Josep Alós

Josep Alós
Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB)

Postdoctoral researcher

About

162
Publications
56,275
Reads
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4,622
Citations
Introduction
I'm a quantitative ecologist interested in developing new tools and approaches to sustainable oceans, with particular interests on fisheries and marine biodiversity conservation. Ramón y Cajal at CSIC.
Additional affiliations
January 2016 - present
Spanish National Research Council
Position
  • PostDoc Position
September 2009 - September 2013
University of the Balearic Islands
Position
  • PhD Student (FPI-UIB Fellow)
Description
  • PhD Student in Marine Ecology (Doctoral Degree in Marine Ecology Program of the University of the Balearic Islands)
January 2014 - December 2015
Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
Position
  • PostDoc Position

Publications

Publications (162)
Article
Full-text available
Background The lack of compatibility between acoustic telemetry equipment from different manufacturers has been a major obstacle to consolidating large collaborative tracking networks. Undisclosed encrypted signal coding protocols limit the use of acoustic telemetry to study animal movements over large spatial scales, reduce competition between man...
Article
Full-text available
Home range size is a fundamental trait that can affect the probability of fish being harvested and, at the same time, may be affected by fishing. The relationship between home range size and fishing will impact the effectiveness of fully protected areas (FPAs), as it will influence the number of fish moving into fished areas, affecting both spillov...
Article
Most organisms synchronize to an approximately 24-hour (circadian) rhythm. This study introduces a novel deep learning-powered video tracking method to assess the stability, fragmentation, robustness and synchronization of activity rhythms in Xyrichtys novacula. Experimental X. novacula were distributed into three groups and monitored for synchroni...
Article
Full-text available
Acoustic telemetry (AT) has emerged as a valuable tool for monitoring aquatic animals in both European inland and marine waters over the past two decades. The European Tracking Network (ETN) initiative has played a pivotal role in promoting collaboration among AT researchers in Europe and has led to a significant increase in the number of tagged an...
Article
Full-text available
Successful marine spatial planning relies on understanding patterns of human use, with accurate, detailed, and up-to-date information about the spatial distribution of fishing effort. In commercial vessels, tracking systems like the vessel monitoring system (VMS) or the automatic identification system (AIS) have helped to maintain and enhance the b...
Preprint
Full-text available
Changes in the gut microbial assemblages associated with dietary changes are still poorly explored, but may have profound effects in the life-history and physiology of fishes. Here, we have investigated the influence of the diet type on the autochthonous gut microbiomes of gilthead seabream ( Sparus aurata ). We conducted a 60-day assay in which a...
Article
Full-text available
Chronotypes, the individual differences in daily activity timing, have profound associations with numerous physiological processes. Despite this, the covariance between chronotypes and other aspects of an individual's behaviour has been infrequently explored in non-human animals. This study delves into individual's variation across four axes of per...
Article
Full-text available
The pearly razorfish (Xyrichtys novacula), commonly known as raor in the Balearic Islands, is a wrasse within the family Labridae. This fish species has particular biological and socio-cultural characteristics making it an ideal model organism in the fields of behavioural ecology, molecular ecology and conservation biology. In this study, we presen...
Article
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Geolocating aquatic animals with acoustic tags has been ongoing for decades, relying on the detection of acoustic signals at multiple receivers with known positions to calculate a 2D or 3D position, and ultimately recreate the path of an aquatic animal from detections at fixed stations. This method of underwater geolocation is evolving with new sof...
Article
Despite the widespread use of stock enhancements to improve fisheries across the world, there is a lack of robust knowledge under which conditions fish stocking provides additive effects rather than merely replacing a fraction of natural recruitment. Fully controlled and replicated studies at the level of entire ecosystems are needed to provide ans...
Article
Recreational fishing (RF) is a large yet undervalued component of fisheries globally. While progress has been made in monitoring, assessing, and managing the sector in isolation, integration of RF into the management of multi‐sector fisheries has been limited, particularly relative to the commercial sector. This marginalises recreational fishers an...
