Boris Worm

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..Impacts of international fleets and the lack of alternatives to fishing complicate prospects for rebuilding fisheries in many poorer regions, highlighting the need for a global perspective on rebuilding marine resources...

..These results mirror patterns described for many land predators, despite considerable differences in habitat, mobility, and dispersal, and imply ecological extirpation of heavily exploited species across parts of their range...

..Yet available data suggest that at this point, these trends are still reversible...

..We conclude that predator diversity shows a predictable yet eroding pattern signaling ecosystem-wide changes linked to climate and fishing...

..Yet more empirical evidence is needed to test the generality of these effects throughout the ocean...

..We conclude that global phytoplankton concentration has declined over the past century; this decline will need to be considered in future studies of marine ecosystems, geochemical cycling, ocean circulation and fisheries...

..We conclude that the seemingly monotonous landscape of the open ocean shows rich structure in species diversity and that these features should be used to focus future conservation efforts...

..We propose that species-area curves can be sensitive indicators of community-level changes in biodiversity, and may be useful in quantifying the human imprint on reef biodiversity, and potentially elsewhere...

..This requires reductions in fishing effort, reduction in bycatch mortality and protection of key areas to initiate recovery of severely depleted communities...

..Our analysis suggests that management based on recent data alone may be misleading, and provides minimum estimates for unexploited communities, which could serve as the 'missing baseline' needed for future restoration efforts...

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..This suggests that human impacts on nutrient supply and food-web structure have strong and interdependent effects on species diversity and ecosystem functioning, and must therefore be managed together...

..Closed-area models highlight priority areas for shark conservation, and the need to consider effort reallocation and site selection if marine reserves are to benefit multiple threatened species...

..Renewed interest in further exploration and taxonomy is required if this significant gap in our knowledge of life on Earth is to be closed...

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..This suggests that deep-water oceanic communities that dominate > 60% of the planet's surface may reorganize in response to ocean warming, with low-latitude losses of diversity and resilience...

..The methods introduced here are applicable in the investigation of species interactions from time series data collected across different study systems...

..Our results illustrate the great vulnerability of the world's fisheries and the urgent need to meet well-identified guidelines for sustainable management; they also provide a baseline against which future changes can be quantified...

..These emerging historical patterns offer new insights into past ecosystems, and provide important context for contemporary ocean management...

..5-1.5% less of the variance in surface Chl than precision measurements of water-leaving radiance (remotely sensed ocean colour)...

..We conclude that marine predators should be managed for the maintenance of both density- and risk-driven ecological processes, and not demographic persistence alone...

..Our results highlight the importance of maintaining genetic as well as species diversity to enhance ecosystem resilience in a world of increasing uncertainty...

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