Rodrigo Muñoz-Cordovez1, Pippa Moore2, Luis Ariz3, Mike Burrows4, Patricia Carbajal5, Hannah Earp2, Italo Fernandez-Cisternas1, Luis Figueroa-Fábrega6, Alex Gamarra5, Camilla González-Alonso de Linaje1, Adam Gouraguine2, Diego Hinostroza5, Cata Ruz1, Juan Pablo Siñuela1, Dan Smale7, Roberto Uribe5, Eliana Velasco4, Alejandro Pérez-Matus1
1 Laboratorio de Ecología Submareal, SUBELAB. Estación costera de investigaciones marinas, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
2 School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
3 Departamento de Oceanografía y Medio Ambiente, Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP), Valparaíso, Chile
4 Scottish Association of Marine Science, Dunstaffange Marine Laboratory, Oban, UK
5 Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE), Lima, Peru
6 Laboratorio de Estudios Ecosistémicos, Universidad Viña del Mar, Chile
7 Marine Biological Society, The Laboratory, Plymouth, UK
Habitat loss and degradation are recognized as the main causes of species decline in marine ecosystems. Chile accounts for approximately 40% of wild kelp harvesting globally and Lessonia trabeculata is one of the main exploited subtidal species. In fact, kelp overharvesting is reducing the biogenic habitat compromising the ecosystem value in some regions of Chile. To inform better management, the resilience of kelp forest to harvesting practices is necessary on their geographic distribution. Moreover, it is well known that a gradient of fishery impact is potentially lower in sites where fisherman managed their resources as in territorial use rights fisheries (TURFs) as opposed open access areas (OAs). To evaluate kelp resilience, an experimental removal was carried out in six sites combining TURF and OA sites along three latitudinal zones (North, Northern-Central, and Central Chile) spanning ˜560 km of coastline. A baseline survey of the kelp forests was assessed to represent the pre-harvested state. At each site, 4 -6 m diameter kelp patches were completely removed mimicking kelp harvesting techniques. Kelp density, morphology (holdfast size and total lengths) was monitored at 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months after kelp removal and herbivores were also counted. We compared the trends in those metrics with the pre-pulse disturbance to evaluate kelp recovery between management regimes at each zone. Results indicate a faster rate of recovery of adult density and morphology in 2/3 TURF sites. OA sites holds higher number of kelp herbivores than in TURF sites. We conclude that management regime can affect the recovery of L. trabeculata due to differences in ecological conditions such as intensity of herbivory.
Funding: NERC-Newton Fund – ANID (Agencia Nacional de Investigación) Latin American Biodiversity Grant NE/S011692/1.
Biography:
Pip Moore is a professor of Marine Science at Newcastle University whose research interests include the impact of climate change and other anthropogenic activities on coastal marine ecosystems. Broadly, her current research projects include kelp forest ecology, blue carbon, marine heatwaves, and eco-engineering.