Article
Full-text available
One of the most relevant information gaps in worldwide fisheries is related to the origin and consequences of the gender gap. Recreational fisheries show a remarkable gender gap, which has been especially poorly addressed in the scientific literature. In 2021, the Spanish Working Group on Marine Recreational Fishing (MRF) developed a broad diagnosi...
Article
Full-text available
Fish differ consistently in behavior within the same species and population, reflecting distinct behavioral types (BTs). Comparing the behavior of wild and reared individuals provides an excellent opportunity to delve into the ecological and evolutionary consequences of BTs. In this work, we evaluated the behavioral variation of wild and reared juv...
Article
The rise of nature-based tourism has provided a new avenue for disturbing animal behaviour, especially in protected areas. One of the most important tourism sectors in aquatic environments is scuba diving, an activity considered sustainable given its non-extractive nature and capability of bringing relevant socioeconomic benefits to local communiti...
Article
Full-text available
Recent technological advances in marine biotelemetry have demonstrated that marine fish species perform activity–rest rhythms that have relevant ecological and evolutionary consequences. The main objective of the present report is to study the circadian rhythm of activity–rest of the pearly razorfish, Xyrichtys novacula in its own habitat, before a...
Article
Full-text available
The global COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many jurisdictions implementing orders restricting the movements of people to inhibit virus transmission, with recreational angling often either not permitted or access to fisheries and/or related infrastructure being prevented. Following the lifting of restrictions, initial angler surveys and licence sales...
Article
Full-text available
Novel insights were provided by contrasting the composition of wild and farmed fish gut microbiomes because the latter had essentially different environmental conditions from those in the wild. This was reflected in the gut microbiome of the wild Sparus aurata and Xyrichtys novacula studied here, which showed highly diverse microbial community stru...
Article
Full-text available
Further investigation is needed to improve the identification and classification of fish in underwater images using artificial intelligence, specifically deep learning. Questions that need to be explored include the importance of using diverse backgrounds, the effect of (not) labeling small fish on precision, the number of images needed for success...
Preprint
Full-text available
Fish differ consistently in behavior within the same species and population, reflecting distinct behavioral types (BTs). Comparing the behavior of wild and reared individuals provides an excellent opportunity to delve into the ecological and evolutionary consequences of BTs. In this work, we evaluated the behavioral variation of wild and reared juv...
Article
The northern pike (Esox lucius) has been intensively studied in terms of behaviour due to its relevance to fisheries and its importance for structuring fish communities in freshwater ecosystems. However, little is known about the behaviour of coastal pike living in brackish lagoons. Freshwater ecosystems, particularly lakes and small rivers, are us...
Article
Full-text available
The ocean is a key component of the Earth's dynamics, providing a great variety of ecosystem services to humans. Yet, human activities are globally changing its structure and major components, including marine biodiversity. In this context, the United Nations has proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development to tackle the scienti...
Article
Full-text available
Deep learning allows us to automatize the acquisition of large amounts of behavioural animal data with applications for fisheries and aquaculture. In this work, we have trained an image-based deep learning algorithm, the Faster R-CNN (Faster region-based convolutional neural network), to automatically detect and track the gilthead seabream, Sparus...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding animal movement is essential to elucidate how animals interact, survive, and thrive in a changing world. Recent technological advances in data collection and management have transformed our understanding of animal “movement ecology” (the integrated study of organismal movement), creating a big-data discipline that benefits from rapid,...
Article
Full-text available
This work is the result of an international research effort to determine the main impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on marine recreational fishing. Changes were assessed on (1) access to fishing, derived from lockdowns and other mobility restrictions; (2) ecosystems, because of alterations in fishing intensity and human presence; (3) the blue econom...
Article
Full-text available
Assessing the motivations and wildlife-related value orientations (WVOs) of outdoor recreations, such as recreational fishing (RF), is of key importance to understand the human dimensions of natural resource use and to inform management actions. Using a national random telephone survey, we contrasted the participation rate, the socio-economical pro...
Chapter
Full-text available
Oceans are no longer inaccessible places for data acquisition. High-throughput technological advances applied to marine sciences ( from genes to global current patterns ) are generating Big Data sets at unprecedented rates. How to manage, store, analyse, use and transform this data deluge into knowledge is now a fundamental challenge for ocean scie...
Article
The vulnerability of fish to fishing depends on a range of life-history (e.g. growth; reproduction), behavioural (e.g. boldness) and physiological (e.g. metabolic rates) traits which are usually correlated with reproductive success. Therefore, between-fish differences in catchability may be indirectly affecting the reproductive potential at the pop...
Article
Full-text available
Despite their potential to generate high-quality positioning data, the use of high-resolution acoustic telemetry systems (HRATS) has been neglected in coastal marine areas due to the limitations that these environments pose to the transmission of acoustic signals. In this work, we applied a HRATS and social network analysis (SNA) to study the socia...
Article
Full-text available
Behavioural types (i.e., personalities or temperament) are defined as among individual differences in behavioural traits that are consistent over time and ecological contexts. Behavioural types are widespread in nature and play a relevant role in many ecological and evolutionary processes. In this work, we studied for the first time the consistency...
Article
Full-text available
Motorboat noise is recognized as a major source of marine pollution, however little is known about its ecological consequences on coastal systems. We developed a State Space Model (SSM) that incorporates an explicit dependency on motorboat noise to derive its effects on the movement of resident fish that transition between two behavioural states (s...
Article
Full-text available
• Esox lucius L. (northern pike) inhabits river, lake, and brackish water ecosystems of the temperate region in North America and Eurasia. In many areas of its native range, the species is confronted with human‐induced disturbances that can affect local and regional genetic diversity. Conservation of genetic diversity constitutes an important polic...
Article
Full-text available
Recent advances in tracking systems have revolutionized our ability to study animal movement in the wild. In aquatic environments, high-resolution acoustic telemetry systems make it technically possible to simultaneously monitor large amounts of individuals at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions, providing a unique opportunity to study t...
Article
The literature on global trends in recreational fishing, the determinants of participation in recreational fishing, and the social embedding of recreational fishing in the public eye are reviewed across the world. Data support a conceptual life-cycle model of fisheries according to which interest in recreational fishing rises rapidly with economic...
Article
The establishment of non-native, habitat-forming seaweeds into new areas may trigger changes in ecosystem functioning, including the spatial redistribution of native biodiversity. These changes can in turn affect socio-economic systems. We studied the question whether the spatial behaviour of marine anglers is altered by the presence of a non-nativ...
Article
Despite the recognised effectiveness of networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a biodiversity conservation instrument, MPA network design frequently disregards the importance of connectivity patterns. In the case of sedentary marine populations, connectivity stems not only from the stochastic nature of the physical environment that affects di...
Article
Negative impacts of invasive species are widely accepted, but there is increasing evidence that neutral or positive effects are more prevalent than initially recognized, particularly for species which are of different functional / trophic group than the invader. We used a BACI design to examine how fish communities responded to the invasion of Hali...
Article
Full-text available
Chemical cues from predators induce a range of predator-induced morphological defences (PIMDs) observed across fish taxa. However, the mechanisms, consistency, direction and adaptive value of PIMDs are still poorly studied. Here, we have tested if predatory cues can induce changes in the body shape of the juvenile marine fish Sparus aurata reared u...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Millorar l’estat de conservació de la mar Balear és un objectiu compartit per la nostra societat. Per això és necessari fer un diagnòstic idel seu estat i de la seva evolució al llarg del temps. L’informe mar balear és fruit d’aquesta necessitat. Aquesta primera versió inclou més de cent indicadors sobre l'estat del medi marí de les Illes Balears,...
