Dataset Information

Gravity of human impacts mediates coral reef conservation gains.

ABSTRACT: Coral reefs provide ecosystem goods and services for millions of people in the tropics, but reef conditions are declining worldwide. Effective solutions to the crisis facing coral reefs depend in part on understanding the context under which different types of conservation benefits can be maximized. Our global analysis of nearly 1,800 tropical reefs reveals how the intensity of human impacts in the surrounding seascape, measured as a function of human population size and accessibility to reefs ("gravity"), diminishes the effectiveness of marine reserves at sustaining reef fish biomass and the presence of top predators, even where compliance with reserve rules is high. Critically, fish biomass in high-compliance marine reserves located where human impacts were intensive tended to be less than a quarter that of reserves where human impacts were low. Similarly, the probability of encountering top predators on reefs with high human impacts was close to zero, even in high-compliance marine reserves. However, we find that the relative difference between openly fished sites and reserves (what we refer to as conservation gains) are highest for fish biomass (excluding predators) where human impacts are moderate and for top predators where human impacts are low. Our results illustrate critical ecological trade-offs in meeting key conservation objectives: reserves placed where there are moderate-to-high human impacts can provide substantial conservation gains for fish biomass, yet they are unlikely to support key ecosystem functions like higher-order predation, which is more prevalent in reserve locations with low human impacts.

SUBMITTER: Cinner JE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6142230 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Gravity of human impacts mediates coral reef conservation gains.

Cinner Joshua E JE Maire Eva E Huchery Cindy C MacNeil M Aaron MA Graham Nicholas A J NAJ Mora Camilo C McClanahan Tim R TR Barnes Michele L ML Kittinger John N JN Hicks Christina C CC D'Agata Stephanie S Hoey Andrew S AS Gurney Georgina G GG Feary David A DA Williams Ivor D ID Kulbicki Michel M Vigliola Laurent L Wantiez Laurent L Edgar Graham J GJ Stuart-Smith Rick D RD Sandin Stuart A SA Green Alison A Hardt Marah J MJ Beger Maria M Friedlander Alan M AM Wilson Shaun K SK Brokovich Eran E Brooks Andrew J AJ Cruz-Motta Juan J JJ Booth David J DJ Chabanet Pascale P Gough Charlotte C Tupper Mark M Ferse Sebastian C A SCA Sumaila U Rashid UR Pardede Shinta S Mouillot David D

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20180618 27

Coral reefs provide ecosystem goods and services for millions of people in the tropics, but reef conditions are declining worldwide. Effective solutions to the crisis facing coral reefs depend in part on understanding the context under which different types of conservation benefits can be maximized. Our global analysis of nearly 1,800 tropical reefs reveals how the intensity of human impacts in the surrounding seascape, measured as a function of human population size and accessibility to reefs ( ...[more]

PMID: 29915066

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Project description:Coral reef fishes, like many other marine organisms, are affected by anthropogenic stressors such as fishing and pollution and, owing to climate change, are experiencing increasing water temperatures and ocean acidification. Against the backdrop of these various stressors, a mechanistic understanding of processes governing individual organismal performance is the first step for identifying drivers of coral reef fish population dynamics. In fact, physiological measurements can help to reveal potential cause-and-effect relationships and enable physiologists to advise conservation management by upscaling results from cellular and individual organismal levels to population levels. Here, we highlight studies that include physiological measurements of coral reef fishes and those that give advice for their conservation. A literature search using combined physiological, conservation and coral reef fish key words resulted in ~1900 studies, of which only 99 matched predefined requirements. We observed that, over the last 20 years, the combination of physiological and conservation aspects in studies on coral reef fishes has received increased attention. Most of the selected studies made their physiological observations at the whole organism level and used their findings to give conservation advice on population dynamics, habitat use or the potential effects of climate change. The precision of the recommendations differed greatly and, not surprisingly, was least concrete when studies examined the effects of projected climate change scenarios. Although more and more physiological studies on coral reef fishes include conservation aspects, there is still a lack of concrete advice for conservation managers, with only very few published examples of physiological findings leading to improved management practices. We conclude with a call to action to foster better knowledge exchange between natural scientists and conservation managers to translate physiological findings more effectively in order to obtain evidence-based and adaptive management strategies for the conservation of coral reef fishes.

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Gravity of human impacts mediates coral reef conservation gains.

Publications

Gravity of human impacts mediates coral reef conservation gains.

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