Assessing the sublethal impacts of anthropogenic stressors on fish: An energy‐budget approach

Fish are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic stressors from human developments and activities such as agriculture, urbanization, pollution and fishing. Lethal impacts of these stressors have been studied but the potential sublethal impacts, such as behavioural changes or reduced growth and reproduction, have often been overlooked. Unlike mortality, sublethal impacts are broad and difficult to quantify experimentally. As a result, sublethal impacts are often ignored in regulatory frameworks and management decisions. Building on established fish bioenergetic models, we present a general method for using the population consequences of disturbance framework to investigate how stressors influence ecologically relevant life processes of fish. We partition impact into the initial energetic cost of attempts to escape from the stressor, followed by the energetic impacts of any injury or behavioural change, and their consequent effects on life processes. As a case study, we assess the sublethal effects of catch and release angling for the European sea bass (Dicentrachus labrax, Moronidae), a popular target species for recreational fishers. The energy budget model described is not intended to replace existing experimental approaches but does provide a simple way to account for sublethal impacts in assessment of the impact of recreational fisheries and aid development of robust management approaches. There is potential to apply our energy budget approach to investigate a broad range of stressors and cumulative impacts for many fish species while also using individual‐based models to estimate population‐level impacts.     

Evaluating methods for identifying large mammal road crossing locations: black bears as a case study

Landscape Ecology - Roads have several negative effects on large mammals including restricting movements, isolating populations, and mortality due to vehicle collisions. Where large mammals...     

Grassland fragmentation affects declining tallgrass prairie birds most where large amounts of grassland remain

Landscape Ecology - Habitat fragmentation can exacerbate the negative effects of habitat loss for some species. Mitigating fragmentation is difficult, however, because population responses depend...     

Invasive Chinese pond mussel Sinanodonta woodiana threatens native mussel reproduction by inducing cross‐resistance of host fish

1. The effects of invasive alien species (IAS) on host–affiliate relationships are often subtle and remain unnoticed or insufficiently quantified. The global decline of freshwater unionid mussel species has been attributed to many causes, but little is known about the interactions of IAS, with their complex life cycle, which includes an obligatory parasitic stage (the glochidium) that develops on fishes.
2. The capacity of a European freshwater mussel, Anodonta anatina, to develop on its widespread fish host, Squalius cephalus was tested experimentally, after previous infestations by the IAS, Sinanodonta (Anodonta) woodiana. The initial attachment of glochidia, the length of the parasitic period, and the metamorphosis success rate of A. anatina glochidia were compared among treatments of different priming infestation intensities.
3. The metamorphosis success rate of the native A. anatina glochidia was strongly reduced (Wilcoxon Signed‐Rank Test, P < 0.001) and declined by 42.1 and 45.4% on fish hosts that were previously exposed to S. woodiana by single and multiple priming infestations, respectively, in comparison with the control group. Such cross‐resistance is expected to decrease significantly the quality of the host resources available to native mussels.
4. This study provides the first evidence of the host‐mediated adverse impact of invasive S. woodiana on native mussel species. These results also highlight the importance of potential competition for hosts between threatened groups of affiliate species and their invasive counterparts, which should be reflected in conservation strategies.

     

Time‐lapse monitoring of soil water content using electromagnetic conductivity imaging

The volumetric soil water content (θ) is fundamental to agriculture because its spatiotemporal variation in soil affects the growth of plants. Unfortunately, the universally accepted thermogravimetric method for estimating volumetric soil water content is very labour intensive and time‐consuming for use in field‐scale monitoring. Electromagnetic (EM) induction instruments have proven to be useful in mapping the spatiotemporal variation of θ. However, depth‐specific variation in θ, which is important for irrigation management, has been little explored. The objective of this study was to develop a relationship between θ and estimates of true electrical conductivity (σ) and to use this relationship to develop time‐lapse images of soil θ beneath a centre‐pivot irrigated alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) crop in San Jacinto, California, USA. We first measured the bulk apparent electrical conductivity (EC_a – mS/m) using a DUALEM‐421 over a period of 12 days after an irrigation event (i.e. days 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 12). We used EM4Soil to generate EM conductivity images (EMCIs). We used a physical model to estimate θ from σ, accounting for soil tortuosity and pore water salinity, with a cross‐validation RMSE of 0.04 cm³/cm³. Testing the scenario where no soil information is available, we used a three‐parameter exponential model to relate θ to σ and then to map θ along the transect on different days. The results allowed us to monitor the spatiotemporal variations of θ across the surveyed area, over the 12‐day period. In this regard, we were able to map the soil close to field capacity (0.27 cm³/cm³) and approaching permanent wilting point (0.03 cm³/cm³). The time‐lapse θ monitoring approach, developed using EMCI, has implications for soil and water use and management and will potentially allow farmers and consultants to identify inefficiencies in water application rates and use. It can also be used as a research tool to potentially assist precision irrigation practices and to test the efficacy of different methods of irrigation in terms of water delivery and efficiency in water use in near real time.     

Do cover crops change the lability of phosphorus in a clayey subtropical soil under different phosphate fertilizers?

Plants have developed different mechanisms to absorb and solubilize phosphorus (P) in the soil, especially in environments with low P availability. This study evaluated the effects of different winter cover crops on soil P availability in a clayey subtropical (Hapludox) soil receiving soluble P fertilizer and a rock phosphate applied to the summer crop, under no‐tillage. The experiment was carried out over 3 yrs (2009–2011) with five different cover crop species: common vetch, fodder radish, ryegrass, black oat, white clover and fallow as control. The soil was sampled after the third year of cover crop cultivation and analysed for inorganic and organic P forms according to the well‐established Hedley fractionation procedure. Phosphate fertilizers promoted accumulation of both labile and nonlabile P pools in soil in the near surface layer, especially under rock phosphate. Fertilizer applications were not able to change P fractions in deeper layers, emphasizing that the Brazilian clayey soils are a sink of P from fertilizer and its mobility is almost nil. Although the cover crops recycled a great amount of P in tissue, in a short‐term evaluation (3 yrs) they only changed the content of moderately labile P in soil, indicating that long‐term studies are needed for more conclusive results.     

