These pages are still under construction |
| Indicator | Attribute | Purpose | If restricted to taxa, list which ones | Ecosystem applicability | Identified capability | Biological classification level | Response variable | Drivers | Robustness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trait composition | Tropic shifts, community structure, population structure | fisheries | Should be applicable in all ecosystems | Ecosystem, Community, Population | species-based | anthropogenic | medium |
| Indicator examples | Current status and trends | Management objective/direction | Stakeholder/Public acceptability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examples of how the indicator is used. | Pick one of the following:
| Pick one of the following:
| Pick one of the following:
|
The following is from Fulton et al 2004a -
It is now fairly widely accepted that fishing effects the life history traits of fished populations (Jennings and Kaiser 1998, Rochet 1998, Hall 1999, Rochet et al. 2000, Jennings et al. 2001, ICES 2002). Changes in the mean values of traits have been used to consider the effects of fishing, but consideration of the variance could also be useful (Rochet and Trenkel 2003). While past use in fisheries has usually concentrated on considering the change in traits of targeted species, it is being extended to consider communities (Jennings et al. 1999, ICES 2002). This is in keeping with its use in biomonitoring of freshwater (Hellawell 1986, Charvet et al. 2000) and marine benthic (Frid et al. 2000) communities, where biological and ecological traits (e.g. size, life span, diet and distribution) weighted by species abundance are analysed using a multivariate framework. Based on its success as an indicator of pollution, trait composition has a lot of potential as an indicator of the effects of fishing. A range of traits will need to be analysed though, as an application to data from the North Sea Scottish August Groundfish Survey data (ICES 2002) indicated that some traits (growth rates, length at maturity and von Bertalanffy L∞) may be relatively insensitive to increased levels of fishing if applied to areas that are already disturbed. That is, these traits could distinguish between low and medium levels of fishing, but beyond a threshold level of perturbation they failed to respond further (ICES 2002). Of the traits considered in this analysis of North Sea Scottish August Groundfish Survey data (growth rates, age and length at maturity and von Bertalanffy L∞), age at maturity showed the greatest promise as an indicator of the continuing effects of fishing (and its management) on the North Sea Scottish Groundfish community. Irrespective of the trait(s) under consideration, it will require the collection of more data to verify the potential of traits as indicators and to establish “reference-conditions” (Rochet and Trenkel 2003). The existence of reference areas would also be highly beneficial, as they would allow for the separation of the effects due to fishing from those due to other factors affecting the ecosystem.
what is the ecological attribute(s) that is related to this indicator?
possible examples include (from Fulton et al 2004):
Just a list of which attribute(s) is sufficient unless there is other information that is of interest.
Pick one or more of the following:
The following is from Fulton et al 2004a -
The following is from Fulton et al 2004a -
Is there any additional information that would be of interest in regards to the identified capability?
Otherwise can leave this section blank and just fill in the table instead.
Is there any additional information that would be of interest in regards to the biological classification?
Otherwise can leave this section blank and just fill in the table instead.
Is there any additional information that would be of interest in regards to the response variable?
Otherwise can leave this section blank and just fill in the table instead.
Is there any additional information that would be of interest in regards to ecological drivers?
If not can leave this section blank and just fill in the table instead.
The following is from Fulton et al 2004a -
what was it like in an undisturbed/unexploited system?
how would it be expected to change?
which way is the indicator showing a population is going in? decreasing or increasing ??
define a standard set of management objectives?? ie from Indiseas
has it been used in a management strategy? if so how?
relationship to management strategies/ objectives
Acceptability with stakeholders
Hyperlinks to organisations, databases, webportals, and ID books, that are associated with this indicator, if appropriate.
A list of references referred to on this page.
Other references that would be useful to read in regard to the indicator referred to on this page.
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