Use of an Inverse Method for Time Series to Estimate the Dynamics of and Management Strategies for the Box Jellyfish Carybdea marsupialis

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 16;10(9):e0137272. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137272. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Frequently, population ecology of marine organisms uses a descriptive approach in which their sizes and densities are plotted over time. This approach has limited usefulness for design strategies in management or modelling different scenarios. Population projection matrix models are among the most widely used tools in ecology. Unfortunately, for the majority of pelagic marine organisms, it is difficult to mark individuals and follow them over time to determine their vital rates and built a population projection matrix model. Nevertheless, it is possible to get time-series data to calculate size structure and densities of each size, in order to determine the matrix parameters. This approach is known as a "demographic inverse problem" and it is based on quadratic programming methods, but it has rarely been used on aquatic organisms. We used unpublished field data of a population of cubomedusae Carybdea marsupialis to construct a population projection matrix model and compare two different management strategies to lower population to values before year 2008 when there was no significant interaction with bathers. Those strategies were by direct removal of medusae and by reducing prey. Our results showed that removal of jellyfish from all size classes was more effective than removing only juveniles or adults. When reducing prey, the highest efficiency to lower the C. marsupialis population occurred when prey depletion affected prey of all medusae sizes. Our model fit well with the field data and may serve to design an efficient management strategy or build hypothetical scenarios such as removal of individuals or reducing prey. TThis This sdfsdshis method is applicable to other marine or terrestrial species, for which density and population structure over time are available.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Body Size
  • Conservation of Natural Resources / methods*
  • Cubozoa* / growth & development
  • Population Density
  • Population Dynamics
  • Predatory Behavior
  • Statistics as Topic / methods*
  • Time Factors

Grants and funding

This research was carried out under contract LIFE 08 NAT ES 0064 (to CB and VLF) co-financed by the European Commission (www.cubomed.eu), the Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, the Dirección General del Agua of the Regional Government of Valencia and the Fundación Biodiversidad. This work was also partially supported by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science co-funded by FEDER program (CGL2012-31668) to JR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.