From Fish Biodiversity Indicators to Spatial Risk Assessments - Towards the Integration of Blue Growth and Conservation Objectives in the German Bight

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

From Fish Biodiversity Indicators to Spatial Risk Assessments - Towards the Integration of Blue Growth and Conservation Objectives in the German Bight From fish biodiversity indicators to spatial risk assessments - Towards the integration of Blue Growth and conservation objectives in the German Bight Dissertation with the aim of achieving a doctoral degree at the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences Department of Biology of University of Hamburg submitted by Henrike Rambo 2017 in Hamburg The following evaluators recommend the admission of the dissertation: Prof. Dr. Christian Möllmann Dr. Vanessa Stelzenmüller Day of the disputation: 30. June 2017 Für Papa Content Executive summary ............................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 1 General introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1. The challenge ahead: integrating Blue Growth with conservation objectives ................................ 1 2. The solution? EU policies to achieve Ecosystem-Based Marine Spatial Management .................. 2 3. The case study: Setting the spatial management context in the German Bight .............................. 6 4. Evaluating effects of EB-MSM in the German Bight..................................................................... 9 4.1 Spatial management measures likely to affect the achievement of high level objectives ...... 11 4.2 Operationalisation of spatially explicit biodiversity indicators .............................................. 13 4.3 Bayesian Belief Networks to support spatial environmental risk evaluation ......................... 16 5. Thesis objectives........................................................................................................................... 18 6. References .................................................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................................. 26 Mapping fish community biodiversity for European marine policy requirements ...................... 26 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 27 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 28 2. Material & methods ...................................................................................................................... 31 2.1 Data source and preparatory analysis ..................................................................................... 31 2.2 Biodiversity indicators and the community sensitivity index ................................................ 32 2.3 Spatial modelling.................................................................................................................... 34 2.4 Direct and indirect mapping ................................................................................................... 35 2.5 Indicator assessment ............................................................................................................... 39 3. Results .......................................................................................................................................... 39 3.1 Structural analysis of spatial models ...................................................................................... 39 3.2 Comparison of mapping approaches ...................................................................................... 40 3.3 Comparison of biodiversity indicators ................................................................................... 44 4. Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 46 5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 52 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 54 Supplementary data .......................................................................................................................... 54 References ........................................................................................................................................ 57 Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................................. 61 Disentangling fishing from habitat effects to explain spatial patterns in fish community sensitivity to fisheries .......................................................................................................................... 61 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 62 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 63 2. Material & methods ...................................................................................................................... 65 2.1 Study site and the CSI ............................................................................................................ 65 2.2 Mapping of fishing pressure ................................................................................................... 67 2.3 Spatially resolved pressure-state relationships ....................................................................... 70 3. Results .......................................................................................................................................... 72 3.1 Species-habitat relationship and fishing effort ....................................................................... 72 3.2 Correlative analysis ................................................................................................................ 73 3.3 Regression-based analysis ...................................................................................................... 76 4. Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 79 5. Conclusions .................................................................................................................................. 81 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 82 Supplementary information .............................................................................................................. 83 References ........................................................................................................................................ 85 Chapter 4 ............................................................................................................................................. 89 Quantitative environmental risk assessments in the context of marine spatial management: Current approaches and some perspectives ..................................................................................... 89 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 90 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 91 2. Material and methods ................................................................................................................... 93 2.1 Risk assessment framework and review of current approaches .............................................. 93 2.2 Case study area and context .................................................................................................... 95 3. Results ........................................................................................................................................ 103 3.1 Review of current approaches ............................................................................................... 103 3.2 Case study ............................................................................................................................. 110 4. Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 116 4.1 Current ERA approaches and gaps in a spatial management context ................................... 116 4.2 Perspectives for assessing the trade-offs of MSP measures in the German EEZ of the North Sea ............................................................................................................................................... 118 5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 120 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ 121 References .....................................................................................................................................
