Page 231 - 《水产学报》2026年第04期

4 期 闫晨晨，等：舟山渔场稀有种对鱼类群落稳定性和功能特征的影响 50 卷

Effects of rare species on fish community stability and functional
characteristics in the Zhoushan Fishing Ground

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YAN Chenchen , WANG Jing , LI Yuru , WANG Yingbin , JU Peilong , LIU Baogui 1
(1. School of Fishery, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China;
2. Zhejiang Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Zhoushan 316021, China)
Abstract: The persistent decline of marine biodiversity, driven by synergistic global and anthropogenic pressures, high-
lights an urgent need to understand the functional roles of all ecosystem components—particularly overlooked rare spe-
cies. Focusing on the depleted Zhoushan Fishing Ground in the East China Sea, this study applied a trait-based frame-
work and conducted a virtual removal experiment to quantify the multifaceted impacts of rare species—identified using
the Rabinowitz index—on fish community dynamics. Analysis of four seasonal surveys revealed that removing rare spe-
cies consistently and significantly reduced total community biomass by an average of 6.73%. It also led to a substantial
contraction in the community’s functional space (declines ranging from 14.92% to 34.77%) and a significant 5.20% reduction
in functional redundancy, underscoring their critical role in expanding ecological strategies and enhancing functional insurance.
Notably, while community stability increased significantly by 8.20% following rare species removal in spring 2025, changes in
other seasons were non-significant, indicating temporally variable dynamics in which rare species can contribute to ecological
variability. For methodological consistency and comparability of results, nonparametric statistical analyses were uniformly
adopted for all four functional indicators (stability, biomass, functional redundancy, functional space): Kruskal-Wallis tests
were used to examine overall seasonal variations, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests to assess the significance of paired differ-
ences in each indicator before and after rare species removal. These findings clearly demonstrate the dual role of rare species:
although their unique ecological strategies may introduce short-term fluctuations—as evidenced by the observed increase in
stability upon their removal due to reduced interspecific asynchrony —they are essential for long-term resilience by
uniquely supporting functional diversity and redundancy. This study provides robust empirical evidence that conserving rare
biodiversity is not only ecologically meaningful but also a practical imperative for sustaining ecosystem multifunctionality and
stability, offering a crucial scientific foundation for integrating rare species into ecosystem-based fisheries management in
China and similar marine systems worldwide.
Key words: fish; rare species; functional space; functional redundancy; community stability; Zhoushan Fishing Ground
Corresponding author: LI Yuru. E-mail: liyuru@zjou.edu.cn
Funding projects: National Natural Science Foundation of China (42206203); Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang
Province, China (ZCLQ24D0601); General Research Projects of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education
(Y202353756)

中国水产学会主办 sponsored by China Society of Fisheries https://www.china-fishery.cn
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