IIMYC   23581
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES MARINAS Y COSTERAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Parasites as biological tags for fish stock assessment in the South West Atlantic
Autor/es:
TIMI, J.T.
Lugar:
México D.F.
Reunión:
Congreso; 13th International Congress for Parasitology (ICOPA); 2014
Institución organizadora:
World Federation of Parasitology
Resumen:
BACKGROUND: Marine fisheries in the South West Atlantic (SWA) are threatened by overfishing and under serious risk of collapsing. The SWA comprises a diversity of environments, possesses a complex oceanography and harbors a vast biodiversity that provide an enormous potential for using parasites as biological tags for fish stock delineation, a prerequisite for the implementation of control and management plans. Here, their use in the SWA is reviewed. Main evidences are derived from Argentine waters, where fish parasite assemblages are dominated by larval helminth species that share a low specificity, long persistence and trophic transmission, parasitizing almost indiscriminately all available fish species. Their ubiquity makes them promissory biological tags at higher scales, including fish assemblages and ecosystems. METHODS: This review is based on literature and unpublished own data. The concept of biological tags is expanded from fish populations to communities and from local to regional scales, by mean of multivariate analyses across fish species and regions in the SWA. RESULTS: Clear regional patterns of parasite distribution were observed at large scales, with recurrent clines in parasite assemblage structure across fish species, confirming their value as regional tags to identify fish assemblages and the masses of waters they inhabit and, consequently, as ecosystem indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The advantages and constraints of the use of biological tags are analyzed and recommendations are given for future research. Essential information to delineate ecosystem boundaries for host communities can be obtained from parasite data, constituting a powerful tool to help the implementation of ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management, the new paradigm for fisheries science. Holistic approaches, including parasites as biological tags for stock delineation will render valuable information to help insure fisheries and marine ecosystems against further depletion and collapse.