Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean
Ransom A. Myers, Julia K. Baum, Travis D. Shepherd, Sean P. Powers, Charles H. Peterson
Impacts of chronic overfishing are evident in population depletions worldwide, yet indirect ecosystem effects induced by predator removal from oceanic food webs remain unpredictable.
As abundances of all 11 great sharks that consume other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) fell over the past 35 years, 12 of 14 of these prey species increased in coastal northwest Atlantic ecosystems.
Effects of this community restructuring have cascaded downward from the cownose ray, whose enhanced predation on its bay scallop prey was sufficient to terminate a century-long scallop fishery.
Analogous top-down effects may be a predictable consequence of eliminating entire functional groups of predators.
Science 30 March 2007
This is the newest and probably, also the most compelling study about the consequences of Shark overfishing. You can download the full document from the link above and we're also shortly going to post it on our website.
As abundances of all 11 great sharks that consume other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) fell over the past 35 years, 12 of 14 of these prey species increased in coastal northwest Atlantic ecosystems.
Effects of this community restructuring have cascaded downward from the cownose ray, whose enhanced predation on its bay scallop prey was sufficient to terminate a century-long scallop fishery.
Analogous top-down effects may be a predictable consequence of eliminating entire functional groups of predators.
Science 30 March 2007
This is the newest and probably, also the most compelling study about the consequences of Shark overfishing. You can download the full document from the link above and we're also shortly going to post it on our website.
1 comment:
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