Recommended publications
  • The Feeding Ecology of the Harbour Porpoise Phocoena Phocoena L
    9th Meeting of the North Sea Group ASCOBANS/NSG9/Inf.3.4 Online, 20 – 21 January 2021 Dist. 21 January 2021 Agenda Item 3.4 Investigation of the Health, Nutritional Status and Diet of Harbour Porpoises (Action 10) Information Document 3.4 The Feeding Ecology of the Harbour Porpoise Phocoena Phocoena L. in a Changing Environment Action Requested Take note Submitted by Belgium ‘OCEANS AND LAKES’ INTERUNIVERSITY MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MARINE AND LACUSTRINE SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT (JH/RBINS) THE FEEDING ECOLOGY OF THE HARBOUR PORPOISE Phocoena phocoena L. IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT Elke Lambert June 2020 Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for master’s degree in Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management PROMOTOR: Dr. Steven Degraer (UGhent; RBINS) CO-PROMOTOR: Dr. Bob Rumes (RBINS) SUPERVISOR: Jan Haelters (RBINS) ABSTRACT The stomach contents of 180 harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) stranded or bycaught along the Belgian coastline between 1997 and 2018 were analysed to reconstruct the diet and study the factors shaping their feeding ecology. This was investigated combining two techniques used in diet studies: population averages (i.e. diet indices) and analysis of individual variation in the diet through multivariate analysing techniques (nMDS and PERMANOVA). More than 25 fish and invertebrate prey taxa were identified, highlighting the broad prey spectrum that these generalist predators can feed on. However, the majority of porpoises consumed between 1 and 4 prey groups. The diet was primarily dominated by four key prey guilds (i.e. “The big four”): gadoids (mostly whiting Merlangius merlangus), gobies (Pomatoschistus sp.), sandeels (Ammodytes sp.) and clupeids (both herring Clupea harengus and sprat Sprattus sprattus), whilst other taxa were of less importance.
    [Show full text]
  • 10 AQUATIC ECOLOGY 10.1 10.1.1 This Chapter of the ES Addresses the Impacts to Aquatic Ecology and Nature Conservation As a Resu
    10 AQUATIC ECOLOGY 10.1 INTRODUCTION 10.1.1 This chapter of the ES addresses the impacts to aquatic ecology and nature conservation as a result of the AMEP. 10.1.2 To inform the assessment of impacts, this chapter provides an overview of the status and characteristics of the aquatic ecology of the Humber Estuary. This takes the form of a broad description of habitats found in the wider estuary followed by a more detailed description of the specific aquatic ecology observed at the AMEP site, based on dedicated surveys of the intertidal and subtidal seabed. The results of these surveys are presented in Annex 10.1. 10.1.3 The scope of this chapter is limited to impacts to aquatic ecology and nature conservation. The impacts on waders and other estuarine birds using the Humber Estuary are discussed in Chapter 11 . The impacts on commercial or recreational fishing are addressed in Chapter 12 . 10.2 LEGISLATION , POLICY AND GUIDANCE Overview 10.2.1 There are several national policies and pieces of legislation that are relevant to the assessment of impacts on aquatic flora and fauna; these are summarised in this section. International, European and National Biodiversity Legislation Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 10.2.2 The CBD was signed by the representatives of many countries at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and came into force on 29 December 1993. The objectives of the convention are: ‘the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding.
    [Show full text]
  • Consecutive Repetition of Lordosis-Kyphosis in Silverside Atherina Boyeri Risso, 1810 Collected from a Wild Population in Homa Lagoon, Izmir, Turkey
    Arch. Pol. Fish. (2017) 25: 117-122 DOI 10.1515/aopf-2017-0011 RESEARCH ARTICLE Consecutive repetition of lordosis-kyphosis in silverside Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810 collected from a wild population in Homa Lagoon, Izmir, Turkey Laith Jawad, Okan Akyol, Cemil Salam Received – 06 April 2017/Accepted – 14 June 2017. Published online: 30 June 2017; ©Inland Fisheries Institute in Olsztyn, Poland Citation: Jawad L., Akyol O., Salam C. 2017 – Consecutive repetition of lordosis-kyphosis in silverside Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810 col- lected from a wild population in Homa Lagoon, Izmir, Turkey – Arch. Pol. Fish. 25: 117-122. Abstract. The incidence of severe consecutive repetition of because of the decreased viability of the abnormal lordosis-kyphosis involving three flexions was reported in fish in their natural habitat (Gavaia et al. 2009, a specimen of the atherinid fish Atherina boyeri Risso. The Bogutskaya et al. 2011, Jawad et al. 2015a, 2016). values for the angles lay between the lines passing through the sides of the vertebral column and enclosing the curvatures, Abnormalities can either be very severe so they affect and the depth of the curvatures of the angles was obtained. the ability of the fishes, or slight, which do not affect Also, the ratio of the vertebral column to the fish total length of survival and can occur as a result of various external deformed and normal specimens of this species was and internal factors. The frequency and pattern of calculated. Possible causes for these anomalies are discussed. skeletal deformities form the basis of other studies Keywords: Anomalies, vertebral column, angles, abdominal such as the assessment and monitoring of environ- vertebrae, caudal vertebrae mental stresses or rearing conditions on fishes (Boglione et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Title/Name of the Area: MCA Presented by Maria Ana Dionísio
    Title/Name of the area: MCA Presented by Maria Ana Dionísio (PhD in marine sciences), with a grant funded by Oceanário de Lisboa, S.A., FCiências.ID – Associação para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento de Ciências and Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, I.P., [email protected] Pedro Ivo Arriegas, Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, I.P., [email protected] Abstract MCA (Mainland Canyons Area) EBSA is compounded by a total of 11 canyons, 4 seamounts and one archipelago, and this area includes one OSPAR Marine Protected Area, one Protected Area, one UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, one Natura 2000 Site of Community Interest and 5 Natura 2000 Special Protection Areas for wild birds. The EBSA is divided by 3 sections, North MCA (32786 Km2), Center MCA (48048 Km2) and South MCA (29099 Km2). The structures in the EBSA are hotspots of marine life and in general they represent areas of an enhanced productivity, especially when compared with nearby areas. This EBSA has a total area of 109933 km2 with identified structures depths ranging from 50m (head of Nazaré canyon) to ~5000m (bottom of Nazaré canyon). The area presents particular features which make it eligible as an EBSA when assessed against the EBSA scientific criteria. All structures included in the MCA EBSA fulfill four or more out of the seven EBSA scientific criteria. A total of 3411 species are listed to the area, with 776 specifically recorded for different EBSA structures. From the total of species recorded 11% are protected under international or regional law. The EBSA is totally under Portuguese national jurisdiction, with its structures located on territorial waters and on the Portuguese Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ).
