Marine reserve recovery rates towards a baseline are slower for reef fish community life histories than biomass.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: McClanahan TR
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4707748 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Marine reserve recovery rates towards a baseline are slower for reef fish community life histories than biomass.
McClanahan T R TR Graham N A J NA
Proceedings. Biological sciences 20151201 1821
Ecological baselines are disappearing and it is uncertain how marine reserves, here called fisheries closures, simulate pristine communities. We tested the influence of fisheries closure age, size and compliance on recovery of community biomass and life-history metrics towards a baseline. We used census data from 324 coral reefs, including 41 protected areas ranging between 1 and 45 years of age and 0.28 and 1430 km(2), and 36 sites in a remote baseline, the Chagos Archipelago. Fish community-le ...[more]
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