A stochastic surplus production model in continuous time

Surplus production modelling has a long history as a method for managing data‐limited fish stocks. Recent advancements have cast surplus production models as state‐space models that separate random variability of stock dynamics from error in observed indices of biomass. We present a stochastic surplus production model in continuous time (SPiCT), which in addition to stock dynamics also models the dynamics of the fisheries. This enables error in the catch process to be reflected in the uncertainty of estimated model parameters and management quantities. Benefits of the continuous‐time state‐space model formulation include the ability to provide estimates of exploitable biomass and fishing mortality at any point in time from data sampled at arbitrary and possibly irregular intervals. We show in a simulation that the ability to analyse subannual data can increase the effective sample size and improve estimation of reference points relative to discrete‐time analysis of aggregated annual data. Finally, subannual data from five North Sea stocks are analysed with particular focus on using residual analysis to diagnose model insufficiencies and identify necessary model extensions such as robust estimation and incorporation of seasonality. We argue that including all known sources of uncertainty, propagation of that uncertainty to reference points and checking of model assumptions using residuals are critical prerequisites to rigorous fish stock management based on surplus production models.     

Evaluation of ingredient combinations from differing origins (fishmeal,terrestrial animal and plants) and two different formulated nutrient targets on rainbow trout growth and production efficiency

A 12‐week trial was performed with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) utilizing combinations of ingredients at two nutrient targets. Ingredient combinations were fishmeal‐based diet (FMD), animal product‐based diet (APD), plant product‐based diet (PPD), novel plant‐based diet (NPD) and potential future plant‐based diet (FPD). Two nutrient concentrations were targeted: 1) to meet published amino acid targets for rainbow trout utilizing approximately 450 g/kg crude protein (400–420 g/kg digestible protein) and 2) to meet the amino acid targets based on ideal amino acid balance of trout muscle for Lys, Met and Thr utilizing approximately 400 g/kg crude protein (370–380 g/kg digestible protein). Interactive effects between ingredient combination and nutrient concentration occurred across all response variables. When diets were formulated to Target 1, fish consuming FMD and APD displayed better weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) than plant‐based diet, while graded effects were found within the plant‐based treatments. When differing ingredient combinations were utilized and formulated to Target 2, fish grew equally well except for the NPD treatment which supported lower growth and higher FCR. Based on the data from the current experiment, one can completely remove fishmeal from trout feeds and reduce protein levels when dietary digestible amino acids are balanced.     

Responses of Australian sea lions,Neophoca cinerea,to anthropogenic activities in the Perth metropolitan area,Western Australia

1. Tourist‐based activities, partly due to their rapid increase, have raised concerns regarding the impacts of anthropogenic activity on marine fauna. Documented effects on pinnipeds in proximity to humans include changes in behaviour, site use and potentially higher aggression levels towards people. Effects vary considerably between populations and sites, thus requiring separate assessment of human impacts on activity and energy budgets.
2. Responses of the endangered Australian sea lion, Neophoca cinerea, to human visitation were recorded from November 2013 through April 2014. Exposure levels and response types to anthropogenic activities were assessed at two easily accessible locations with different management schemes, Seal (landing prohibited) and Carnac (landing permitted) islands, Western Australia. Exposure levels were measured as both stimulus type (i.e. ‘People’, ‘Paddlers’, ‘Small’, ‘Medium’, and ‘Large vessels’, ‘Tour vessels’, and ‘Jet skies’), and people (‘Direct’, ‘Attract’, ‘Interact’, ‘View’, ‘Incidental’, ‘Water’, ‘Low‐level’), and vessel activities (‘Interact’, ‘Approach/Follow’, ‘Anchor noise’, ‘Engine noise’, ‘Close to beach’, ‘Moderate/Fast travel’, ‘Slow travel’, ‘Transit’, ‘Drift/At anchor’, ‘Aircraft noise’).
3. Exposure levels varied significantly between the islands in numbers, stimuli type, duration and minimum approach distances. The instantaneous behaviours of ‘Lift head’, ‘Interact’ and ‘Sit’ were the most frequent responses. ‘Aggressive’ and ‘Retreat’ responses, the highest disturbance levels measured, occurred on Carnac approximately once per day, but rarely on Seal Island. ‘Aggressive’ behaviour towards ‘People’ was observed only on Carnac Island and elicited only by ‘People’. ‘People’, ‘Tour vessels’, and scenic ‘Aircrafts’ on both islands as well as ‘Jet skis’ on Carnac Island had the highest probability of triggering responses. Owing to their relatively high visitation at Seal Island, ‘Paddle powered vessels’, followed by ‘Tour vessels’ elicited the highest number of responses, compared with ‘People’, ‘Small’, and ‘Medium vessels’ at Carnac Island. The majority of responses occurred when any stimulus type was at short‐range (≤10 m), and ‘People’ ‘Viewing’ N. cinerea elicited most. Vessels triggered more responses at larger ranges than ‘People’.
4. To limit close‐range access to N. cinerea, one possibility is to close the beach at Carnac Island to human visitation and increase the minimum approach distance by vessels and ‘People’ by installing marker buoys at least 15 m from the shore.

© 2016 The Authors. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.