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Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea

Commercial fisheries have dramatically impacted elasmobranch populations worldwide. With high capture and bycatch rates, the abundance of many species is rapidly declining and around a quarter of the world’s sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. At a regional scale this negative trend has...

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Autores principales: Lauria, V., Gristina, M., Attrill, M. J., Fiorentino, F., Garofalo, G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4536484/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26272502
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep13245
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author Lauria, V.
Gristina, M.
Attrill, M. J.
Fiorentino, F.
Garofalo, G.
author_facet Lauria, V.
Gristina, M.
Attrill, M. J.
Fiorentino, F.
Garofalo, G.
author_sort Lauria, V.
collection PubMed
description Commercial fisheries have dramatically impacted elasmobranch populations worldwide. With high capture and bycatch rates, the abundance of many species is rapidly declining and around a quarter of the world’s sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. At a regional scale this negative trend has also been evidenced in the central Mediterranean Sea, where bottom-trawl fisheries have affected the biomass of certain rays (e.g. Raja clavata) and sharks (e.g. Mustelus spp.). Detailed knowledge of elasmobranch habitat requirements is essential for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management, but this is often hampered by a poor understanding of their spatial ecology. Habitat suitability models were used to investigate the habitat preference of nine elasmobranch species and their overall diversity (number of species) in relation to five environmental predictors (i.e. depth, sea surface temperature, surface salinity, slope and rugosity) in the central Mediterranean Sea. Results showed that depth, seafloor morphology and sea surface temperature were the main drivers for elasmobranch habitat suitability. Predictive distribution maps revealed different species-specific patterns of suitable habitat while high assemblage diversity was predicted in deeper offshore waters (400–800 m depth). This study helps to identify priority conservation areas and diversity hot-spots for rare and endangered elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean Sea.
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spelling pubmed-45364842015-09-04 Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea Lauria, V. Gristina, M. Attrill, M. J. Fiorentino, F. Garofalo, G. Sci Rep Article Commercial fisheries have dramatically impacted elasmobranch populations worldwide. With high capture and bycatch rates, the abundance of many species is rapidly declining and around a quarter of the world’s sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. At a regional scale this negative trend has also been evidenced in the central Mediterranean Sea, where bottom-trawl fisheries have affected the biomass of certain rays (e.g. Raja clavata) and sharks (e.g. Mustelus spp.). Detailed knowledge of elasmobranch habitat requirements is essential for biodiversity conservation and fisheries management, but this is often hampered by a poor understanding of their spatial ecology. Habitat suitability models were used to investigate the habitat preference of nine elasmobranch species and their overall diversity (number of species) in relation to five environmental predictors (i.e. depth, sea surface temperature, surface salinity, slope and rugosity) in the central Mediterranean Sea. Results showed that depth, seafloor morphology and sea surface temperature were the main drivers for elasmobranch habitat suitability. Predictive distribution maps revealed different species-specific patterns of suitable habitat while high assemblage diversity was predicted in deeper offshore waters (400–800 m depth). This study helps to identify priority conservation areas and diversity hot-spots for rare and endangered elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean Sea. Nature Publishing Group 2015-08-14 /pmc/articles/PMC4536484/ /pubmed/26272502 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep13245 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Lauria, V.
Gristina, M.
Attrill, M. J.
Fiorentino, F.
Garofalo, G.
Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea
title Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea
title_full Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea
title_fullStr Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea
title_full_unstemmed Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea
title_short Predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central Mediterranean Sea
title_sort predictive habitat suitability models to aid conservation of elasmobranch diversity in the central mediterranean sea
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4536484/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26272502
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep13245
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