    [Show full text]
  • Rhacophorus Omeimontis): the Influence of Body Size and Age
    Belgian Journal of Zoology Published by the KONINKLIJKE BELGISCHE VERENIGING VOOR DIERKUNDE KONINKLIJK BELGISCH INSTITUUT VOOR NATUURWETENSCHAPPEN — SOCIÉTÉ ROYALE ZOOLOGIQUE DE BELGIQUE INSTITUT ROYAL DES SCIENCES NATURELLES DE BELGIQUE Volume 141 (2) (July, 2011) Managing Editor of the Journal Isa Schön Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Freshwater Biology Vautierstraat 29 B - 1000 Brussels (Belgium) CONTENTS Volume 141 (2) Wen Bo LIAO & Xin LU 3 Male mating success in the Omei treefrog (Rhacophorus omeimontis): the influence of body size and age Marisa WYCKMANS, Anthony HERREL & Dominique ADRIAENS 11 Analysis of ontogenetic changes in head shape and diet in a catfish with moderately enlarged jaw adductors (Clariallabes melas) Jan BREINE, Joachim MAES, Frans OLLEVIER & Maarten STEVENS 21 Fish assemblages across a salinity gradient in the Zeeschelde estuary (Belgium) Chunlin LI, Lizhi ZHOU, Hongkai LI & Zhigang JIANG 45 Effects of foraging mode and group pattern on vigilance behavior in water birds: a case study of mallard and black-winged stilt Giampaolo ROSSETTI, Ricardo L. PINTO & Koen MARTENS 55 Description of a new genus and two new species of Darwinulidae (Crustacea, Ostracoda), from Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) with some considerations on the morphological evolution of ancient asexuals Jan HAELTERS, Francis KERCKHOF, Thierry G. JACQUES & Steven 75 DEGRAER The harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena in the Belgian part of the North Sea: trends in abundance and distribution SHORT NOTES Eduardo Alfredo SANABRIA & Lorena Beatriz QUIROGA 85 Facultative nesting in Rhinella spinulosa (Anura: Bufonidae): strategy to avoid dehydration of offspring Cyril FIRMAT & Paul ALIBERT 90 One more alien freshwater fish species in New Caledonia: the three-spot gourami Trichogaster trichopterus (Teleostei: Osphronemidae) Kechero YISEHAK, Anne BECKER, Duguma BELAY, Guido BOSCH, 93 Wouter H.
    [Show full text]
  • Norfolk Boreas Limited Document Reference: 6.3.11.1 RHDHV Reference: PB5640-006-1101 Pursuant to APFP Regulation: 5(2)(A)
    Norfolk Boreas Offshore Wind Farm Appendix 11.1 Fish and Shellfish Ecology Technical Report Environmental Statement Volume 3 Applicant: Norfolk Boreas Limited Document Reference: 6.3.11.1 RHDHV Reference: PB5640-006-1101 Pursuant to APFP Regulation: 5(2)(a) Date: June 2019 Revision: Version 1 Author: Brown and May Marine Limited Photo: Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm Date Issue Remarks / Reason for Issue Author Checked Approved No. 01/04/2019 01D First draft for Norfolk Boreas Limited review SX SX JL 01/05/2019 01F Final for DCO submission SX JL JL Environmental Statement Norfolk Boreas Offshore Wind Farm 6.3.11.1 June 2019 Page i Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 2 Guidance ................................................................................................................ 1 3 Data Sources .......................................................................................................... 2 4 Study Area .............................................................................................................. 6 5 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) .............................................................................. 7 6 Existing Environment .............................................................................................. 8 Environmental Statement Norfolk Boreas Offshore Wind Farm 6.3.11.1 June 2019 Page ii Figures Figure 4.1 Norfolk Boreas offshore project area and study area 7 Figure 5.1 Designated
    [Show full text]
  • The Urban Herring Gull, Foraging Niche and Interactions with Humans
    The urban Herring gull, foraging niche and interactions with humans Submitted by Luke Edwyn Marsh to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Masters by Research in Biological Sciences, 14th April, 2020 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that any material that has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University has been acknowledged. (Signature) ……………………………………………………………………………… 1 ABSTRACT Gulls (Laridae) are of significant interest because of their use and breeding in urban environments, which has increased human-wildlife conflicts. However, there is a lack of information that summarises population trends in gulls, that is driving them towards conflicts with humans; the attitude towards gulls that the public has, especially in urban environments and the factors that determine those attitudes; and how gulls utilise the urban environment for reproductive success. In this thesis, I explore the literature around gull trends throughout the Western Hemisphere. Using a questionnaire, I attempt to collate information about the public’s attitude towards gulls, paired with spatial correlation to demonstrate geographic differences. I also use gull pellets and foraging effort to explore the niche of gulls, and test for differences between urban and rural birds. The findings show gull population changes are constant, and that public attitude is negative towards gulls, with age and knowledge about gulls effecting negative perceptions.
