Estimating sensitivity of seabed habitats to disturbance by bottom trawling based on the longevity of benthic fauna.

ABSTRACT: Bottom fishing such as trawling and dredging may pose serious risks to the seabed and benthic habitats, calling for a quantitative assessment method to evaluate the impact and guide management to develop mitigation measures. We provide a method to estimate the sensitivity of benthic habitats based on the longevity composition of the invertebrate community. We hypothesize that long-lived species are more sensitive to trawling mortality due to their lower pace of life (i.e., slower growth, late maturation). We analyze data from box-core and grab samples taken from 401 stations in the English Channel and southern North Sea to estimate the habitat-specific longevity composition of the benthic invertebrate community and of specific functional groups (i.e., suspension feeders and bioturbators),

SUBMITTER: Rijnsdorp AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6055734 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature