First days at sea: depicting migration patterns of juvenile seabirds in highly impacted seascapes

Increasing human activities have detrimental consequences on marine ecosystems and their impact can have cumulative effects. Within marine ecosystems, seabirds respond to ecosystem variability and face multiple human pressures, especially threatened species. In long-lived species, juveniles and immatures could represent up to 50% of the total population, but their migratory movements remain largely unknown. Here, we depict the migratory patterns of juvenile Balearic shearwaters Puffinus mauretanicus, the most threatened European seabird, using miniaturised satellite transmitters. At the end of the 2012 breeding season, five tagged juveniles left the breeding colonies of Eivissa Island (western Mediterranean) the first week of July. They moved westwards to reach the Atlantic Ocean between 3 and 13 days afterwards. Juveniles showed a two-phase migratory pattern: they first travelled slower close to the breeding colonies, and then moved towards their wintering areas in the Atlantic Ocean by rapid directional movements. Environmental cues (e.g.,marine productivity, water mass distribution, frontal systems) might have a prominent role in driving the migratory patterns of juvenile Balearic shearwaters, moving from warm and poor marine areas in the Mediterranean Sea to cooler and rich non-breeding grounds in the Atlantic Ocean. Based on observational findings, we observed certain spatial overlap of juvenile Balearic shearwaters with areas of high human impact, but the relationship between flying travel speed and both fishing effort and cumulative human impacts were not statistically significant. These results suggest that more research is needed to assess whether the movement patterns of migrating juveniles are affected by human activities. Therefore, understanding the at-sea spatial ecology of juveniles should be a priority for research and conservation due to the importance of this population component in long-lived species, as well as assessing their vulnerability to multiple anthropogenic pressures.

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Trends in phytoplankton communities within large marine ecosystems diverge from the global ocean

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/cjfas-2020-0423 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Kevin D. Friedland ◽

John R. Moisan ◽

Aurore A. Maureaud ◽

Damian C. Brady ◽

Andrew J. Davies ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chlorophyll Concentration ◽

World Ocean ◽

Marine Ecosystems ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Global Ocean ◽

Human Populations ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Large Marine Ecosystems ◽

Phytoplankton Communities ◽

The World

Large marine ecosystems (LMEs) are highly productive regions of the world ocean under anthropogenic pressures; we analyzed trends in sea surface temperature (SST), cloud fraction (CF), and chlorophyll concentration (CHL) over the period 1998–2019. Trends in these parameters within LMEs diverged from the world ocean. SST and CF inside LMEs increased at greater rates inside LMEs, whereas CHL decreased at a greater rates. CHL declined in 86% of all LMEs and of those trends, 70% were statistically significant. Complementary analyses suggest phytoplankton functional types within LMEs have also diverged from those characteristic of the world ocean, most notably, the contribution of diatoms and dinoflagellates, which have declined within LMEs. LMEs appear to be warming rapidly and receiving less solar radiation than the world ocean, which may be contributing to changes at the base of the food chain. Despite increased fishing effort, fishery yields in LMEs have not increased, pointing to limitations related to productivity. These changes raise concerns over the stability of these ecosystems and their continued ability to support services to human populations.

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Mapping Cumulative Impacts of Human Activities on Marine Ecosystems

10.31230/osf.io/6exng ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

SeaPlan

Keyword(s):

Human Activities ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Marine Ecosystems ◽

