New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Increased predation of juvenile European spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas) in a marine protected area

David Díaz
Mikel Zabala
Cristina Linares
Bernat Hereu

Departament d’Ecologia
Universitat de Barcelona
Avinguda Diagonal, 645
08028 Barcelona, Spain
email: david.diaz@ba.ieo.es

Pere Abelló

Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC)
Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49
08003 Barcelona, Spain

Abstract  One of the aims of Mediterranean marine protected areas (MPAs) is to increase populations of exploited species, such as the European spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas), which is considered a key species for its commercial and ecological value. Monitoring of temporal patterns in abundance of early benthic stages of P. elephas indicated that predation may be higher inside the Medes Islands MPA relative to adjacent control sites. Tethering experiments were performed to test whether predation rates actually differed within and outside the MPA. Relative mortality of recently-settled juveniles inside the MPA was much higher than in control sites in adjacent non-protected areas. Treatments with and without shelter indicated that predation on recently-settled juvenile spiny lobsters was moderated by the availability of suitable shelter. The decline or absence of fish predators in the fished area may be the reason why juvenile lobsters outside the MPA experience lower predation than within the MPA.

Keywords  predation; Palinurus elephas; marine protected areas; spiny lobster; shelter; Mediterranean Sea

M04092; Online publication date 31 May 2005 Received 13 April 2004; accepted 4 March 2005
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2005, Vol. 39: 447-453
0028-8330/05/3902-0447 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005

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