Shifts in Eastern Mediterranean Fish Communities: Abundance Changes, Trait Overlap, and Possible Competition between Native and Non-Native Species

Erik Arndt,Jonathan Belmaker,Oren Sonin,Or Givan,Dor Edelist

doi:10.3390/fishes3020019

Abstract

During the last few decades the fish community has changed substantially along the Eastern Mediterranean continental shelf, which is a hotspot of invasion by species that had migrated via the Suez Canal. Trawl data from the Israeli coast spanning two periods (1990–1994 and 2008–2011) were compared to identify species with substantial variation in their relative abundance between the two periods. The aim of this study was to examine if certain ecological traits characterize fish species showing an increase or decrease in relative abundance, and if non-indigenous fishes with strongly increasing populations may have caused the decline of native species with similar habitats and diets. We found that the main predictors of population trends were species length, habitat affinity, and maximum depth, with larger and soft bottom species displaying decreasing abundances. Comparing native and non-indigenous fishes with similar habitat and diet, we found a potential for competitive impact of the Indo-Pacific Plotosus lineatus and two Upeneus spp. on the native Mullus species. However, competition with non-indigenous fishes could not generally explain the dramatic decline of many other native species between the two study periods. Alternative causes, such as fishery pressure and increasing water temperature, are discussed.

Highlights

Changes in marine fish communities, i.e., shifts in species composition or a decrease in abundance, have been a main focus of study over the last few decades
Non-indigenous species did not represent a new phenomenon in the period 2008–2011, their number has since doubled among the 25 most commonly trawled fishes
The proportions of 14 species decreased between the two study periods by a factor of 2 or more, including 10 native and two non-indigenous fishes (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Changes in marine fish communities, i.e., shifts in species composition or a decrease in abundance, have been a main focus of study over the last few decades. Profound changes were observed in a wide range of marine regions from subarctic to tropical zones [1,2,3,4]. These have mainly been attributed to climate change [5,6,7], fishery pressure [8,9,10,11], and habitat degradation or loss [12,13,14]. Though Indo-Pacific fishes may arrive at the Levantine basin in a number of ways, immigration via the Suez Cannel

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Discussion

Conclusion