Management Plan ◽

Cumulative Impacts ◽

Potential Conflict ◽

Planning Decisions ◽

Ocean Management ◽

Survey Results

Given the diversity of human uses and natural resources that converge in coastal waters, the potential independent and cumulative impacts of those uses on marine ecosystems are important to consider during ocean planning. This study was designed to support the development and implementation of the 2009 Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan. Its goal was to estimate and visualize the cumulative impacts of human activities on coastal and marine ecosystems in the state and federal waters off of Massachusetts.For this study, regional ecosystem experts were surveyed to gauge the relative vulnerability of marine ecosystems to current and emerging anthropogenic stressors. Survey results were then combined with spatial information on the distribution of marine ecosystems and human stressors to map cumulative impacts in Massachusetts waters.The study resulted in an ecosystem vulnerability matrix and human impacts maps, which together yield insights into which ecosystems and places are most vulnerable and which human uses, alone and in combination, are putting the most stress on marine ecosystems. These products can be used in a number of ways, including to help clarify ocean planning decisions, identify areas of potential conflict among ocean users and areas that may merit conservation, and assess ecological, economic and social values of particular places.

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A METHOD FOR THE SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF ANTHROPOGENIC PRESSURES IN SPANISH MARINE WATERS

Coastal Engineering Proceedings ◽

10.9753/icce.v33.management.64 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1 (33) ◽

pp. 64 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Isabel Moreno ◽

Irene Del Barrio ◽

Ana Lloret ◽

Ainhoa Pérez-Puyol

Keyword(s):

Human Activities ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Marine Waters ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Marine Management ◽

Gis Tools ◽

Environmental Status ◽

Good Environmental Status ◽

Official Sources

In 2008, the European Community adopted the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, aiming to achieve or maintain good environmental status in the European marine environment by 2020, applying an ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities. Spatial information of the distribution of the human activities and their related pressures is essential to accomplish this task successfully. After compiling the available data from official sources, the spatial extent of the land-based and ocean-based human activities that could have an impact on the Spanish marine waters were estimated and mapped using GIS tools. In addition, a series of indexes were created in order to develop a cumulative analysis, taking into account the different relevance of pressures and that single pressures have different intensities. The identification of areas with an accumulation of pressures revealed that it is in coastal waters around big cities where the greater part of the pressures concentrates for each of the five Spanish marine districts. Human impacts emanating from the identified pressures could not be evaluated and this task is proposed to be accomplished in further projects. Nonetheless, the resulting information is considered very useful for managers and technical staff to support not only marine management but also other planning and decision making in Spain.

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Conflicts in the coastal zone: human impacts on commercially important fish species utilizing coastal habitat

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fsx237 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 75 (4) ◽

pp. 1203-1213 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Elliot J Brown ◽

Rita P Vasconcelos ◽

Håkan Wennhage ◽

Ulf Bergström ◽

Josianne G Støttrup ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fish Species ◽

Human Activities ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Coastal Development ◽

Life History Stage ◽

Coastal Habitat ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Coastal Habitats ◽

Commercially Important ◽

Fishing Impacts

Abstract Coastal ecosystems are ecologically, culturally, and economically important, and hence are under pressure from diverse human activities. We reviewed the literature for existing evidence of effects of human-induced habitat changes on exploited fish utilizing coastal habitats. We focused on fish species of the Northeast Atlantic for which fisheries advice is provided by International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and which utilize coastal habitats for at least one life-history stage (LHS). We found that 92% of these species are impacted by human activity in at least one LHS while utilizing coastal habitat and 38% in multiple stages. Anthropogenic pressures most commonly shown to impact these fish species were toxicants and pollutants (75% of species). Eutrophication and anoxia, invasive species, and physical coastal development affected about half of the species (58, 54, and 42% of species, respectively), while indirect fishing impacts affected a minority (17% of species). Moreover, 71% of the ICES advice species that utilize coastal habitats face impacts from more than one pressure, implying cumulative effects. Given that three-fourths of the commercial landings come from fish species utilizing coastal habitats, there is an obvious need for a better understanding of the impacts that human activities cause in these habitats for the development of ecosystem-based fisheries management.

