Weak biodiversity connectivity in the European network of no-take marine protected areas

Assis, Jorge; Fragkopoulou, Eliza; Serrão, Ester Á.; Costa, Bárbara Horta e; Gandra, Miguel; Abecasis, David

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145664

Cited by 28 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…potential were affected by the MPA network spatial distribution and aggregation, as previously shown for the European context (Assis et al, 2021) and for particular ecological groups (e.g., Selkoe and Toonen, 2011). As observed elsewhere, discrete connections between adjacent MPAs, for taxa with poor dispersal capacity, can increase in number and expand in distance (from tens to hundreds of km) for increasing PD periods (Shanks et al, 2003;Krueck et al, 2017;Assis et al, 2021).…”

Section: Mpa Aggregationssupporting

confidence: 64%

“…in the Bijagós region of Guinea-Bissau, which coincided with a well-known biogeographic transition zone. This novel information has strong implications for biodiversity conservation and management (Magris et al, 2014;Assis et al, 2021), revealing the extreme importance of conserving the important and rare connectivity nodes persisting in the Bijagós islands, upon which most north-south links depend along this global region.…”

Section: Mpa Aggregationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Graph results were produced individually per PD period (i.e., from 1 to 140 days), and applied to ecological groups sharing similar dispersal ecology. To this end, a database of PD estimates available for marine species at global scales (Assis et al, 2021) was filtered to include species that occur in the study area (Supplementary Information 1) by consulting the online databases Algaebase (Guiry and Guiry, 2021), Aquamaps (Kaschner et al, 2019) and SeaLifeBase (Palomares and Pauly, 2021), which incorporate literature information and expert knowledge, as well as species range maps from the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (Ocean Biodiversity Information System, 2021) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (Global Biodiversity Information Facility, 2021). These groupings based on similar PD were (G1) Cnidaria, Tunicata and Porifera with a PD of 1.72 days (range: 0-8; n = 8), (G2) Macroalgae and Seagrass with a PD of 5.75 days (range: 1-15; n = 4), (G3) Bryozoa, Mollusca and Polychaeta with a PD of 17.00 days (range: 0-52; n = 9) and (G4) Pisces, Crustacea and Echinodermata with a PD of 35.79 days (range: 0-140; n = 79; Figure 1).…”

Section: Network Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is particularly striking for marine species, the majority of which are dispersed by planktonic stages that differ greatly in longevity, ranging from a few hours to hundreds of days (Shanks et al, 2003;Treml et al, 2012). The duration of planktonic dispersal can exert a major influence on connectivity and consequently, on whether populations function and should be managed as either, isolated units or a metapopulation with sources and stepping stone regions allowing a regionally larger biodiversity pool to persist (D'Aloia et al, 2017;Assis et al, 2021). To ensure conservation of regional pools of biodiversity, marine protected areas (MPAs) must function as networks with sufficient continuity of suitable habitats, allowing passive connectivity by ensuring stepping stone migration nodes for all species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in practice, connectivity has rarely been considered in management planning (Balbar and Metaxas, 2019), often leaving connectivity gaps that generate isolated subnetworks, far from optimized for effective conservation. For instance, the European network of no-take MPAs has numerous isolated areas, which can compromise effective connectivity of biodiversity, despite being in a global "hotspot" of MPAs (Assis et al, 2021). In general, the extent to which MPA networks are able to provide the ecological benefits of connected metapopulations is unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potential Biodiversity Connectivity in the Network of Marine Protected Areas in Western Africa

