Biomanipulation: A Tool in Marine Ecosystem Management and Restoration?

Authors:
Lindegren, M., C. Mo_llmann and L.A. Hansson

Publication Date:
2010

Abstract/Summary:
Widespread losses of production and conservation values make large-scale ecosystem restoration increasingly urgent. Ecological restoration by means of biomanipulation, i.e., by fishing out planktivores to reduce the predation pressure on herbivorous zooplankton, has proved to be an effective tool in restoring degraded lakes and coastal ecosystems. Whether biomanipulation may prove a useful restoration method in open and structurally complex marine ecosystems is, however, still unknown. To promote a recovery of the collapsed stock of Eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua), large-scale biomanipulation of sprat (Sprattus sprattus), the main planktivore in the Baltic Sea, has been suggested as a possible management approach.

Resource Type:
Peer-reviewed Article

Source:
Ecological Applications

Link:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/09-0754.1/abstract?journalCode=ecap