Evaluation of MPA designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenarios
Marine protected area (MPA) designs, including large-scale MPAs (LSMPAs; >150,000 km2), mobile MPAs (fluid spatiotemporal boundaries), and MPA networks, may offer different benefits to species and could enhance protection by encompassing spatiotemporal scales of animal movement. We sought to unde...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989422000725 |
| _version_ | 1811333005263765504 |
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| author | M.E. Gilmour J. Adams B.A. Block J.E. Caselle A.M. Friedlander E.T. Game E.L. Hazen N.D. Holmes K.D. Lafferty S.M. Maxwell D.J. McCauley E.M. Oleson K. Pollock S.A. Shaffer N.H. Wolff A. Wegmann |
| author_facet | M.E. Gilmour J. Adams B.A. Block J.E. Caselle A.M. Friedlander E.T. Game E.L. Hazen N.D. Holmes K.D. Lafferty S.M. Maxwell D.J. McCauley E.M. Oleson K. Pollock S.A. Shaffer N.H. Wolff A. Wegmann |
| author_sort | M.E. Gilmour |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Marine protected area (MPA) designs, including large-scale MPAs (LSMPAs; >150,000 km2), mobile MPAs (fluid spatiotemporal boundaries), and MPA networks, may offer different benefits to species and could enhance protection by encompassing spatiotemporal scales of animal movement. We sought to understand how well LSMPAs could benefit nine highly-mobile marine species in the tropics now and into the future by: 1) evaluating current range overlap within a LSMPA; 2) evaluating range overlap under climate change projections; and 3) evaluating how well theoretical MPA designs benefit these nine species. We focused on Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef, a 2000 km2 area within the 1.2 million km2 U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) that contains marine megafauna (reef and pelagic fishes; sea turtles; seabirds; cetaceans) reflecting different behaviors and habitat use. Our approach is useful for evaluating the effectiveness of the Palmyra-Kingman MPA and PRIMNM in protecting these species, and tropical LSMPAs in general, and for informing future MPA design. Stationary MPAs provided protection at varying scales. Reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi), grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos), green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) had overall small ranges (<100 km from Palmyra-Kingman) and could benefit from stationary MPAs that contained heterogenous reef habitats. Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), sooty terns (Onychoprion fuscatus), red-footed boobies (Sula sula), great frigatebirds (Fregata minor), and melon-headed whales (Peponocephala electra) navigated complex oceanographic processes and may benefit most from mobile MPAs that shift with features including thermal fronts, cyclic regions of elevated productivity, and eddies, if relationships with these features are established and predictable. All species had capacity to travel to nearby reef systems, illustrating potential benefits of MPA networks and protected corridors. Suitable habitats will likely contract for all species as warm water expands under climate change scenarios (species habitats were predicted to decrease by 4–49% at Palmyra-Kingman) and MPAs may not protect suitable habitats into the future. Species habitat requirements and movement ecologies are critical aspects of marine spatial planning, especially with respect to dynamic ocean processes and a changing climate. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T16:45:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-76cedf36ab884d34bf6edf1f75293233 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T16:45:38Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj.art-76cedf36ab884d34bf6edf1f752932332022-12-22T02:39:05ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942022-06-0135e02070Evaluation of MPA designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenariosM.E. Gilmour0J. Adams1B.A. Block2J.E. Caselle3A.M. Friedlander4E.T. Game5E.L. Hazen6N.D. Holmes7K.D. Lafferty8S.M. Maxwell9D.J. McCauley10E.M. Oleson11K. Pollock12S.A. Shaffer13N.H. Wolff14A. Wegmann15U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Santa Cruz Field Station, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA; Correspondence to: 2885 Mission Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA.U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Santa Cruz Field Station, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USAHopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USAMarine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USAPristine Seas, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC 20036, USA; Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaiʻi, Kāneʻohe, HI, USAThe Nature Conservancy, South Brisbane, Queensland 4101, AustraliaEnvironmental Research Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Monterey, CA 93943, USAThe Nature Conservancy, Sacramento, CA 95811, USAU.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Santa Barbara Field Station C/o Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USASchool of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, Bothell, WA 98011, USAMarine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USAPacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Honolulu, HI 96818, USAThe Nature Conservancy, Honolulu, HI 96817, USADepartment of Biological Sciences, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USAThe Nature Conservancy, Brunswick, ME 04011, USAThe Nature Conservancy, Sacramento, CA 95811, USAMarine protected area (MPA) designs, including large-scale MPAs (LSMPAs; >150,000 km2), mobile MPAs (fluid spatiotemporal boundaries), and MPA networks, may offer different benefits to species and could enhance protection by encompassing spatiotemporal scales of animal movement. We sought to understand how well LSMPAs could benefit nine highly-mobile marine species in the tropics now and into the future by: 1) evaluating current range overlap within a LSMPA; 2) evaluating range overlap under climate change projections; and 3) evaluating how well theoretical MPA designs benefit these nine species. We focused on Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef, a 2000 km2 area within the 1.2 million km2 U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) that contains marine megafauna (reef and pelagic fishes; sea turtles; seabirds; cetaceans) reflecting different behaviors and habitat use. Our approach is useful for evaluating the effectiveness of the Palmyra-Kingman MPA and PRIMNM in protecting these species, and tropical LSMPAs in general, and for informing future MPA design. Stationary MPAs provided protection at varying scales. Reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi), grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos), green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) had overall small ranges (<100 km from Palmyra-Kingman) and could benefit from stationary MPAs that contained heterogenous reef habitats. Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), sooty terns (Onychoprion fuscatus), red-footed boobies (Sula sula), great frigatebirds (Fregata minor), and melon-headed whales (Peponocephala electra) navigated complex oceanographic processes and may benefit most from mobile MPAs that shift with features including thermal fronts, cyclic regions of elevated productivity, and eddies, if relationships with these features are established and predictable. All species had capacity to travel to nearby reef systems, illustrating potential benefits of MPA networks and protected corridors. Suitable habitats will likely contract for all species as warm water expands under climate change scenarios (species habitats were predicted to decrease by 4–49% at Palmyra-Kingman) and MPAs may not protect suitable habitats into the future. Species habitat requirements and movement ecologies are critical aspects of marine spatial planning, especially with respect to dynamic ocean processes and a changing climate.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989422000725AquaMapsBlue water MPACoral reefMarine spatial planningPelagic ecosystemTropical Pacific |
| spellingShingle | M.E. Gilmour J. Adams B.A. Block J.E. Caselle A.M. Friedlander E.T. Game E.L. Hazen N.D. Holmes K.D. Lafferty S.M. Maxwell D.J. McCauley E.M. Oleson K. Pollock S.A. Shaffer N.H. Wolff A. Wegmann Evaluation of MPA designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenarios Global Ecology and Conservation AquaMaps Blue water MPA Coral reef Marine spatial planning Pelagic ecosystem Tropical Pacific |
| title | Evaluation of MPA designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenarios |
| title_full | Evaluation of MPA designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenarios |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of MPA designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenarios |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of MPA designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenarios |
| title_short | Evaluation of MPA designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenarios |
| title_sort | evaluation of mpa designs that protect highly mobile megafauna now and under climate change scenarios |
| topic | AquaMaps Blue water MPA Coral reef Marine spatial planning Pelagic ecosystem Tropical Pacific |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989422000725 |
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