Resource ecology of the Bolinao coral reef system

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Data-driven approach for highlighting priority areas for protection in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction

One of the aims of the United Nations (UN) negotiations on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is to develop a legal process for the establishment of area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, in ABNJ. Here we use a conservation planning algorithm to integrate 55 global data layers on ABNJ species diversity, habitat heterogeneity, benthic features, productivity, and fishing as a means for highlighting priority regions in ABNJ to be considered for spatial protection. We also include information on forecasted species distributions under climate change. We found that parameterizing the planning algorithm to protect at least 30% of these key ABNJ conservation features, while avoiding areas of high fishing effort, yielded a solution that highlights 52,545,634 km2 (23.7%) of ABNJ as high priority regions for protection. Instructing the planning model to avoid ABNJ areas with high fishing effort resulted in relatively minor shifts in the planning solution, when compared to a separate model that did not consider fishing effort. Integrating information on climate change had a similarly minor influence on the planning solution, suggesting that climate-informed ABNJ protected areas may be able to protect biodiversity now and in the future. This globally standardized, data-driven process for identifying priority ABNJ regions for protection serves as a valuable complement to other expert-driven processes underway to highlight ecologically or biologically significant ABNJ regions. Both the outputs and methods exhibited in this analysis can additively inform UN decision-making concerning establishment of ABNJ protected areas

Data-driven approach for highlighting priority areas for protection in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction

One of the aims of the United Nations (UN) negotiations on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is to develop a legal process for the establishment of area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, in ABNJ. Here we use a conservation planning algorithm to integrate 55 global data layers on ABNJ species diversity, habitat heterogeneity, benthic features, productivity, and fishing as a means for highlighting priority regions in ABNJ to be considered for spatial protection. We also include information on forecasted species distributions under climate change. We found that parameterizing the planning algorithm to protect at least 30% of these key ABNJ conservation features, while avoiding areas of high fishing effort, yielded a solution that highlights 52,545,634 km2 (23.7%) of ABNJ as high priority regions for protection. Instructing the planning model to avoid ABNJ areas with high fishing effort resulted in relatively minor shifts in the planning solution, when compared to a separate model that did not consider fishing effort. Integrating information on climate change had a similarly minor influence on the planning solution, suggesting that climate-informed ABNJ protected areas may be able to protect biodiversity now and in the future. This globally standardized, data-driven process for identifying priority ABNJ regions for protection serves as a valuable complement to other expert-driven processes underway to highlight ecologically or biologically significant ABNJ regions. Both the outputs and methods exhibited in this analysis can additively inform UN decision-making concerning establishment of ABNJ protected areas

Postglacial Colonization of Northern Coastal Habitat by Bottlenose Dolphins: A Marine Leading-Edge Expansion?

Oscillations in the Earth’s temperature and the subsequent retreating and advancing of ice-sheets around the polar regions are thought to have played an important role in shaping the distribution and genetic structuring of contemporary high-latitude populations. After the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), retreating of the ice-sheets would have enabled early colonizers to rapidly occupy suitable niches to the exclusion of other conspecifics, thereby reducing genetic diversity at the leading-edge. Bottlenose dolphins (genus Tursiops) form distinct coastal and pelagic ecotypes, with finer-scale genetic structuring observed within each ecotype. We reconstruct the postglacial colonization of the Northeast Atlantic (NEA) by bottlenose dolphins using habitat modeling and phylogenetics. The AquaMaps model hindcasted suitable habitat for the LGM in the Atlantic lower latitude waters and parts of the Mediterranean Sea. The time-calibrated phylogeny, constructed with 86 complete mitochondrial genomes including 30 generated for this study and created using a multispecies coalescent model, suggests that the expansion to the available coastal habitat in the NEA happened via founder events starting ~15 000 years ago (95% highest posterior density interval: 4 900–26 400). The founders of the 2 distinct coastal NEA populations comprised as few as 2 maternal lineages that originated from the pelagic population. The low effective population size and genetic diversity estimated for the shared ancestral coastal population subsequent to divergence from the pelagic source population are consistent with leading-edge expansion. These findings highlight the legacy of the Late Pleistocene glacial cycles on the genetic structuring and diversity of contemporary populations

The Biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: Estimates, Patterns, and Threats

The Mediterranean Sea is a marine biodiversity hot spot. Here we combined an extensive literature analysis with expert opinions to update publicly available estimates of major taxa in this marine ecosystem and to revise and update several species lists. We also assessed overall spatial and temporal patterns of species diversity and identified major changes and threats. Our results listed approximately 17,000 marine species occurring in the Mediterranean Sea. However, our estimates of marine diversity are still incomplete as yet—undescribed species will be added in the future. Diversity for microbes is substantially underestimated, and the deep-sea areas and portions of the southern and eastern region are still poorly known. In addition, the invasion of alien species is a crucial factor that will continue to change the biodiversity of the Mediterranean, mainly in its eastern basin that can spread rapidly northwards and westwards due to the warming of the Mediterranean Sea. Spatial patterns showed a general decrease in biodiversity from northwestern to southeastern regions following a gradient of production, with some exceptions and caution due to gaps in our knowledge of the biota along the southern and eastern rims. Biodiversity was also generally higher in coastal areas and continental shelves, and decreases with depth. Temporal trends indicated that overexploitation and habitat loss have been the main human drivers of historical changes in biodiversity. At present, habitat loss and degradation, followed by fishing impacts, pollution, climate change, eutrophication, and the establishment of alien species are the most important threats and affect the greatest number of taxonomic groups. All these impacts are expected to grow in importance in the future, especially climate change and habitat degradation. The spatial identification of hot spots highlighted the ecological importance of most of the western Mediterranean shelves (and in particular, the Strait of Gibraltar and the adjacent Alboran Sea), western African coast, the Adriatic, and the Aegean Sea, which show high concentrations of endangered, threatened, or vulnerable species. The Levantine Basin, severely impacted by the invasion of species, is endangered as well

