A new study led by researchers from Florida State University has examined the domino effect that occurs when too many fish are harvested from one habitat.
They say that the loss of a major species from an ecosystem can have unintended consequences because of the connections between that species and others in the system. Moreover, these changes often occur rapidly and unexpectedly, and are difficult to reverse.
“You don’t realise how interdependent species are until it all unravels,” said Felicia Coleman, director of the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory and a co-author on the study.
Ms Coleman and her co-authors, led by FSU biological science Professor Joseph Travis, examined case studies of several distressed ecosystems that had been thoroughly changed over the years because of overfishing.
“When you put all these examples together, you realise there really is something important going on in the world’s ecosystems,” Professor Travis said. “It’s easy to write off one case study. But, when you string them all together as this paper does, I think you come away with a compelling case that tipping points are real, we’ve crossed them in many ecosystems, and we’ll cross more of them unless we can get this problem under control.”
Professor Travis, Ms Coleman and their colleagues are hoping that their research will accelerate changes in how fisheries scientists approach these ecosystem problems and how fisheries managers integrate system issues into their efforts.
The paper was published in the 23 December issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
