Productive capacity of fish habitats: a review of research development and future directions

Abstract

Productive capacity of fish habitats (PCFH) is an important characteristic indicator to evaluating the impact of humans on fish habitats and the aquatic ecosystem. Using the bibliometric techniques and searching the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded) database from 1946 to 3/14/2014, this paper quantitatively reviewed the global research related to the PCFH, to predict important current and future research topics on this issue. Articles referencing the PCFH were analysed by accessing the following: document type and publication language, publication output characteristics, journal publication patterns, country and institution publication performance, author keyword, title words and Keywords Plus. The results confirmed that research on PCFH is becoming a notable area of interest. Current research emphases of PCFH are fish-habitat relationship and fish production, aquaculture techniques and fishery products, habitat conservation and fishery management, and climate change. Furthermore, six key areas of future research directions on PCFH were identified, namely: theoretical and technological basis, PCFH content, driving factors, calculation methods, ecosystem management and conservation strategies, and aquaculture. Moreover, it was suggest that a food web perspective should be considered in future fish habitat management and decision-making research. Basic data collection on fish and habitat is very urgent and important, and restoring the ecological function of fish habitats and damaged biological communities also represent important topics for future PCFH studies.