Data collected from an annual groundf ish survey of the eastern Bering Sea shelf from 1975 to 2002 were used to estimate biomass and biodiversity indexes for two fish guilds: f latfish and roundfish. Biomass estimates indicated that several species of f latfish (particularly rock sole, arrowtooth f lounder, and f lathead sole), several large sculpins (Myoxocephalus spp.), bigmouth (Hemitripteru...

In complex ecosystem models, relationships between species include a large number of direct interactions and indirect effects. In order to unveil some simple and better understandable relationships, it is useful to study the asymmetry of inter-specific effects. We present a simple approach for this based on stochastic food web simulations from previous studies. We refer to the Prince William So...

BACKGROUND One of the greatest obstacles to moving ecosystem-based management (EBM) from concept to practice is the lack of a systematic approach to defining ecosystem-level decision criteria, or reference points that trigger management action. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To assist resource managers and policymakers in developing EBM decision criteria, we introduce a quantitative, transfer...