Global Patterns In Ecosystem Traits of Marine Food Webs

A meta-analysis of 105 models of marine ecosystems was undertaken using their ecological network analysis characteristics. The models span both fished and unfished systems from 1880 to the early 2000s, and all the world’s oceans, with the models from the Atlantic Ocean being the most prevalent and those in the Indian Ocean the least numerous. Ecosystem indices were significantly different between different ecosystem types and the sizes of systems, while the most surprising differences were found between the Eastern and Western parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Fishing indicators show significant differences between depth and size of systems. Systems that were fished had significantly lower total biomass of the communities and significantly lower ratios of primary production to total systems production. Conversely systems showed significant loss in production with depth and size of system, while there were significantly different probabilities of being sustainably fished over time.