Spatial extent and isolation of marine artificial structures mediate fish density

Frontiers in Marine Science

Marine Science

Virginia A. Gilliland¹  Avery E. Fessler²  Ryan M. Tharp³  Jeffrey A. Buckel³  Avery B. Paxton⁴  J. Christopher Taylor⁴  Erik F. Ebert⁵  Nathan M. Bacheler⁶  Brendan J. Runde⁷ 

[1] Biology Department, Davidson College, Davidson, NC, United States;College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, St. Paul, MN, United States;Department of Applied Ecology, Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, North Carolina State University, Morehead City, NC, United States;National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Beaufort, NC, United States;National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Beaufort, NC, United States;CSS-Inc., Fairfax, VA, United States;Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Beaufort, NC, United States;The Nature Conservancy, Charlottesville, VA, United States;

关键词: artificial reef;    built habitats;    fish distribution;    human-made reefs;    reef morphology;    spatial ecology;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmars.2023.1240344

 received in 2023-06-14, accepted in 2023-08-07,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Installations of artificial structures in coastal oceans create de facto habitat for marine life. These structures encompass wide varieties of physical characteristics, reflecting their multiple, diverse purposes and creating a need to understand which characteristics maximize fish habitat. Here, we test how physical characteristics – horizontal area, vertical relief, and spatial isolation – relate to fish density from echosounder surveys over artificial structures like concrete pipes, train boxcars, and ships purposely sunk to function as reefs. Echosounder mapping of 31 artificial reef structures and associated fish across a 200 km linear length of the continental shelf of North Carolina, USA, revealed that structures with greater horizontal area and vertical relief host higher fish densities than smaller, shorter structures. Artificial structure spatial arrangement also relates to fish density, as isolated structures are generally associated with greater localized fish densities than structures closer to one another. Patterns in the relationships between fish density and reef characteristics differed for schooling fish, as there was some evidence that reefs of intermediate area exhibited higher schooling fish density. These results suggest that intentional design and spatial arrangement of marine built structures like artificial reefs relates to and can be deliberately incorporated into siting and deployment decisions to enhance their role as fish habitat.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Gilliland, Fessler, Paxton, Ebert, Tharp, Runde, Bacheler, Buckel and Taylor