Chapter GIS and ex situ Plant Conservation

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Growth rates and age at adult size of loggerhead sea turtles (<em>Caretta caretta</em>) in the Mediterranean Sea, estimated through capture-mark-recapture records

A partir de registros de capturamarcaje- recaptura, se estimaron por primera vez en el Mediterráneo las tasas de crecimiento de las fases juveniles de la tortuga boba (Caretta caretta). Se liberaron treinta y ocho tortugas a partir de la costa italiana y se reencontraron después de 1.0-10.9 años en el periodo 1986-2007. El promedio de LCC (longitud curvada del caparazón) varió de 32.5 a 82.0 cm y se observaron tasas de crecimiento variables, de 0 a 5.97 cm/año (promedio: 2.5). La asociación entre la tasa de crecimiento anual y tres covariables (año promedio, talla promedio e intervalo de tiempo) se investigó a través de un modelo no-paramétrico. Solamente la talla media mostró un claro efecto en la tasa de crecimiento, descrito por una curva monotónica descendente. La variabilidad observada indica que factores no incluidos en el modelo, probablemente relacionados con el individuo, tienen un importante efecto en las tasas de crecimiento. En base a la función de crecimiento monotónicamente decreciente que indica que no hay esfuerzo en el crecimiento, se uso una función de crecimiento de von Bertalanffy para estimar el tiempo requerido por las tortugas para crecer dentro del rango de tallas observado. Los resultados indican que las tortugas necesitarán de 16-28 años para alcanzar 66.5-84.7 cm LCC, la talla promedio de anidación observada en las más importantes áreas de anidación del Mediterráneo, lo que puede ser considerado como una aproximación a la talla de madurez

Thinking outside the ocean-climate nexus : Towards systems-informed decision making in a rapidly changing world

Despite repeated calls for more inclusive practices, approaches used to address current challenges within the ocean-climate nexus do not sufficiently account for the complexity of the human-social-ecological system. So far, this has prevented efficient and just decision-making and policies. We propose to shift towards systems-informed decision making, which values transdisciplinary system-thinking and cumulative impact assessments, and encourages multi-system collaboration among decision-makers in order to address the recurring technicality of policies and to foster just solutions that account for the needs of varied actors across the sustainable development spectrum

The Status of Coastal Benthic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: Evidence From Ecological Indicators

The Mediterranean Sea is subject to multiple human pressures increasingly threatening its unique biodiversity. Spatially explicit information on the ecological status of marine ecosystems is therefore key to an effective maritime spatial planning and management, and to help the achievement of environmental targets. Here, we summarized scientific data on the ecological status of a selection of marine ecosystems based on a set of ecological indicators in more than 700 sites of the Mediterranean Sea. For Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds, rocky intertidal fringe, and coastal soft bottoms, more than 70% of investigated sites exhibited good to high ecological conditions. In contrast, about two-thirds of sites for subtidal rocky reefs were classified to be in moderate to bad conditions, stressing the need for prioritizing conservation initiatives on these productive and diverse environments. Very little quantitative information was available for the southern Mediterranean Sea, thus monitoring programs and assessments in this area are essential for a representative assessment of the health of marine coastal ecosystems in the whole basin. This overview represents a first step to implement a baseline that, through georeferenced data on ecological status, could help identifying information gaps, directing future research priorities, and supporting improvements to spatial models of expected cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems

The Status of Coastal Benthic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: Evidence From Ecological Indicators

The Mediterranean Sea is subject to multiple human pressures increasingly threatening its unique biodiversity. Spatially explicit information on the ecological status of marine ecosystems is therefore key to an effective maritime spatial planning and management, and to help the achievement of environmental targets. Here, we summarized scientific data on the ecological status of a selection of marine ecosystems based on a set of ecological indicators in more than 700 sites of the Mediterranean Sea. For Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds, rocky intertidal fringe, and coastal soft bottoms, more than 70% of investigated sites exhibited good to high ecological conditions. In contrast, about two-thirds of sites for subtidal rocky reefs were classified to be in moderate to bad conditions, stressing the need for prioritizing conservation initiatives on these productive and diverse environments. Very little quantitative information was available for the southern Mediterranean Sea, thus monitoring programs and assessments in this area are essential for a representative assessment of the health of marine coastal ecosystems in the whole basin. This overview represents a first step to implement a baseline that, through georeferenced data on ecological status, could help identifying information gaps, directing future research priorities, and supporting improvements to spatial models of expected cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems

Conserving European biodiversity across realms

Terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems are connected via multiple biophysical and ecological processes. Identifying and quantifying links among ecosystems is necessary for the uptake of integrated conservation actions across realms. Such actions are particularly important for species using habitats in more than one realm during their daily or life cycle. We reviewed information on the habitats of 2,408 species of European conservation concern and found that 30% of the species use habitats in multiple realms. Transportation and service corridors, which fragment species habitats, were identified as the most important threat impacting ∼70% of the species. We examined information on 1,567 European Union (EU) conservation projects funded over the past 25 years, to assess the adequacy of efforts toward the conservation of “multi‐realm” species at a continental scale. We discovered that less than a third of multi‐realm species benefited from projects that included conservation actions across multiple realms. To achieve the EU's conservation target of halting biodiversity loss by 2020 and effectively protect multi‐realm species, integrated conservation efforts across realms should be reinforced by: (1) recognizing the need for integrated management at a policy level, (2) revising conservation funding priorities across realms, and (3) implementing integrated land‐freshwater‐sea conservation planning and management

Chapter GIS and ex situ Plant Conservation

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