    [Show full text]
  • An Analysis of the Relationships Between Skin and Eye Colouration, Reproductive Strategy and Habitat for Swedish Marine and Brackish Teleosts
    An analysis of the relationships between skin and eye colouration, reproductive strategy and habitat for Swedish marine and brackish teleosts Tom Audhav Ämneslärarprogrammet Examensarbete: 15 hp Kurs: LGBI1G Självständigt arbete (examensarbete) 1 för gymnasielärare i biologi Institution: Institutionen för biologi och miljövetenskap Göteborgs universitet Nivå: Grundnivå Termin/år: HT/2014 Handledare: Docent Helen Nilsson Sköld Institutionen för biologi och miljövetenskap, Göteborgs universitet Examinator: Susanne Pihl Baden Institutionen för biologi och miljövetenskap, Göteborgs universitet Kod: HT14-3130-001-LGBI1G Nyckelord: Coloration, Reproductive strategy, Teleost, mate choice, Sexual selection Abstract We live in a time of rapid and easy sharing of data. Online databases allow scientist from all over the world to instantly share their results with the whole scientific community. One such database is fishBase (Froese & Pauly, Editors 2014), where people from all over the world collect pictures and basic data on all the world's fish species. The amount of readily available data allows for exploratory and comparative studies to be conducted without individual data collection but by putting the pre-existing data under the filter of new questions. This study uses fishBase and the Swedish Nationalnyckeln, (Kullander, Nyman, Jilg & Delling, 2012) to explore the relationship of conspicuous and cryptic colouration of skin and eyes to reproduction strategy, structural and colour complexity of the habitat and depth preference in Swedish marine and brackish teleosts. There have been many studies in the past exploring the function of contrasting skin colouration, and have found it to, be a faithful conveyor of fitness. This is however, to our knowledge, the first exploratory study on a species level, and also the first to consider eye colouration as a possible important variable.
    [Show full text]
  • IMR-PINRO Joint Report Series No. 4-2010 (PDF)
    IMR/PINRO J O 4 S I E N I T 2010 R E R E S P O R T Survey Report from the joint Norwegian-Russian Ecosystem Survey in the Barents Sea August - September 2010 Institute of Marine Research - IMR Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography - PINRO This report should be cited as: Anon. 2010. Survey report from the joint Norwegian/Russian ecosystem survey in the Barents Sea August-September 2010. IMR/PINRO Joint Report Series, No. 4/2010. ISSN 1502-8828. 108 pp. ECOSYSTEM SURVEY OF THE BARENTS SEA AUTUMN 2010 SURVEY REPORT FROM THE JOINT NORWEGIAN/RUSSIAN ECOSYSTEM SURVEY IN THE BARENTS SEA AUGUST – SEPTEMBER 2010 Preface The 7-th joint survey was carried out during the period 09th of August to 26th of September 2010. The survey plans and tasks were agreed in the annual IMR-PINRO meeting in March 2010 and all joint work was executed according to this plan. The effort allocated to demersal fish investigation was reduced by 12 % compared to previous years. Other investigations were kept at the same level as in previous years. Consequently, a joint, but somewhat reduced “ecosystem survey” was carried out by IMR and PINRO also in 2010. The content of this report covers many but not all aspects of the survey. The content will be updated and available in electronic form in the Internet (www.imr.no). “Potato deck”. Photo: Dmitry Prozorkevich 3 ECOSYSTEM SURVEY OF THE BARENTS SEA AUTUMN 2010 This report was prepared in Svanhovd, Finmark, Norway 27-30 September and by correspondence, and the following has contributed: Alexander Trofimov
    [Show full text]