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Functional Trait Responses of Macrobenthos to Anthropogenic Pressure in Three Temperate Intertidal Communities

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.756814 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Jian-Yu Dong ◽

Linlin Zhao ◽

Xiaolong Yang ◽

Xin Sun ◽

Xiumei Zhang

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Organic Matter ◽

Life Span ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Human Activities ◽

Marine Ecosystems ◽

Polluted Area ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Intertidal Zones ◽

Macrobenthic Communities

With the increasing impact of human activities on marine ecosystems, there is a growing need to assess how the components of marine ecosystems (e.g., macrobenthos) respond to these anthropogenic pressures. In this work, the trait-based approach was used to assess the effects of anthropogenic pressures represented by the area of land-based aquaculture pond (Pond Area) and heavy metals on the macrobenthic communities in three intertidal zones[Aoshan Bay (AO), Wenquan River and Daren River (RW), and Xiaodao Bay (XD)] of Laoshan Bay, Shandong Peninsula, China. Compared with RW and XD, AO was under more pressure in terms of the average concentrations of heavy metals and total organic carbon (TOC) in sediments and also in the Pond Area. Fuzzy correspondence analysis (FCA) showed that there were significant differences in the composition of functional traits among the three regions (PERMANOVA; p < 0.05). In the highly polluted area, macrobenthic communities exhibited a combination of traits, such as relatively short life span, weak mobility, feeding on deposits, and more tolerant to organic matter, whereas in a less polluted area, they exhibited a combination of traits, such as relatively long life span, relatively high mobility, and more sensitivity to organic matter. The RDA results showed that the distribution of the trait modalities was significantly affected by heavy metals (Hg and Cd), TOC, Pond Area, and sampled location. Variation partitioning analysis (VPA) indicated that the shared influence of sediment-related pollution factors and Pond Area contributed most to the variance of the functional traits, which implied that human activities directly and/or indirectly lead to changes in functional traits of macrobenthic communities in the intertidal zones.

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Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Ecosystems

Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2122 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 5334-5336

Author(s):

Torben C. Rick ◽

Jon M. Erlandson

Keyword(s):

Human Impacts ◽

Marine Ecosystems

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Human impacts and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region

10.5194/esd-2021-54 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marcus Reckermann ◽

Anders Omstedt ◽

Tarmo Soomere ◽

Juris Aigars ◽

Naveed Akhtar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Baltic Sea ◽

Human Activities ◽

Human Impacts ◽

The Other ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

General Description ◽

The Baltic Sea ◽

Baltic Sea Region ◽

The Baltic

Abstract. Coastal environments, in particular heavily populated semi-enclosed marginal seas and coasts like the Baltic Sea region, are stongly affected by human activities. A multitude of human impacts, including climate change, affects the different compartments of the environment, and these effects interact with each other. As part of the Baltic Earth Assessment Reports (BEAR), we present an inventory and discussion of different human-induced factors and processes affecting the environment of the Baltic Sea region, and their interrelations. Some are naturally occurring and modified by human activities (i.e. climate change, coastal processes, hypoxia, acidification, submarine groundwater discharges, marine ecosystems, non-indigenous species, land use and land cover), some are completely human-induced (i.e. agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, river regulations, offshore wind farms, shipping, chemical contamination, dumped warfare agents, marine litter and microplastics, tourism, coastal management), and they are all interrelated to different degrees. We present a general description and analysis of the state of knowledge on these interrelations. Our main insight is that climate change has an overarching, integrating impact on all of the other factors and can be interpreted as a background effect, which has different implications for the other factors. Impacts on the environment and the human sphere can be roughly allocated to anthropogenic drivers such as food production, energy production, transport, industry and economy. We conclude that a sound management and regulation of human activities must be implemented in order to use and keep the environments and ecosystems of the Baltic Sea region sustainably in a good shape. This must balance the human needs, which exert tremendous pressures on the systems, as humans are the overwhelming driving force for almost all changes we see. The findings from this inventory of available information and analysis of the different factors and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region can largely be transferred to other comparable marginal and coastal seas in the world.

