Conservation Planning for Coral Reefs Accounting for Climate Warming Disturbances

Details

• Journal Title:
  PLOS ONE
• Personal Author:
  Magris, Rafael A. ; Heron, Scott F. ; Pressey, Robert L.
• Corporate Authors:
  United States, National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, ; Center for Satellite Applications and Research (U.S.) ; United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ; Coral Reef Conservation Program (U.S.) ; National Marine Protected Areas Center (U.S.)
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) ; STAR (Center for Satellite Applications and Research) ; CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System) ; MPA (Marine Protected Areas)
• Description:
  Incorporating warming disturbances into the design of marine protected areas (MPAs) is fundamental to developing appropriate conservation actions that confer coral reef resilience. We propose an MPA design approach that includes spatially-and temporally-varying sea-surface temperature (SST) data, integrating both observed (1985-2009) and projected (2010-2099) time-series. We derived indices of acute (time under reduced ecosystem function following short-term events) and chronic thermal stress (rate of warming) and combined them to delineate thermal-stress regimes. Coral reefs located on the Brazilian coast were used as a case study because they are considered a conservation priority in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. We show that all coral reef areas in Brazil have experienced and are projected to continue to experience chronic warming, while acute events are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. We formulated quantitative conservation objectives for regimes of thermal stress. Based on these objectives, we then evaluated if/how they are achieved in existing Brazilian MPAs and identified priority areas where additional protection would reinforce resilience. Our results show that, although the current system of MPAs incorporates locations within some of our thermal-stress regimes, historical and future thermal refugia along the central coast are completely unprotected. Our approach is applicable to other marine ecosystems and adds to previous marine planning for climate change in two ways: (i) by demonstrating how to spatially configure MPAs that meet conservation objectives for warming disturbance using spatially-and temporally-explicit data; and (ii) by strategically allocating different forms of spatial management (MPA types) intended to mitigate warming impacts and also enhance future resistance to climate warming.
• Source:
  PLOS ONE. 2015; 10(11): e0140828.
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140828
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4633137
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Great Barrier Reef (Qld.) ; Mexico, Gulf of
• Rights Information:
  CC BY
• Compliance:
  PMC
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/24899/noaa_24899_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.53 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service (NESDIS) ; Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e102ae3ac41d46bc1fc77a888d3542b382678be2c5edf9361a962011a014ca3f98800ff145898c48b2a600ac9b85ba9fe1f110723a22a1a79c15e614449f0058