Evolutionary impacts of fishing: overfishing's 'Darwinian debt'.
Human harvesting of fish results in far greater mortality than natural causes, with enormous potential to affect the phenotypic traits of fish populations, even after exploitation stops. Central to understanding these effects is the untangling of the genetic versus environmental components of phenotypic response. Evolutionary consequences of harvesting must be incorporated into conservation and management strategies.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Centre for Marine Studies and School of Earth Sciences, University of Queensland Brisbane, QLD 4072 Australia. j.pandolfi@uq.edu.au
John M
JM
Pandolfi