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Temporal refuges differ between anthropogenic and natural top down pressures in a subordinate carnivore

10.1101/2020.06.09.143222 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rumaan Malhotra ◽

Samantha Lima ◽

Nyeema C. Harris

Keyword(s):

Human Impacts ◽

Temporal Response ◽

Apex Predators ◽

Top Down ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Multiple Camera ◽

Disturbed Systems ◽

Food Subsidies ◽

Predator Guild ◽

Fear Effects

ABSTRACTApex predators structure communities through consumptive and non-consumptive pathways. In the carnivore guild, this can result in a within-guild cascade through the suppression of mesocarnivores. As the top-down influences of apex predators wane due to human-driven declines, landscape level anthropogenic pressures are rising. Human impacts can be analogous to apex predators in that humans can drive increased mortality in both prey species and carnivores, and impact communities through indirect fear effects and food subsidies. Here, we evaluate whether anthropogenic top-down pressures can structure communities in a similar manner as apex predators in shaping the interactions of mesocarnivores. Specifically, we expect anthropogenic forces to induce comparable effects as occurrence of apex predators in driving spatiotemporal partitioning between two mesocarnivores. Using multiple camera-trap surveys, we compared the temporal response of a small carnivore, the raccoon (Procyon lotor), to the larger coyote (Canis latrans) at four sites across Michigan that represented opposing gradients of pressure from humans and apex predators. Contrary to our expectations, we found that raccoons shifted their activity pattern in response to coyotes at sites with higher anthropogenic pressures and exhibited no temporal response at sites with apex predators. Temporal shifts were characterized by raccoons being more diurnal in areas of high coyote activity. We conclude that despite superficial similarities, anthropogenic forces do not replace the function of native apex predators in structuring the mesocarnivore guild. As such, an intact and functioning native predator guild remains necessary to preserve spatiotemporal community structure, in natural and disturbed systems alike.

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Fine-Scale Cartography of Human Impacts along French Mediterranean Coasts: A Relevant Map for the Management of Marine Ecosystems

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0135473 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. e0135473 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Florian Holon ◽

Nicolas Mouquet ◽

Pierre Boissery ◽

Marc Bouchoucha ◽

Gwenaelle Delaruelle ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Impacts ◽

Marine Ecosystems ◽

Fine Scale

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Space fit for a king: spatial ecology of king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) in Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Northeastern Thailand

Amphibia-Reptilia ◽

10.1163/15685381-18000008 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 163-178 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Benjamin Michael Marshall ◽

Colin Thomas Strine ◽

Max Dolton Jones ◽

Taksin Artchawakom ◽

Ines Silva ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Habitat Use ◽

Breeding Season ◽

Protected Area ◽

Spatial Ecology ◽

Radio Telemetry ◽

Biosphere Reserve ◽

Adult Males ◽

Anthropogenic Pressures ◽

Anthropogenic Landscapes ◽

Ophiophagus Hannah

Abstract A species’ spatial ecology has direct implications for that species’ conservation. Far-ranging species may be more difficult to conserve because their movements increase their chances of encountering humans. The movements can take them out of protected areas, which is especially risky for species that are routinely persecuted. The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), a large venomous elapid, is subject to anthropogenic pressures, such as persecution and habitat loss. Here we present results from a study using radio telemetry to quantify movements and habitat use of nine king cobras in and around a protected area in Northeast Thailand. This study is the first investigation into the movements and habitat use of king cobras outside of the Western Ghats, India. On average, the tracked king cobra’s use areas of 493.42 ± 335.60 ha (95% fixed kernel), moving 183.24 ± 82.63 m per day. King cobras did not remain in intact forested area. Five of the individuals frequently used the human-dominated agricultural areas surrounding the protected area, appearing to make regular use of irrigation canals. Two adult males showed increases in movements during the breeding season. One male’s increased breeding season range caused him to venture beyond the protected area, shifting his habitat use from intact forests to scrub in human-dominated areas. King cobras’ large home range and willingness to use anthropogenic landscapes merits special consideration from conservation planners.

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