title: A trophic model of fringing coral reefs in Nanwan Bay, southern Taiwan suggests overfishing.
abstract: Several coral reefs of Nanwan Bay, Taiwan have recently undergone shifts to macroalgal or sea anemone dominance. Thus, a mass-balance trophic model was constructed to analyze the structure and functioning of the food web. The fringing reef model was comprised of 18 compartments, with the highest trophic level of 3.45 for piscivorous fish. Comparative analyses with other reef models demonstrated that Nanwan Bay was similar to reefs with high fishery catches. While coral biomass was not lower, fish biomass was lower than those of reefs with high catches. Consequently, the sums of consumption and respiratory flows and total system throughput were also decreased. The Nanwan Bay model potentially suggests an overfished status in which the mean trophic level of the catch, matter cycling, and trophic transfer efficiency are extremely reduced.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pi-Jen
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kwang-Tsao
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Rong-Quen
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.forename: Tung-Yung
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Saou-Lien
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Jiang-Shiou
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Jen-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chung-Chi
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hsing-Juh
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D018533:Biomass; D005398:Fisheries; D005399:Fishes; D020387:Food Chain; D007448:Invertebrates; D008954:Models, Biological; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D013624:Taiwan