University of Zululand

About: University of Zululand is a education organization based out in Empangeni, South Africa. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Nanoparticle & Population. The organization has 1314 authors who have published 2743 publications receiving 32113 citations.

The guild approach to categorizing estuarine fish assemblages: a global review

Abstract: Many studies have recently described and interpreted the community structure and function of fishes inhabiting estuaries and other transitional waters in terms of categories or guilds. The latter describe the main features of the fishes' biology and the way in which they use an estuary. However, the approach has been developed by different workers in different geographical areas and with differing emphasis such that there is now a need to review the guilds proposed and used worldwide. The previous wide use of the guild approach has involved increasing overlap and/or confusion between different studies, which therefore increases the need for standardization while at the same time providing the opportunity to reconsider the types and their use worldwide. Against a conceptual model of the importance of the main features of fish use in estuaries and other transitional waters, this review further develops the guild approach to community classification of fish communities inhabiting those areas. The approach increases the understanding of the use of estuaries by fishes, their interactions and connectivity with adjacent areas (the open sea, coastal zone and freshwater catchments) and the estuarine resources required by fishes. This paper gives a global perspective on this categorization by presenting new or refined definitions for the categories, lists the synonyms from the literature and illustrates the concepts using examples from geographical areas covering north and central America, north and southern Europe, central and southern Africa, Australia and the Indo-Pacific.

Is There a Conceptual Difference between Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks

Abstract: This is an opinion piece on the subject of whether or not ‘theoretical’ and ‘conceptual’ frameworks are conceptual synonyms, or they refer to different constructs. Although, generally, a lot of lit...

Effects of fishing on the structure and functioning of estuarine and nearshore ecosystems

Abstract: Estuaries and associated coastal waters support many essential fisheries, a fact which contributes to their disproportionately high economic value. They are, however, also among the most extensively modified and threatened of aquatic environments. Almost all have been strongly affected by human beings, and fisheries are an integral part of human activities on the coast. We have taken a global perspective in synthesizing the effects of fishing on estuaries and coastal waters. Rather than attempt to cover all regions of the world in detail, we review eight process-orientated categories affected by fishing, with case studies for each of them: target organisms, non-target organisms, nursery functions, trophic effects, habitat change, reduced water quality, human environment, and potential for local extinctions. Fishing in the estuarine and nearshore environment has clear impacts on the structure and functioning of these ecosystems, although other, non-fishing issues also effect these ecosystems. This creates multiple interactions and reinforces the need for an integrated approach to coastal zone management. Nonetheless, some form of fish-based action plan could be created, especially within estuaries, which would provide management objectives for a particular system.