Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, 4810, Australia.
Australian Institute of Marine Science, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
Nat Commun. 2021 Dec 8;12(1):6986. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26786-8.
Outbreaks of corallivorous Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (CoTS, Acanthaster spp.) have caused persistent and widespread loss of coral cover across Indo-Pacific coral reefs. The potential drivers of these outbreaks have been debated for more than 50 years, hindering effective management to limit their destructive impacts. Here, we show that fish biomass removal through commercial and recreational fisheries may be a major driver of CoTS population outbreaks. CoTS densities increase systematically with increasing fish biomass removal, including for known CoTS predators. Moreover, the biomass of fish species and families that influence CoTS densities are 1.4 to 2.1-fold higher on reefs within no-take marine reserves, while CoTS densities are 2.8-fold higher on reefs that are open to fishing, indicating the applicability of fisheries-based management to prevent CoTS outbreaks. Designing targeted fisheries management with consideration of CoTS population dynamics may offer a tangible and promising contribution to effectively reduce the detrimental impacts of CoTS outbreaks across the Indo-Pacific.
棘冠海星（CoTS，Acanthaster spp.）的爆发已导致印度洋-太平洋珊瑚礁的珊瑚覆盖区持续且广泛地消失。这些爆发的潜在驱动因素已经争论了 50 多年，阻碍了有效的管理措施来限制其破坏性影响。在这里，我们表明，商业和休闲渔业的鱼类生物量去除可能是 CoTS 种群爆发的主要驱动因素。CoTS 的密度随着鱼类生物量去除的增加而系统地增加，包括已知的 CoTS 捕食者。此外，在禁捕海洋保护区内的珊瑚礁上，影响 CoTS 密度的鱼类物种和科的生物量比开放捕鱼的珊瑚礁高 1.4 到 2.1 倍，而 CoTS 的密度比开放捕鱼的珊瑚礁高 2.8 倍，这表明基于渔业的管理措施在防止 CoTS 爆发方面具有适用性。在考虑 CoTS 种群动态的情况下，设计有针对性的渔业管理措施可能为有效减少 CoTS 爆发对印度洋-太平洋地区的不利影响做出切实可行且有前途的贡献。
