Dataset Information

Biocomplexity in a highly migratory pelagic marine fish, Atlantic herring.

ABSTRACT: The existence of biologically differentiated populations has been credited with a major role in conferring sustainability and in buffering overall productivity of anadromous fish population complexes where evidence for spatial structure is uncontroversial. Here, we describe evidence of correlated genetic and life history (spawning season linked to spawning location) differentiation in an abundant and highly migratory pelagic fish, Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus, in the North Sea (NS) and adjacent areas. The existence of genetically and phenotypically diverse stocks in this region despite intense seasonal mixing strongly implicates natal homing in this species. Based on information from genetic markers and otolith morphology, we estimate the proportional contribution by NS, Skagerrak (SKG) and Kattegat and western Baltic (WBS) fish to mixed aggregations targeted by the NS fishery. We use these estimates to identify spatial and temporal differences in life history (migratory behaviour) and habitat use among genetically differentiated migratory populations that mix seasonally. Our study suggests the existence of more complex patterns of intraspecific diversity than was previously recognized. Sustainability may be compromised if such complex patterns are reduced through generalized management (e.g. area closures) that overlooks population differences in spatial use throughout the life cycle.

SUBMITTER: Ruzzante DE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1560315 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Biocomplexity in a highly migratory pelagic marine fish, Atlantic herring.

Ruzzante Daniel E DE Mariani Stefano S Bekkevold Dorte D André Carl C Mosegaard Henrik H Clausen Lotte A W LA Dahlgren Thomas G TG Hutchinson William F WF Hatfield Emma M C EM Torstensen Else E Brigham Jennifer J Simmonds E John EJ Laikre Linda L Larsson Lena C LC Stet René J M RJ Ryman Nils N Carvalho Gary R GR

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20060601 1593

The existence of biologically differentiated populations has been credited with a major role in conferring sustainability and in buffering overall productivity of anadromous fish population complexes where evidence for spatial structure is uncontroversial. Here, we describe evidence of correlated genetic and life history (spawning season linked to spawning location) differentiation in an abundant and highly migratory pelagic fish, Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus, in the North Sea (NS) and adja ...[more]

PMID: 16777738

Similar Datasets

Project description:During the last 20 years, a series of studies has suggested trends of increasing jellyfish (Cnidaria and Ctenophora) biomass in several major ecosystems worldwide. Some of these systems have been heavily fished, causing a decline among their historically dominant small pelagic fish stocks, or have experienced environmental shifts favouring jellyfish proliferation. Apparent reduction in fish abundance alongside increasing jellyfish abundance has led to hypotheses suggesting that jellyfish in these areas could be replacing small planktivorous fish through resource competition and/or through predation on early life stages of fish. In this study, we test these hypotheses using extended and published data of jellyfish, small pelagic fish and crustacean zooplankton biomass from four major ecosystems within the period of 1960 to 2014: the Southeastern Bering Sea, the Black Sea, the Northern California Current and the Northern Benguela. Except for a negative association between jellyfish and crustacean zooplankton in the Black Sea, we found no evidence of jellyfish biomass being related to the biomass of small pelagic fish nor to a common crustacean zooplankton resource. Calculations of the energy requirements of small pelagic fish and jellyfish stocks in the most recent years suggest that fish predation on crustacean zooplankton is 2-30 times higher than jellyfish predation, depending on ecosystem. However, compared with available historical data in the Southeastern Bering Sea and the Black Sea, it is evident that jellyfish have increased their share of the common resource, and that jellyfish can account for up to 30% of the combined fish-jellyfish energy consumption. We conclude that the best available time-series data do not suggest that jellyfish are outcompeting, or have replaced, small pelagic fish on a regional scale in any of the four investigated ecosystems. However, further clarification of the role of jellyfish requires higher-resolution spatial, temporal and taxonomic sampling of the pelagic community.

Project description:The present study uses bioenergetics modeling to estimate the annual consumption of the main zooplankton groups by some of the most commercially important planktivorous fish stocks in the Northeast Atlantic, namely Norwegian spring-spawning (NSS) herring (Clupea harengus), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) and NEA mackerel (Scomber scombrus). The data was obtained from scientific surveys in the main feeding area (Norwegian Sea) in the period 2005-2010. By incorporating novel information about ambient temperature, seasonal growth and changes in the diet from stomach content analyses, annual consumption of the different zooplankton groups by pelagic fish is estimated. The present study estimates higher consumption estimates than previous studies for the three species and suggests that fish might have a greater impact on the zooplankton community as foragers. This way, NEA mackerel, showing the highest daily consumption rates, and NSS herring, annually consume around 10 times their total biomass, whereas blue whiting consume about 6 times their biomass in zooplankton. The three species were estimated to consume an average of 135 million (M) tonnes of zooplankton each year, consisting of 53-85 M tonnes of copepods, 20-32 M tonnes of krill, 8-42 M tonnes of appendicularians and 0.2-1.2 M tonnes of fish, depending on the year. For NSS herring and NEA mackerel the main prey groups are calanoids and appendicularians, showing a peak in consumption during June and June-July, respectively, and suggesting high potential for inter-specific feeding competition between these species. In contrast, blue whiting maintain a low consumption rate from April to September, consuming mainly larger euphausiids. Our results suggest that the three species can coexist regardless of their high abundance, zooplankton consumption rates and overlapping diet. Accordingly, the species might have niche segregation, as they are species specific, showing annual and inter-annual variability in total consumption of the different prey species. These estimates and their inter-annual and inter-specific variation are fundamental for understanding fundamental pelagic predator-prey interactions as well as to inform advanced multispecies ecosystem models.

Project description:The Atlantic herring Clupea harengus L has a vast geographical distribution and a complex population structure with a few very large migratory units and many small local populations. Each population has its own spawning ground and/or time, thereby maintaining their genetic integrity. Several herring populations migrate between common feeding grounds and over-wintering areas resulting in frequent mixing of populations. Thus, many herring fisheries are based on mixed populations of different demographic status. In order to avoid over-exploitation of weak populations and to conserve biodiversity, understanding the population structure and population mixing is important for maintaining biologically sustainable herring fisheries. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic population structure of herring in the Faroese and surrounding waters, and to develop genetic markers for distinguishing between four herring management units (often called stocks), namely the Norwegian spring-spawning herring (NSSH), Icelandic summer-spawning herring (ISSH), North Sea autumn-spawning herring (NSAH), and Faroese autumn-spawning herring (FASH). Herring from the four stocks were sequenced at low coverage, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were called and used for population structure analysis and individual assignment. An ancestry-informative SNP panel with 118 SNPs was developed and tested on 240 individuals. The results showed that all four stocks appeared to be genetically differentiated populations, but at lower levels of differentiation between FASH and ISSH than the other two populations. Overall assignment rate with the SNP panel was 80.7%, and agreement between the genetic and traditional visual assignment was 75.5%. The NSAH and NSSH samples had the highest assignment rate (100% and 98.3%, respectively) and highest agreement between traditional and genetic assignment methods (96.6% and 94.9%, respectively). The FASH and ISSH samples had substantially lower assignment rates (72.9% and 51.7%, respectively) and agreement between traditional and genetic methods (39.5% and 48.4%, respectively).

Dataset Information

Biocomplexity in a highly migratory pelagic marine fish, Atlantic herring.

Publications

Biocomplexity in a highly migratory pelagic marine fish, Atlantic herring.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets