Human population growth and the technological advancements of the 20th and 21st centuries have significantly altered human-environment interactions and led to unprecedented anthropogenic footprints on coastal and ocean systems. Despite thousands of years of exploitation for subsistence and, later, commercial purposes, the ecology of mangrove fisheries along the Brazilian coast and the consequences of these activities remain poorly understood. This is largely due to a pervasive lack of historical baselines, and highlights the conservation crises affecting some of the world's biodiversity hotspots. In this study, we used otolith metrics and stable isotope analysis to investigate changes in the body length and trophic ecology of several demersal species recovered from pre-colonial (4500 cal BP to 1500 AD) and historical (late 19th and early 20th centuries AD) archaeological sites in Babitonga Bay, the largest mangrove system in southern Brazil. Our results revealed that pre-colonial and historical fisheries exploited a wide range of mangrove habitats, encompassing brackish to marine systems. Pre-colonial subsistence fisheries, however, targeted predominantly small and juvenile individuals in nursery areas, while early commercial fisheries targeted larger adult specimens, likely due to their higher commercial value. Our study shows that some drivers of stock overexploitation, such as the preferential capture of large and adult individuals, were found to be occurring more than 150 years ago along the southern Brazilian coast. Given the deep roots of human footprints in Brazil, our findings underscore the significance of incorporating historical data into the formulation of fisheries management strategies in subtropical and tropical regions.

中文翻译：

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巴西红树林系统中自给性和早期商业渔业的历史生态

20 世纪和 21 世纪的人口增长和技术进步极大地改变了人类与环境的相互作用，并导致沿海和海洋系统产生了前所未有的人为足迹。尽管为了生存和后来的商业目的而进行了数千年的开发，但人们对巴西海岸沿线红树林渔业的生态以及这些活动的后果仍然知之甚少。这主要是由于普遍缺乏历史基线，并凸显了影响世界一些生物多样性热点地区的保护危机。在这项研究中，我们使用耳石指标和稳定同位素分析来研究前殖民时期（距今 4500 年至公元 1500 年）和历史时期（公元 19 世纪末和 20 世纪初）恢复的几种底层物种的体长和营养生态变化。巴比通加湾的考古遗址，巴西南部最大的红树林系统。我们的研究结果表明，前殖民时期和历史上的渔业开发了广泛的红树林栖息地，包括咸水到海洋系统。然而，前殖民时期的自给性渔业主要针对育苗区的小型个体和幼鱼，而早期商业渔业则针对较大的成年个体，这可能是因为它们具有更高的商业价值。我们的研究表明，150 多年前，巴西南部海岸就出现了一些导致种群过度开发的驱动因素，例如优先捕获大型个体和成年个体。鉴于人类足迹在巴西根深蒂固，我们的研究结果强调了将历史数据纳入亚热带和热带地区渔业管理战略制定的重要性。