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Intensive fishing of marine consumers causes a dramatic shift in the benthic habitat on temperate rocky reefs

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An Erratum to this article was published on 08 January 2012

Abstract

Intensive fishing can cause dramatic, long-lasting shifts in benthic habitat. This study used three approaches to test whether overharvesting of blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra) can cause a shift in benthic habitat to a configuration that is unsuitable for abalone, on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. After 18 months of removing abalone from rocks, encrusting red algae (ERA) became overgrown by filamentous and foliose algae, sessile invertebrates and accumulated sediment. The differences in the community composition between locations, sites nested within locations and rocks were minor. Throughout the study, abalone were largely associated with areas of rock covered in ERA but avoided other habitats. A transplant experiment demonstrated that abalone preferred areas of rock covered in ERA but move away from overgrown rocks. These results suggest overharvesting of abalone results in a shift to benthic habitat poorly preferred by abalone. This could form a positive feedback loop that limits recovery of abalone populations and ERA.

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Acknowledgments

We thank those who assisted with fieldwork, particularly Ryan Downie, Richard Holmes and David Sinn. This study was part of a Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization Joint PhD Program in Quantitative Marine Science and supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award. The research was supported by Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute and Tasmanian Abalone Council grants. We thank the individuals from these organizations that participated in collecting the data. We thank the editor and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments to the manuscript and their constructive suggestions.

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Author notes

  1. Elisabeth M. A. Strain

    Present address: School of Biological Sciences, Medical Biology Centre, Queen’s University, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT71NN, UK

  2. Craig R. Johnson

    Present address: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 129, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Zoology and TAFI, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 5, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Elisabeth M. A. Strain & Craig R. Johnson

Authors
  1. Elisabeth M. A. Strain
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  2. Craig R. Johnson
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Correspondence to Elisabeth M. A. Strain.

Additional information

Communicated by M. A. Peck.

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1859-4.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

227_2011_1833_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Appendix A. Mean cover (±SE) of (i) encrusting red algae (ERA), (ii) filamentous algae, (iii) the sediment matrix and (iv) sessile invertebrates on areas under abalone and other positions on the rocks through time (months) at the Jetty and Magistrates Point, Maria Island in the removal experiment. Treatments (n = 5) are solid triangles = 0% removals of H. rubra from rocks, and open triangles = 100% removal of H. rubra from rocks. (PDF 77 kb)

227_2011_1833_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Appendix B. Mean cover (±SE) of (i) foliose green algae, (ii) foliose red algae, (iii) foliose understorey brown algae and (iv) juvenile canopy-forming algae on areas under abalone and other positions on the rocks through time (months) at the Jetty and Magistrates Point, Maria Island in the removal experiment. Treatments (n = 5) are solid triangles = 0% removals of H. rubra from rocks, and open triangles = 100% removal of H. rubra from rocks. (PDF 78 kb)

227_2011_1833_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

Appendix C. Mean cover (±SE) of (i) encrusting red algae (ERA) and (ii) filamentous algae (iii) sediment matrix (iv) sessile invertebrates A. under abalone, Southwest, B. under abalone Southeast, C. other positions Southwest, D. other positions Southeast through time (months) at George Third Rock, in the removal experiment. Treatments (n = 3) are: solid triangles = 0% removals of H. rubra from unfenced rocks; open triangles = 100% removal of H. rubra from unfenced rocks; solid squares = 0% removals of H. rubra from partially fenced rocks; open squares = 100% removals of H. rubra from fenced rocks. (PDF 114 kb)

227_2011_1833_MOESM4_ESM.pdf

Appendix D. Mean cover (±SE) of (i) foliose red algae, (ii) foliose understorey brown algae and (iii) juvenile canopy-forming algae A. under abalone, Southwest, B. under abalone Southeast, C. other positions Southwest, D. other positions Southeast through time (months) at George Third Rock, in the removal experiment. Treatments (n = 3) are: solid triangles = 0% removals of H. rubra from unfenced rocks; open triangles = 100% removal of H. rubra from unfenced rocks; solid squares = 0% removals of H. rubra from partially fenced rocks; open squares = 100% removals of H. rubra from fenced rocks (PDF 80 kb)

227_2011_1833_MOESM5_ESM.docx

Appendix E. Benthic assemblage at a) Maria Island (MI) prior to experimental manipulations, 0 months, b) MI, after 18 months of removing Haliotis rubra from rocks, c) George Third Rock (GIII) prior to experimental manipulations, 0 months and d) GIII, after 18 months of removing H. rubra from rocks. (DOCX 441 kb)

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Strain, E.M.A., Johnson, C.R. Intensive fishing of marine consumers causes a dramatic shift in the benthic habitat on temperate rocky reefs. Mar Biol 159, 533–547 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1833-1

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