2024-03-28T22:35:00Zhttp://digital.csic.es/dspace-oai/requestoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1803602022-06-14T07:39:33Zcom_10261_48com_10261_5col_10261_301
00925njm 22002777a 4500
dc
Edgar, Graham J.
author
Stuart-Smith, Rick D.
author
Willis, Trevor J.
author
Kininmonth, Stuart J.
author
Baker, Susan C.
author
Banks, Stuart
author
Barrett, Neville S.
author
Becerro, Mikel
author
Bernard, Anthony T. F.
author
Berkhout, Just
author
Buxton, Colin D.
author
Campbell, Stuart J.
author
Cooper, Antonia T.
author
Davey, Marlene
author
Edgar, Sophie C.
author
Försterra, Günter
author
Galván, David E.
author
Irigoyen, Alejo J.
author
Kushner, David J.
author
Moura, Rodrigo
author
Parnell, P. Ed
author
Shears, N.
author
Soler, German
author
Strain, Elisabeth M. A.
author
Thomson, Russell J.
author
2014-02-13
In line with global targets agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the number of marine protected areas (MPAs) is increasing rapidly, yet socio-economic benefits generated by MPAs remain difficult to predict and under debate1,2. MPAs often fail to reach their full potential as a consequence of factors such as illegal harvesting, regulations that legally allow detrimental harvesting, or emigration of animals outside boundaries because of continuous habitat or inadequate size of reserve3,4,5. Here we show that the conservation benefits of 87 MPAs investigated worldwide increase exponentially with the accumulation of five key features: no take, well enforced, old (>10 years), large (>100 km2), and isolated by deep water or sand. Using effective MPAs with four or five key features as an unfished standard, comparisons of underwater survey data from effective MPAs with predictions based on survey data from fished coasts indicate that total fish biomass has declined about two-thirds from historical baselines as a result of fishing. Effective MPAs also had twice as many large (>250 mm total length) fish species per transect, five times more large fish biomass, and fourteen times more shark biomass than fished areas. Most (59%) of the MPAs studied had only one or two key features and were not ecologically distinguishable from fished sites. Our results show that global conservation targets based on area alone will not optimize protection of marine biodiversity. More emphasis is needed on better MPA design, durable management and compliance to ensure that MPAs achieve their desired conservation value.
Nature 506: 216-220 (2014)
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/180360
10.1038/nature13022
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000923
Environmental Sciences
Macroecology
Conservation Biology
Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features