic population declines. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can protect populations inside their boundaries and provide individuals to adjacent fi...

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Autores principales: Hackradt, Carlos Werner, García-Charton, José Antonio, Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille, Pérez-Ruzafa, Ángel, Le Diréach, Laurence, Bayle-Sempere, Just, Charbonnel, Eric, Ody, Denis, Reñones, Olga, Sanchez-Jerez, Pablo, Valle, Carlos
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4048186/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24905331
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098206
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author Hackradt, Carlos Werner
García-Charton, José Antonio
Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille
Pérez-Ruzafa, Ángel
Le Diréach, Laurence
Bayle-Sempere, Just
Charbonnel, Eric
Ody, Denis
Reñones, Olga
Sanchez-Jerez, Pablo
Valle, Carlos
author_facet Hackradt, Carlos Werner
García-Charton, José Antonio
Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille
Pérez-Ruzafa, Ángel
Le Diréach, Laurence
Bayle-Sempere, Just
Charbonnel, Eric
Ody, Denis
Reñones, Olga
Sanchez-Jerez, Pablo
Valle, Carlos
author_sort Hackradt, Carlos Werner
collection PubMed
description Groupers species are extremely vulnerable to overfishing and many species are threatened worldwide. In recent decades, Mediterranean groupers experienced dramatic population declines. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can protect populations inside their boundaries and provide individuals to adjacent fishing areas through the process of spillover and larval export. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of six marine reserves in the Western Mediterranean Sea to protect the populations of three species of grouper, Epinephelus marginatus, Epinephelus costae and Mycteroperca rubra, and to understand in which circumstances MPAs are able to export biomass to neighbouring areas. All the studied MPAs, except one where no grouper was observed, were able to maintain high abundance, biomass and mean weight of groupers. Size classes were more evenly distributed inside than outside MPAs. In two reserves, biomass gradients could be detected through the boundaries of the reserve as an indication of spillover. In some cases, habitat structure appeared to exert a great influence on grouper abundance, biomass and mean individual weight, influencing the gradient shape. Because groupers are generally sedentary animals with a small home range, we suggest that biomass gradients could only occur where groupers attain sufficient abundance inside MPA limits, indicating a strongly density-dependent process.
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spelling pubmed-40481862014-06-09 Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea Hackradt, Carlos Werner García-Charton, José Antonio Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille Pérez-Ruzafa, Ángel Le Diréach, Laurence Bayle-Sempere, Just Charbonnel, Eric Ody, Denis Reñones, Olga Sanchez-Jerez, Pablo Valle, Carlos PLoS One Research Article Groupers species are extremely vulnerable to overfishing and many species are threatened worldwide. In recent decades, Mediterranean groupers experienced dramatic population declines. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can protect populations inside their boundaries and provide individuals to adjacent fishing areas through the process of spillover and larval export. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of six marine reserves in the Western Mediterranean Sea to protect the populations of three species of grouper, Epinephelus marginatus, Epinephelus costae and Mycteroperca rubra, and to understand in which circumstances MPAs are able to export biomass to neighbouring areas. All the studied MPAs, except one where no grouper was observed, were able to maintain high abundance, biomass and mean weight of groupers. Size classes were more evenly distributed inside than outside MPAs. In two reserves, biomass gradients could be detected through the boundaries of the reserve as an indication of spillover. In some cases, habitat structure appeared to exert a great influence on grouper abundance, biomass and mean individual weight, influencing the gradient shape. Because groupers are generally sedentary animals with a small home range, we suggest that biomass gradients could only occur where groupers attain sufficient abundance inside MPA limits, indicating a strongly density-dependent process. Public Library of Science 2014-06-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4048186/ /pubmed/24905331 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098206 Text en © 2014 Hackradt et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hackradt, Carlos Werner
García-Charton, José Antonio
Harmelin-Vivien, Mireille
Pérez-Ruzafa, Ángel
Le Diréach, Laurence
Bayle-Sempere, Just
Charbonnel, Eric
Ody, Denis
Reñones, Olga
Sanchez-Jerez, Pablo
Valle, Carlos
Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea
title Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea
title_full Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea
title_fullStr Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea
title_full_unstemmed Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea
title_short Response of Rocky Reef Top Predators (Serranidae: Epinephelinae) in and Around Marine Protected Areas in the Western Mediterranean Sea
title_sort response of rocky reef top predators (serranidae: epinephelinae) in and around marine protected areas in the western mediterranean sea
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4048186/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24905331
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098206
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