Large Pelagic Fish Ecology

Principal Investigator: Dr. Diego Páez-Rosas

There is great concern about how resource extraction alters the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems, given that selective elimination of several predators, such as large pelagic fish can lead to changes in structure and abundance of lower trophic levels. This increases the need to generate ecological information regarding the foraging behavior and the displacement patterns of these species, to understand how the flow of energy is established in a trophic web subject to changes by a system of human exploitation and climate change. Polyspecific associations include different species that migrate, interact and forage together for different periods of time, where the one of the main reasons for forming such associations is the search for food. This type of behavior frequently involves migratory species of commercial importance that are distributed in tropical areas.