TY - JOUR
T1 - Approaching a functional measure of vulnerability in marine ecosystems
AU - Arreguín-Sánchez, Francisco
AU - Ruiz-Barreiro, Thelma Mónica
N1 - Funding Information:
Authors thank support through the projects SEP-CONACYT ( 104974 , 155 900 ), Gulf of Mexico LME ( GEFMEX-09001 ), ANR-CONACYT ( 111465 ), and SIP-IPN ( 20131266 , 20144037 ). Also thanks to the Ecopath Research and Development Consortium to facilitate models’ files. FAS thanks the National Polytechnic Institute for its support through the EDI and COFAA programs, and TMRB thanks CONACyT by scholarship received. Authors dedicate this contribution to the memory of Dr. Daniel Lluch Belda (1942–2014).
PY - 2014/10
Y1 - 2014/10
N2 - Ecosystem vulnerability is a major concern for management purposes, especially when directed toward conservation and sustainable exploitation. We estimate the relative vulnerability of selected marine-ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico through simulation experiments based on trophic models. The same perturbation pattern was applied to different functional groups at different trophic levels. Perturbation consisted of increasing biomass extraction for a single group up to 98% at a constant rate over 50 years. The ratio Ascendency to Capacity of Development, A/C, was estimated as a measure of ecosystem order. The maximum negative difference respect to the initial A/C represents the gain of entropy. The slope of the relationship between entropy gained and the trophic level provides an estimate of the relative vulnerability of the ecosystem. This was applied to five ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico: Florida coral reef; Mexican coastal lagoon, Terminos Lagoon; and three continental shelves, the northern Gulf of Mexico, USA; Yucatan and the Campeche Sound, Mexico. The pattern of vulnerability among ecosystems is related to ecosystem complexity. The coral reef exhibited a lower slope, corresponding to higher vulnerability, which is related to higher connectivity, production efficiency, and net ecosystem production. Increasingly higher slopes, corresponding to lower vulnerability, followed a gradient from the coral reef to the continental shelves to the least vulnerable system, the coastal lagoon. Middle trophic levels contribute to higher vulnerability. This interpretation is supported by the concept of energy flows within trophic networks. The relevance of these findings for management is discussed.
AB - Ecosystem vulnerability is a major concern for management purposes, especially when directed toward conservation and sustainable exploitation. We estimate the relative vulnerability of selected marine-ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico through simulation experiments based on trophic models. The same perturbation pattern was applied to different functional groups at different trophic levels. Perturbation consisted of increasing biomass extraction for a single group up to 98% at a constant rate over 50 years. The ratio Ascendency to Capacity of Development, A/C, was estimated as a measure of ecosystem order. The maximum negative difference respect to the initial A/C represents the gain of entropy. The slope of the relationship between entropy gained and the trophic level provides an estimate of the relative vulnerability of the ecosystem. This was applied to five ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico: Florida coral reef; Mexican coastal lagoon, Terminos Lagoon; and three continental shelves, the northern Gulf of Mexico, USA; Yucatan and the Campeche Sound, Mexico. The pattern of vulnerability among ecosystems is related to ecosystem complexity. The coral reef exhibited a lower slope, corresponding to higher vulnerability, which is related to higher connectivity, production efficiency, and net ecosystem production. Increasingly higher slopes, corresponding to lower vulnerability, followed a gradient from the coral reef to the continental shelves to the least vulnerable system, the coastal lagoon. Middle trophic levels contribute to higher vulnerability. This interpretation is supported by the concept of energy flows within trophic networks. The relevance of these findings for management is discussed.
KW - Ecosystem vulnerability
KW - Entropy
KW - Fisheries management
KW - Order
KW - Trophic webs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84899626700&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.04.009
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.04.009
M3 - Artículo
SN - 1470-160X
VL - 45
SP - 130
EP - 138
JO - Ecological Indicators
JF - Ecological Indicators
ER -