{"title":"Harvesting impact on a commercially important red macroalga on a North-East Atlantic rocky shore","authors":"Jessica Knoop, Sara Barrento, John N. Griffin","doi":"10.1007/s10750-024-05591-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Red macroalgae in the genus <i>Porphyra</i> are widely collected for human consumption and increasingly harvested along the North Atlantic coasts but their ability to withstand repeated harvesting and maintain high cover and abundance on natural shorelines remains poorly explored, raising sustainability concerns. Therefore, we investigated the effect of frequent hand-harvesting on <i>Porphyra dioica</i> in a population in South Wales, UK, where it is commercially harvested. Twelve control and twelve treatment quadrats were installed in spring and six control and treatment plots in autumn. Monthly hand-harvesting of <i>P. dioica</i> individuals larger than 5 cm was performed in the treatment plots, while the control plots remained undisturbed. We monitored <i>P. dioica</i> percentage cover, yield, thallus length and recruit density, as well as benthic flora and fauna. Harvesting only impacted <i>P. dioica</i> thallus length, resulting in 41% smaller thalli compared to unharvested plots during summer, with possible long-term implications (e.g. reproductive output). Strong seasonality of <i>P. dioica</i> cover and yield was observed, peaking during spring and summer. The results suggest high resilience of the opportunistic life strategy of <i>P. dioica</i> under frequent harvesting, but to allow for full recovery, we urge for a recovery period of more than the tested 4 weeks.</p>","PeriodicalId":13147,"journal":{"name":"Hydrobiologia","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Hydrobiologia","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-024-05591-6","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Red macroalgae in the genus Porphyra are widely collected for human consumption and increasingly harvested along the North Atlantic coasts but their ability to withstand repeated harvesting and maintain high cover and abundance on natural shorelines remains poorly explored, raising sustainability concerns. Therefore, we investigated the effect of frequent hand-harvesting on Porphyra dioica in a population in South Wales, UK, where it is commercially harvested. Twelve control and twelve treatment quadrats were installed in spring and six control and treatment plots in autumn. Monthly hand-harvesting of P. dioica individuals larger than 5 cm was performed in the treatment plots, while the control plots remained undisturbed. We monitored P. dioica percentage cover, yield, thallus length and recruit density, as well as benthic flora and fauna. Harvesting only impacted P. dioica thallus length, resulting in 41% smaller thalli compared to unharvested plots during summer, with possible long-term implications (e.g. reproductive output). Strong seasonality of P. dioica cover and yield was observed, peaking during spring and summer. The results suggest high resilience of the opportunistic life strategy of P. dioica under frequent harvesting, but to allow for full recovery, we urge for a recovery period of more than the tested 4 weeks.
期刊介绍:
Hydrobiologia publishes original research, reviews and opinions regarding the biology of all aquatic environments, including the impact of human activities. We welcome molecular-, organism-, community- and ecosystem-level studies in contributions dealing with limnology and oceanography, including systematics and aquatic ecology. Hypothesis-driven experimental research is preferred, but also theoretical papers or articles with large descriptive content will be considered, provided they are made relevant to a broad hydrobiological audience. Applied aspects will be considered if firmly embedded in an ecological context.