Changes in the fish diversity and abundance on a heavily fished fringing reef on Santiago Island, Pangasinan, Philippines

Fish assemblages on the reef slope, reef flat, and seagrass beds on Santiago Island were sampled over 18 months in 1992-1993 as part of a 6-year reef monitoring project started in 1986. Abundance and species diversity were analyzed by a variety of indices, and by multi-dimensional scaling and correlated ordered similarity matrix. The monitoring showed a distinct shift in the reef slope fish composition during the first half of 1988. Of the 100 most abundant species, 21 species showed significant reductions in abundance, and 20 species showed significant increases. Differences were not due to depth preference or feeding habits. Fishing pressure was apparently responsible for declines in Cheilinus trilobatus, Acanthurus nigricauda, and Naso literatus, as well as a general decline in the family Acanthuridae (surgeonfishes). However, analysis of site preferences of the decreasing species and the increasing species indicated a shift in community composition from those species preferring more coral cover to those preferring more sand, rock, and possibly Sargassum seaweed. Site preferences were determined from benthic life form transects done in 1992. Of 35 significantly changing species for which habitat data was obtained, 24 fit the hypothesis of habitat change. This supports the proposition from previous studies that the major cause of change in the reef slope fish community was the destructive fishing activity associated with Malthusian overfishing. Similar analyses of the fish assemblages on the reef flat and on the seagrass beds showed seasonal effects, particularly in the latter, but no strong shift comparable to that of the reef slope. These latter areas had been subjected to greater fishing pressure for a longer period. Reef fish populations such as those in Bolinao tend to be highly resilient provided the larval supply is not adversely affected. However, subtle changes in the cover of coral on a reef can lead to major changes in the composition of the fish community. Coral cover is being widely diminished on Philippine reefs, and substantial changes in the fish communities may be anticipated, even on reefs with initially low coral cover. These changes may affect the utility and immediate value of the fish to local fishers and the market systems they supply. It is of great urgency to stop destructive fishing practices such as blasting and use of cyanide, and to develop anchoring methods that are minimally destructive. There is a strong predictive relation between the numbers of fish (abundance) in an area and the numbers of species (biodiversity) they include. As fish populations decline due to destructive fishing, or highly concentrated non-destructive fishing, the local species richness may be expected to decline. This decline may have serious short-term social and economic consequences, as well as far-reaching long-term environmental effects. Efforts to reduce overfishing must be intensified—though reduction of birth rate, provision of alternative livelihoods, and curbing of destructive fishing — in order to prevent a very distressing future for the Philippine marine environment and the people it supports

Coral reef fishing and coral-algal phase shifts: Implications for global reef status

Coral reef fisheries support tens of millions of people, mostly in developing countries. Fishing on reefs can be classified into three stages: manageable, ecosystem-overfished, and Malthusian-overfished. Fishing with blasting devices and poisons is often associated with the third stage. Reductions in herbivory caused by overfishing may enhance the likelihood of organic pollution causing a coral–algal phase shift following major disturbances. However, cage studies indicate that reduction in herbivory can lead to the proliferation of algae even in the absence of eutrophication. A major concern with the widespread coral bleaching associated with the 1997–1998 El Niño event is the likelihood that reefs already stressed by overfishing and organic pollution may not return to coral dominance after severe bleaching. Clues to levels of fishing and to the potential to recover from disturbances include changes in the de-vegetated haloes around coral stands on reef flats and the differing spectral signatures of live coral, recently dead coral, and coral covered with red encrusting, green filamentous, or brown frondose algae. These clues may facilitate broad area assessments of shallow reef areas via aircraft, space shuttles, or satellites

4D marine conservation networks: Combining 3D prioritization of present and future biodiversity with climatic refugia

Given the accelerating rate of biodiversity loss, the need to prioritize marine areas for protection represents a major conservation challenge. The three-dimensionality of marine life and ecosystems is an inherent element of complexity for setting spatial conservation plans. Yet, the confidence of any recommendation largely depends on shifting climate, which triggers a global redistribution of biodiversity, suggesting the inclusion of time as a fourth dimension. Here, we developed a depth-specific prioritization analysis to inform the design of protected areas, further including metrics of climate-driven changes in the ocean. Climate change was captured in this analysis by considering the projected future distribution of >2000 benthic and pelagic species inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea, combined with climatic stability and heterogeneity metrics of the seascape. We identified important areas based on both biological and climatic criteria, where conservation focus should be given in priority when designing a three-dimensional, climate-smart protected area network. We detected spatially concise, conservation priority areas, distributed around the basin, that protected marine areas almost equally across all depth zones. Our approach highlights the importance of deep sea zones as priority areas to meet conservation targets for future marine biodiversity, while suggesting that spatial prioritization schemes, that focus on a static two-dimensional distribution of biodiversity data, might fail to englobe both the vertical properties of species distributions and the fine and larger-scale impacts associated with climate change