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Trophic level changes of fishery catches in Lake Chaohu, Anhui Province, China: Trends and causes

Zhang, Min ; Xie, Congxin ; Hansson, Lars-Anders LU orcid ; Hu, Wanming and Che, Jiapu (2012) In Fisheries Research 131. p.15-20
Abstract
Fishing activity has been suggested to affect food web structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Based on changes of the mean trophic level index of fishery catch, the present study demonstrates long-term ecosystem impacts of fisheries in Lake Chaohu, a freshwater lake in Anhui Province, China. The decline of mean trophic level (MTL) in the last five decades, coupled with a dramatic increasing of the fishery catches from the lake, can be interpreted as a result of a decrease in the abundance of high trophic level, large piscivorous benthic fishes relative to low-trophic level, small planktivorous pelagic fishes. The mean trophic level of the total fishery catches declined as fishing effort (number of fishing boats and fishermen)... (More)
Fishing activity has been suggested to affect food web structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Based on changes of the mean trophic level index of fishery catch, the present study demonstrates long-term ecosystem impacts of fisheries in Lake Chaohu, a freshwater lake in Anhui Province, China. The decline of mean trophic level (MTL) in the last five decades, coupled with a dramatic increasing of the fishery catches from the lake, can be interpreted as a result of a decrease in the abundance of high trophic level, large piscivorous benthic fishes relative to low-trophic level, small planktivorous pelagic fishes. The mean trophic level of the total fishery catches declined as fishing effort (number of fishing boats and fishermen) increased, which suggests that an expansion of fishing capacity can lead to changes in the food web structures of a lake. Various direct and indirect relationships between MTL, nutrient concentrations and air temperatures were observed, suggesting that environmental changes, jointly with fishing, may have caused cascading effects which make the system less resistant to disturbance. In such context, our results, which complement traditional fisheries assessment, add to the understanding of the interactions among different trophic level of the ecosystem and their alterations due to fisheries and environmental changes. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Climate, Eutrophication, Overexploitation, Fishery, Trophic levels, Food, web
in
Fisheries Research
volume
131
pages
15 - 20
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000308903500003
  • scopus:84864483497
ISSN
0165-7836
DOI
10.1016/j.fishres.2012.06.015
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
264d5978-6240-49aa-802b-72171790f421 (old id 3189635)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:54:19
date last changed
2022-02-17 22:24:00
@article{264d5978-6240-49aa-802b-72171790f421,
  abstract     = {{Fishing activity has been suggested to affect food web structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Based on changes of the mean trophic level index of fishery catch, the present study demonstrates long-term ecosystem impacts of fisheries in Lake Chaohu, a freshwater lake in Anhui Province, China. The decline of mean trophic level (MTL) in the last five decades, coupled with a dramatic increasing of the fishery catches from the lake, can be interpreted as a result of a decrease in the abundance of high trophic level, large piscivorous benthic fishes relative to low-trophic level, small planktivorous pelagic fishes. The mean trophic level of the total fishery catches declined as fishing effort (number of fishing boats and fishermen) increased, which suggests that an expansion of fishing capacity can lead to changes in the food web structures of a lake. Various direct and indirect relationships between MTL, nutrient concentrations and air temperatures were observed, suggesting that environmental changes, jointly with fishing, may have caused cascading effects which make the system less resistant to disturbance. In such context, our results, which complement traditional fisheries assessment, add to the understanding of the interactions among different trophic level of the ecosystem and their alterations due to fisheries and environmental changes. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Zhang, Min and Xie, Congxin and Hansson, Lars-Anders and Hu, Wanming and Che, Jiapu}},
  issn         = {{0165-7836}},
  keywords     = {{Climate; Eutrophication; Overexploitation; Fishery; Trophic levels; Food; web}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{15--20}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Fisheries Research}},
  title        = {{Trophic level changes of fishery catches in Lake Chaohu, Anhui Province, China: Trends and causes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2012.06.015}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.fishres.2012.06.015}},
  volume       = {{131}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}