Complementarity and sensitivity of benthic state indicators to bottom‐trawl fishing disturbance
Many indicators have been developed to assess the state of benthic communities and identify seabed habitats most at risk from bottom trawling disturbance. However, the large variety of indicators and their development and application under specific geographic areas and management contexts has made it difficult to evaluate their wider utility. We compared the complementarity/uniqueness, sensitivity, and selectivity of 18 benthic indicators to pressure of bottom trawling. Seventeen common datasets with broad regional representation covering a range of pressure gradients from bottom trawling disturbance (n = 14), eutrophication (n = 1), marine pollution (n = 1), and oxygen depletion (n = 1) were used for the comparison. The outcomes of most indicators were correlated to a certain extent with response to bottom trawling disturbance, and two complementary groups of indicators were identified: diversity-based and biological trait-based indicators. Trait-based indicators that quantify the changes in relative abundance of sensitive taxa were most effective in identifying benthic community change in response to bottom trawling disturbance. None of the indicators responded to the trawling pressure gradient in all datasets, and some showed a response that were opposed to the theoretical expectation for some gradients. Indicators that showed clear responses to bottom trawling disturbance also showed clear responses in at least one other pressure gradient, suggesting those indicators are not pressure specific. These results emphasize the importance of selecting several indicators, at least one from each group (diversity and trait-based), to capture the broader signals of change in benthic communities due to bottom trawling activities. Our systematic approach offers the basis from which scientific advisors and/or managers can select suitable combinations of indicators to arrive at a sensitive and comprehensive benthic status assessment.
Authors
- Ana García‐Alegre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1541-4938)
- Jan Geert Hiddink (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7114-830X)
- Grete E. Dinesen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6385-1238)
- Sebastian Valanko
- Juan Bellas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6179-8528)
- Alberto Serrano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9808-3964)
- Chris Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0599-4633)
- Mattias Sköld (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6456-3115)
- Aurélien Boyé (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5692-7660)
- Maider Plaza‐Morlote (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6977-1362)
- Sofia Reizopoulou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4719-6536)
- Saša Raicevich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9323-031X)
- Gert Van Hoey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2055-5292)
- S. Wijnhoven
- Andrea Pierucci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4252-1184)
- Josie Hansen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4806-4014)
- Nikolaos Katsiaras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1018-2322)
- P. Daniël van Denderen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6351-0241)
- Henrik Nygård (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4210-8875)
- M.M. Sacau-Cuadrado (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6529-3110)
- David G. Reid (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8494-0918)
- Nadia Papadopoulou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4767-9949)
- Sandrine Vaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7365-8335)
- Ellen Kenchington (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3784-4533)
- José Manuel González‐Irusta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3948-604X)
- Elina Virtanen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9702-6677)
- Stefan G. Bolam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6604-4741)
- U. Fernández-Arcaya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5588-3520)
- P. Durán-Muñoz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9618-4224)
- Ángel Borja (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1601-2025)
- Marie‐Julie Roux (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4831-8507)
- Giada Riva
Institutions
- Flanders Marine Institute (BE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada (CA)
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (GB)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- University of Padua (IT)
- Ifremer (FR)
- Bangor University (GB)
- University of Rhode Island (US)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Bedford Institute of Oceanography (CA)
- Finnish Environment Institute (FI)
- International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (DK)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Instituto Español de Oceanografía (ES)
- Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (IT)
- Joint Research Centre (IT)
- Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (GR)
- Finnish Museum of Natural History (FI)
- Marine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (FR)
- Marine Technology Unit (ES)
- Marine Institute (IE)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Ecological Applications
- Published
- 2024-10-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.3050
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Marine and fisheries research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.26
Funders
- Agentschap Innoveren en Ondernemen
- European Commission
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- European Maritime and Fisheries Fund