Chapter
Full-text available
Mejorar el estado de conservación del mar Balear es un objetivo compartido por nuestra sociedad. Para ello, es necesario realizar un diagnóstico sobre su estado y su evolución en el tiempo. El informe mar balear es fruto de esta necesidad. Esta primera versión cuenta con más de cien indicadores sobre el estado del medio marino de las Islas Baleare...
Article
Full-text available
The European Parliament is concerned about the lack of information on the relevance of nine million Europeans engaged in marine recreational fishing (MRF), committing Member States to encourage environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of the sector. The objective of this paper is to provide recommendations to guide research actions and manage...
Article
Full-text available
In this paper, we report the complete mitochondrial genome (17,306 bp) of the pearly razorfish Xyrichtys novacula Linnaeus, 1758, a labrid that inhabits tropical and temperate Atlantic waters and the Mediterranean Sea. The circular double-stranded sequence contains the typical teleost gene order with 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA, 2 rRNA, 1 cont...
Article
Full-text available
That this camera‐based method is sparking debate regarding its applicability to specific‐species is a symptom of the complexity of wildlife assessment in light of the increasing, unprecedented amount of ecological‐data, this task requires strengthening links between theorists and empiricists to profit the new opportunities offered by the method. im...
Preprint
Conservation of local genetic diversity is an important policy objective, but intraspecific genetic diversity can be transformed by natural ecological processes associated with anthropogenic changes in ecosystems. Environmental changes and a strong interconnection of drainage systems impact freshwater biodiversity from gene to population level. Pop...
Article
Spatial behavioural types (SBTs) arise from between-individual differences in behavioural traits that foster spatial behavioural patterns that are consistent over time and ecological contexts. Fish stocks are regularly assessed using catch per unit effort (CPUE) as input data that may non-linearly co-vary with the underlying abundance (N) of the ex...
Article
Technological advances in underwater video recording are opening novel opportunities for monitoring wild fish. However, extracting data from videos is often challenging. Nevertheless, it has been recently demonstrated that accurate and precise estimates of density for animals (whose normal activities are restricted to a bounded area or home range)...
Preprint
Full-text available
Technological advances in underwater video recording are opening novel opportunities for monitoring wild fish. However, extracting data from videos is often challenging. Nevertheless, it has been recently demonstrated that accurate and precise estimates of density for animals (whose normal activities are restricted to a bounded area or home range)...
Article
Fisheries provide food. In industrialized nations, the overwhelming portion of seafood comes from a small number of commercial fishers and increasingly aquaculture (1). Fisheries also contribute to leisure and recreation. In developed nations, 1 in 10 people fishes for pleasure, amounting to at least 220 million recreational fishers worldwide (2, 3...
Article
In most fisheries, larger fish experience substantially higher mortality than smaller fish. Body length, life‐history and behavioral traits often correlate, such that fisheries‐induced changes in size or life‐history can also alter behavioural traits. However, empirical evidence regarding how size‐selective harvesting alters the evolution of behavi...
Preprint
Full-text available
Understanding the connectivity patterns of marine populations is essential for their management and conservation. In the case of sedentary marine populations, connectivity stems not only from the stochastic nature of the physical environment that affects early-life stages dispersal, but also by the spawning stock attributes that affect reproductive...
Preprint
Full-text available
In fisheries worldwide, larger fish are subjected to substantially greater fishing mortality than smaller fish. Body length and behavioral traits are often correlated, such that fisheries-induced changes in either behaviour or morphology can also alter other traits as result of direct or indirect selection. Consistent behavioral differences among i...
Article
Full-text available
Consistent between‐individual differences in movement are widely recognised across taxa. In addition, foraging plasticity at the within‐individual level suggests a behavioural dependency on the internal energy demand. Because behaviour co‐varies with fast‐slow life history (LH) strategies in an adaptive context, as theoretically predicted by the pa...