et al. 2021

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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) must function as networks with sufficient stepping-stone continuity between suitable habitats to ensure the conservation of naturally connected regional pools of biodiversity in the long-term. For most marine biodiversity, population connectivity is mediated by passively dispersed planktonic stages with contrasting dispersal periods, ranging from a few hours to hundreds of days. These processes exert a major influence on whether threatened populations should be conserved as either isolated units or linked metapopulations. However, the distance scales at which individual MPAs are connected are insufficiently understood. Here, we use a biophysical model integrating high-resolution ocean currents and contrasting dispersal periods to predict connectivity across the Network of MPAs in Western Africa. Our results revealed that connectivity differs sharply among distinct ecological groups, from highly connected (e.g., fish and crustacea) to predominantly isolated ecosystem structuring species (e.g., corals, macroalgae and seagrass) that might potentially undermine conservation efforts because they are the feeding or nursery habitats required by many other species. Regardless of their dispersal duration, all ecological groups showed a common connectivity gap in the Bijagós region of Guinea-Bissau, highlighting the important role of MPAs there and the need to further support and increase MPA coverage to ensure connectivity along the whole network. Our findings provide key insights for the future management of the Network of MPAs in Western Africa, highlighting the need to protect and ensure continuity of isolated ecosystem structuring species and identifying key regions that function as stepping-stone connectivity corridors.

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Section: Mpa Aggregationssupporting

confidence: 64%

Section: Mpa Aggregationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Network Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potential Biodiversity Connectivity in the Network of Marine Protected Areas in Western Africa

et al. 2021

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β‐diversity reveals ecological connectivity patterns underlying marine community recovery: Implications for conservation

Bevilacqua

Boero

Leo

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

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As β-diversity can be seen as a proxy of ecological connections among species assemblages, modeling the decay of similarity in species composition at increasing distance may help elucidate spatial patterns of connectivity and local-to large-scale processes driving community assembly within a marine region. This, in turn, may provide invaluable information for setting ecologically coherent networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) in which protected communities are potentially interrelated and can mutually sustain against environmental perturbations. However, field studies investigating changes in β-diversity patterns at a range of spatial scales and in relation to disturbance

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Movement ecology of the white seabream Diplodus sargus across its life cycle: a review

Giacalone¹,

Pipitone²,

Abecasis

et al. 2022

Environ Biol Fish

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The white seabream Diplodus sargus (L., 1758) (Osteichthyes, Sparidae) is a littoral species living mainly in rocky habitats and distributed in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. This species is targeted by artisanal and recreational fisheries and presents a high commercial importance. Although classified by IUCN as a “least concern” species, it has been the object of marine ranching and restocking initiatives to counteract locally intense exploitation. Here, we review the current knowledge on the movement ecology of white seabream given the relevance of animal movement in ecological and behavioral studies and their potential application in management and conservation. The literature on this topic was analyzed in order to summarize the results of past research and to identify the gaps that still exist on the matter. We reviewed a total of 27 papers focusing on the movement ecology of white seabream, where acoustic telemetry (n = 12), underwater visual observation and traditional tagging (n = 6), genetic analysis (n = 6), and otolith microchemistry (n = 3) were used. While the first three methods were applied to juvenile and adult fish, the last one was also used with larvae, which have been the object of experimental trials to ascertain their swimming abilities. The largest amount of information on activity rhythms (diurnal with a few exceptions), movement patterns (short distances), homing (ability to come back to the capture site), site fidelity (high), and home range (< 200 ha on average and highly related with seabed morphology) were obtained through acoustic telemetry, whose main limitation is the minimum body size required for its application. The environmental variables found to affect movement patterns in this species are water temperature (which triggers spawning-based vertical movements), local sea conditions (which affect short-scale movements in juveniles), and the main seabed features (orientation and habitat type). The main gaps identified, which need more extensive research and some technological improvements, include the study of the effects of environmental variables on fish movements and further investigations on the movement patterns of juveniles.

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Weak biodiversity connectivity in the European network of no-take marine protected areas

Cited by 28 publications

References 87 publications

Potential Biodiversity Connectivity in the Network of Marine Protected Areas in Western Africa

Potential Biodiversity Connectivity in the Network of Marine Protected Areas in Western Africa

β‐diversity reveals ecological connectivity patterns underlying marine community recovery: Implications for conservation

Movement ecology of the white seabream Diplodus sargus across its life cycle: a review

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