CodSize: Resolving impacts of Atlantic cod body size on population replenishment and coastal ecosystem change (completed)

About the project

CodSize aims to advance our knowledge on coastal ecosystem structure, as well as function and change. We will focus on the role of body size as a functional trait in a harvested coastal predator, the Atlantic cod.

We will take advantage of a no-take marine reserve centred around a fjord cod spawning area where fishing is not allowed.

First, we want to understand how spawning ecology and population replenishment is structured by body size diversity within a natural population. Resolving this question could have wide-ranging consequences for fisheries management, because most fisheries tend to remove the larger individuals and thereby cause severe size-truncation in harvested populations. We will combine novel technologies and data analyses for revealing spawning behaviour, habitat use and offspring production of individual fish in their natural environment. The latter will depend on successfully tracing cod offspring back to their parents in a natural fjord  environment. This will be a challenge, but recent methodological advances indicates that it can be achieved.

Our approach will include the use of advanced accelerometer tags and a large underwater telemetry array for measuring fish movements. This precision will open for novel applications of network theory, for instance by resolving how fish body size influence the mating system.

Second, we will combine data on feeding behaviour with individual trophic level of feeding to resolve how predator body size may shape how coastal ecosystems function.

Third, we will use empirical data to fill in models that utilise body size as the primary scaling factor of species interactions (ATN: allometric trophic network models) for predicting how the resilience and dynamics of coastal ecosystems may change in response to environmental change, including ocean warming.

Outcomes

Healthy cod stocks provide substantial ecosystem services to humans, most importantly as a source of food and employment but also for recreational fisheries where factors other than food provisioning determine angler satisfaction. Large predators like cod may also influence the capacity for coastal ecosystems function to mitigate climate change by storing carbon.

Understanding the role of predator body size as a functional trait, and adjusting management regulations accordingly, is therefore likely to benefit society by strengthening a number of ecosystem services.

Financing

The project owner is the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) and is funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN).

RCN Project Number: 294926 (Project data bank at RCN) 

UiO Project Number: 190840

 

Publications

  • Varnes, Bjørg Karin & Olsen, Esben Moland (2023). Fish community dynamics in a coastal no-take marine protected area compared to a harvested area before and after protection from fishing. ICES Journal of Marine Science. ISSN 1054-3139. 80(5), p. 1462–1471. doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsad074. Full text in Research Archive
  • Monk, Christopher; Power, Michael; Freitas, Carla; Harrison, Philip M.; Heupel, Michelle & Kuparinen, Anna [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2023). Atlantic cod individual spatial behaviour and stable isotope associations in a no-take marine reserve. Journal of Animal Ecology. ISSN 0021-8790. 92(12), p. 2333–2347. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.14014. Full text in Research Archive
  • Synnes, Ann-Elin; Olsen, Esben Moland; Jorde, Per Erik; Knutsen, Halvor & Moland, Even (2023). Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages. Ecology and Evolution. ISSN 2045-7758. 13(12). doi: 10.1002/ece3.10745. Full text in Research Archive
  • Villegas-Ríos, David; Freitas, Carla; Moland, Even & Olsen, Esben Moland (2022). Eco-evolutionary dynamics of Atlantic cod spatial behavior maintained after the implementation of a marine reserve. Evolutionary Applications. ISSN 1752-4571. doi: 10.1111/eva.13483. Full text in Research Archive
  • Sørdalen, Tonje Knutsen; Halvorsen, Kim Aleksander Tallaksen & Olsen, Esben Moland (2022). Protection from fishing improves body growth of an exploited species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. ISSN 0962-8452. 289(1987). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1718. Full text in Research Archive
  • Ran, Nathan; Monk, Christopher; Arlinghaus, Robert; Adam, Timo; Alós, Josep & Assaf, Michael [Show all 37 contributors for this article] (2022). Big-data approaches lead to an increased understanding of the ecology of animal movement. Science. ISSN 0036-8075. 375(6582). doi: 10.1126/science.abg1780. Full text in Research Archive
  • Dunlop, Katherine Mary; Staby, Arved; van der Meeren, Terje; Keeley, Nigel B.; Olsen, Esben Moland & Bannister, Raymond [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2022). Habitat associations of juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) and sympatric demersal fish communities within shallow inshore nursery grounds. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. ISSN 0272-7714. 279. doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108111. Full text in Research Archive
  • Freitas, Carla; Villegas-Ríos, David; Moland, Even & Olsen, Esben Moland (2021). Sea temperature effects on depth use and habitat selection in a marine fish community. Journal of Animal Ecology. ISSN 0021-8790. 90(7), p. 1787–1800. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13497. Full text in Research Archive
  • Martin, Angela Helen; Pearson, Heidi; Saba, Grace & Olsen, Esben Moland (2021). Integral functions of marine vertebrates in the ocean carbon cycle and climate change mitigation. One Earth. ISSN 2590-3330. 4(5), p. 680–693. doi: 10.1016/j.oneear.2021.04.019. Full text in Research Archive
  • Kristensen, Martin Lykke; Olsen, Esben Moland; Moland, Even; Knutsen, Halvor; Grønkjær, Peter & Koed, Anders [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2021). Disparate movement behavior and feeding ecology in sympatric ecotypes of Atlantic cod. Ecology and Evolution. ISSN 2045-7758. 11(16), p. 11477–11490. doi: 10.1002/ece3.7939. Full text in Research Archive
  • Villegas-Ríos, David; Claudet, Joachim; Freitas, Carla; Moland, Even; Thorbjørnsen, Susanna Huneide & Alonso-Fernández, Alexandre [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2021). Time at risk: Individual spatial behaviour drives effectiveness of marine protected areas and fitness. Biological Conservation. ISSN 0006-3207. 263, p. 1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109333. Full text in Research Archive
  • Moland, Even; Fernández-Chacón, Albert; Sørdalen, Tonje Knutsen; Villegas-Rios, David; Thorbjørnsen, Susanna Huneide & Halvorsen, Kim Aleksander Tallaksen [Show all 14 contributors for this article] (2021). Restoration of Abundance and Dynamics of Coastal Fish and Lobster Within Northern Marine Protected Areas Across Two Decades. Frontiers in Marine Science. ISSN 2296-7745. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.674756. Full text in Research Archive
  • Fernández-Chacón, Albert; Villegas-Ríos, David; Moland, Even; Baskett, Marissa L.; Olsen, Esben Moland & Carlson, Stephanie M. (2020). Protected areas buffer against harvest selection and rebuild phenotypic complexity. Ecological Applications. ISSN 1051-0761. 30(5). doi: 10.1002/eap.2108. Full text in Research Archive
  • Villegas-Ríos, David; Freitas, Carla; Moland, Even; Thorbjørnsen, Susanna Huneide & Olsen, Esben M. (2020). Inferring individual fate from aquatic acoustic telemetry data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. ISSN 2041-210X. 11(10), p. 1186–1198. doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.13446. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in Cristin

Published Jan. 5, 2021 12:04 PM - Last modified Feb. 22, 2023 10:41 AM