Article
Full-text available
The establishment of non-native habitat-forming seaweeds into new areas may trigger important changes in ecosystem functioning, yet their community and ecosystem-level effects remain largely understudied. Here we studied the spatial distribution of two common fish species (Xyrichtys novacula and Bothus podas) which are key components of communities...
Article
Full-text available
Females can adjust their reproductive effort in relation to their partner’s perceived fitness value. In zebrafish (Danio rerio), large males are typically preferred mating partners. However, females have been observed to reduce their reproductive output with exceptionally large males but it remains unknown whether it is due to sexual harassment or...
Article
Artificial reefs (ARs) are defined as any structures that are placed on the seafloor to protect sensitive ecosystems, enhance biodiversity, and support small-scale fisheries or diving tourism. With the recent development of fine-scale acoustic tracking, ecologists and fishery managers have gained a powerful tool to explore how exploited species beh...
Poster
Full-text available
The use of tracking technology like the VMS or AIS in commercial vessels, have generated large and rich spatial data-sets that have revolutionized our views of exploited social-ecological systems like fisheries. In recreational fleets, which may constitute to be the dominant or the sole users of many coastal fish populations, the absence of spatial...
Article
Full-text available
Short-term hypoxia that lasts just a few days or even hours is a major threat for the marine ecosystems. The single effect of the human-induced levels of hypoxia and other anthropogenic impacts such as elevated pCO2 can reduce the ability of preys to detect their predators across taxa. Moreover, both processes, hypoxia and elevated pCO2, are expect...
Article
Short-term hypoxia that lasts just a few days or even hours is a major threat for the marine ecosystems. The single effect of the human-induced levels of hypoxia and other anthropogenic impacts such as elevated pCO2 can reduce the ability of preys to detect their predators across taxa. Moreover, both processes, hypoxia and elevated pCO2, are expect...
Article
Full-text available
Background Globally, there are a large and growing number of researchers using biotelemetry as a tool to study aquatic animals. In Europe, this community lacks a formal network structure. The aim of this study is to review the use of acoustic telemetry in Europe and document the contribution of cross-boundary studies and inter-research group collab...
Technical Report
Full-text available
En Europa practican la pesca marítima recreativa (PMR) nueve millones de aficionados que generan un gasto de 6 000 millones de euros anuales. En España se estima que hay 300 000 pescadores recreativos que realizan un gasto de 217 millones de euros anuales para desarrollar su actividad. Por estos motivos, la Política Pesquera Común (PPC) reconoce qu...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Resumen: En Europa practican la pesca marítima recreativa (PMR) 10 millones de aficionados que generan un gasto de 6 000 millones de euros anuales [1]. En España se estima que hay 300 000 pescadores recreativos que realizan un gasto de 217 millones de euros anuales [1]. Por estos motivos, la Política Pesquera Común (PPC) reconoce que "la pesca recr...
Article
Full-text available
The selective properties of fishing that influence behavioural traits have recently gained interest. Recent acoustic tracking experiments have revealed between-individual differences in the circadian behavioural traits of marine free-living fish; these differences are consistent across time and ecological contexts and generate different chronotypes...
Data
A dynamic video showing a part of the 2-D landscape created in our spatially-explicit social-ecological Individual Based Model. The video is a fraction of one day and shows the presence (according to the individual awakening time) and movement of fish (colours). The video also show the arrival and the movement of the fishers in black (switching bet...
Data
R-Code of the spatially-explicit Individual Based Model where fish and fishers behave in a 2-D scenario developed to test our hypothesis. The SM also includes the habitat of the target species and a temporal series of the angle of drift (see main text).
Article
Mediterranean small-scale fleets catch a substantial amount of untargeted fish that are sold at a low market price. Most of these catches are pooled into mixed-fish boxes (MFBoxes), which are usually labeled and sold as mixed-fish commercial categories (MFCategories). In this paper, we describe the MFBoxes and the MFCategories from the small-scale...