TY - JOUR

T1 - From coral reefs to whale teeth: estimating mortality from natural accumulations of skeletal materials

AU - Laptikhovsky, Vladimir V.

AU - Barrett, Christopher J.

AU - Hollyman, Philip R.

PY - 2018/6/28

Y1 - 2018/6/28

N2 - Estimation of natural and anthropogenic (fishing, hunting) mortality is the key problem in studies of population dynamics. Numerous theoretical approaches were developed in environmental sciences to find a solution based on information that could be obtained from live representatives of populations of interest. We review the alternative methods used by marine biologists, palaeontologists and zoo-archaeologists to estimate natural and anthropogenic mortality from age-registering structures of the different taxa (corals, molluscs, fishes and mammals) collected in thanatocoenoses and containing information about the exact individual age-at-death. Not all approaches and techniques are transferrable from one field to another because they were elaborated for organisms with different morphologies and ecologies, but cross-fertilisation of ideas presented in this review might provide a new insight into studies related to population dynamics.

AB - Estimation of natural and anthropogenic (fishing, hunting) mortality is the key problem in studies of population dynamics. Numerous theoretical approaches were developed in environmental sciences to find a solution based on information that could be obtained from live representatives of populations of interest. We review the alternative methods used by marine biologists, palaeontologists and zoo-archaeologists to estimate natural and anthropogenic mortality from age-registering structures of the different taxa (corals, molluscs, fishes and mammals) collected in thanatocoenoses and containing information about the exact individual age-at-death. Not all approaches and techniques are transferrable from one field to another because they were elaborated for organisms with different morphologies and ecologies, but cross-fertilisation of ideas presented in this review might provide a new insight into studies related to population dynamics.

KW - Age-registering structures

KW - Coral reef

KW - Fish

KW - Marine mammals

KW - Mollusc

KW - Mortality

U2 - 10.3354/meps12260

DO - 10.3354/meps12260

M3 - Article

VL - 598

SP - 273

EP - 291

JO - Marine Ecology Progress Series

JF - Marine Ecology Progress Series

SN - 0171-8630

ER -