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ecosystems

Solutions to blue carbon emissions: Shrimp cultivation, mangrove deforestation and climate change in coastal Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a world leader in aquaculture production, ranking sixth after China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Due to the nation’s favourable physical characteristics, Bangladesh is highly suitable for coastal aquaculture, especially the tiger shrimp sector. Shrimp culture has diversified livelihood opportunities for coastal communities, as over two million people are involved in fish farming, market, processing, and exporting.

Global spatial distribution of marine species and diversity in the context of climate change

The world is intuitively divided by the existence of recognizable, bounded units of landscape with characteristic climatic regimes and land cover that drives the distribution of existing life on earth. On a global scale, terrestrial ecosystems are grouped into major biomes such as boreal forest, savannah, desert, tundra and grasslands, each with distinct climates, landscapes, species, and vegetation.

Marine conservation must consider human rights: An appeal for a code of conduct

Off the northern Andaman coast of Thailand, marine protected areas have been established to protect the vibrant coral reefs and underwater ecosystems. But underlying the good intentions of those promoting marine conservation are unintended consequences – that small-scale fishers and indigenous Moken communities were restricted from fishing and harvesting in the area with no other livelihoods options provided.

Reproductive strategies and rockfish: A life history traits framework for fisheries management

Any trip to an aquarium or seafood market reveals the incredible variety of fishes. These fishes not only differ in how they look, but in traits related to life history. Life history traits include maximum body size, longevity, age at maturity, and fecundity – the number of eggs produced. Fishes that have the same phylogeny, or evolutionary history, share similar traits. Conversely, unrelated fishes occasionally evolve similar traits independently.

Mangroves, fisheries, and community livelihoods: Conducting fieldwork in Indonesia

Mangrove forests, made up of shrubs and trees with sprawling roots that grow in salt water, provide many services to humans and marine ecosystems. They sequester carbon, pulling it from the atmosphere, and prevent erosion of coastal areas. Due to their unique characteristics, mangrove forests provide an important source of food and shelter for marine species, including many important fisheries. Mangroves cover 150,000 km² of coastline in tropical and warm temperate regions around the world. Rachel Seary, Nereus Fellow at Cambridge/UNEP-WCMC, is currently conducting research to understand both the direct benefits that mangroves have on communities living and fishing within their vicinity and also the indirect benefits that mangroves may have on coastal fisheries productivity in Bali, Indonesia.

From tiny phytoplankton to massive tuna: how climate change will affect energy flows in ocean ecosystems

Phytoplankton are the foundation of ocean life, providing the energy that supports nearly all marine species. Levels of phytoplankton in an ocean area may seem like a good predictor for the amount of fish that can be caught there, but a new study by Nereus Program researchers finds that this relationship is not so straightforward

Scenarios for investigating the future of Canada’s oceans and marine fisheries under environmental and socioeconomic change

Fisheries Economics Research Unit (UBC) Research Associate Louise Teh, Nereus Director of Science William Cheung, and OceanCanada Director and Nereus Research Associate (Honourary) Rashid Sumaila recently had a paper (“Scenarios for investigating the future of Canada’s oceans and marine fisheries under environmental and socioeconomic change“) published in Regional Environmental Change, wherein they review existing methods of scenario analysis (preparing for future response based on multiple potential outcomes) in the marine conservation and fisheries sectors in Canada.

Biogeochemical regions of the Mediterranean Sea: an objective multidimensional and multivariate environmental approach

The study “Biogeochemical regions of the Mediterranean Sea: an objective multidimensional and multivariate environmental approach” was recently published in Progress in Oceanography with Nereus Fellow Gabriel Reygondeau (UBC) as the lead author. In the paper, a biogeochemical/ecological spatial framework was defined for ecosystems of the Mediterranean Sea.

Colleen Petrik wins PICES 2016 Science Board Best Presentation Award

Nereus Fellow at Princeton University Colleen Petrik won the Science Board Best Presentation Award at the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) annual meeting, held in San Diego, from November 2 to 11. She gave a plenary presentation on “The response of fisheries production to natural and anthropogenic forcing: past, present and future”, using the results of the model she developed with her Nereus research.