Predator decline leads to decreased stability in a coastal fish community

Gregory L. Britten, Michael Dowd, Cóilín Minto, Francesco Ferretti, Ferdinando Boero, Heike K. Lotze

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

86 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Fisheries exploitation has caused widespread declines in marine predators. Theory predicts that predator depletion will destabilise lower trophic levels, making natural communities more vulnerable to environmental perturbations. However, empirical evidence has been limited. Using a community matrix model, we empirically assessed trends in the stability of a multispecies coastal fish community over the course of predator depletion. Three indices of community stability (resistance, resilience and reactivity) revealed significantly decreasing stability concurrent with declining predator abundance. The trophically downgraded community exhibited weaker top-down control, leading to predator-release processes in lower trophic levels and increased susceptibility to perturbation. At the community level, our results suggest that high predator abundance acts as a stabilising force to the naturally stochastic and highly autocorrelated dynamics in low trophic species. These findings have important implications for the conservation and management of predators in marine ecosystems and provide empirical support for the theory of predatory control.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1518-1525
Number of pages8
JournalEcology Letters
Volume17
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2014

Keywords

  • Autoregressive model
  • Community matrix
  • Community stability
  • Ecological role of predators
  • Stability analysis
  • Top-down control
  • Trophic dynamics

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