Environmental and Human Impacts on Coastal and Marine Protected Areas in India

Biodiversity is a portmanteau word to indicate the variety of life at all levels from genes to ecosystems, but it is often simplistically equated to species richness; the word ecodiversity has thus been coined to address habitat variety. Biodiversity represents the core of the natural capital, and as such needs to be quantified and followed over time. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a major tool for biodiversity conservation at sea. Monitoring of both species and habitat diversity in MPAs is therefore mandatory and must include both inventory and periodic surveillance activities. In the case of inventories, the ideal would be to census all species and all habitats, but while the latter goal can be within reach, the former seems unattainable. Species inventory should be commeasured to investigation effort, while habitat inventory should be based on mapping. Both inventories may profit from suitability spatial modelling. Periodic surveillance actions should privilege conspicuous species and priority habitats. Efficient descriptor taxa and ecological indices are recommended to evaluate environmental status. While it seems obvious that surveillance activities should be carried out with regular recurrence, diachronic inventories and mapping are rarely carried out. Time series are of prime importance to detect marine ecosystem change even in the absence of direct human impacts.

Download Full-text

Reducing human impacts on central Californian intertidal gastropods: are marine protected areas effective?

Molluscan Research ◽

10.1080/13235818.2017.1278957 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 148-152 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Cassie Bednar ◽

Lynne Trulio

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Human Impacts

Download Full-text

MSP for the anthropocene

10.31230/osf.io/uqdav ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

OCTO

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Human Activities ◽

Ecological Niche ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Ecological Niche Models ◽

Niche Models

Marine protected areas (MPAs) designate a static spatial zone for protection from some, or all, human activities. With climate change, species are likely to shift in response to warming oceans, quite possibly outside the boundaries of the MPAs that were meant to offer protection. In addition, the designation of an area as a partially-protected MPA may spur unintended human impacts. So how do you plan for climate change and human uses when species migrate? Ecological niche models may offer a solution.

Download Full-text

Conservation and restoration of marine forests in the Mediterranean Sea and the potential role of Marine Protected Areas

Advances in Oceanography and Limnology ◽

10.4081/aiol.2013.5338 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 83 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Fabrizio Gianni ◽

Fabrizio Bartolini ◽

Laura Airoldi ◽

Enric Ballesteros ◽

Patrice Francour ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Potential Role ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Coastal Development ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Artificial Restoration

Cystoseira species are some of the most important marine ecosystem-engineers, forming extended canopies comparable to land forests. Such forests are sensitive to human disturbances, like the decrease in water quality, the coastal development and the outbreak of herbivores. Conspicuous historical declines have been reported in many regions and several Cystoseira species are presently protected by European Union (EU) environmental policies. The aim of this work was to synthesize the conservation perspectives of Cystoseira forests in the Mediterranean Sea, focusing on the opportunities offered by artificial restoration and highlighting the potential role of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). MPAs give a better protection to healthy forests than non-managed sites and may be a source of propagules for natural recovery and/or for non-destructive artificial restoration of nearby damaged forests. MPAs lacking Cystoseira forests may also represent preferential sites for reforestation. We proposed a flow-chart for the conservation and a reasoned restoration of Cystoseira in the Mediterranean Sea. The successful conservation of Cystoseira forests is still possible, via raising public awareness on the role of Cystoseira and reducing human impacts on coastal ecosystems. Such actions have to be coupled with more specific large-scale management plans, encompassing restoration actions and enforcement of protection within MPAs.

Download Full-text

How good is your marine protected area at curbing threats?

10.31230/osf.io/2ry6t ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Mirta Zupan

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Area ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Threat Assessment ◽

Local Scale ◽

Coastal Environments ◽

Multiple Use ◽

Reduction Capacity

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are key tools to mitigate human impacts in coastal environments, promoting sustainable activities to conserve biodiversity. The designation of MPAs alone may not result in the lessening of some human threats, which is highly dependent on management goals and the related specific regulations that are adopted. Here, we develop and operationalize a local threat assessment framework. We develop indices to quantify the effectiveness of MPAs (or individual zones within MPAs in the case of multiple-use MPAs) in reducing anthropogenic extractive and non-extractive threats operating at local scale, focusing specifically on threats that can be managed through MPAs. We apply this framework in 15 Mediterranean MPAs to assess their threat reduction capacity. We show that fully protected areas effectively eliminate extractive activities, whereas the intensity of artisanal and recreational fishing within partially protected areas, paradoxically, is higher than that found outside MPAs, questioning their ability at reaching conservation targets. In addition, both fully and partially protected areas attract non-extractive activities that are potential threats. Overall, only three of the 15 MPAs had lower intensities for the entire set of eight threats considered, in respect to adjacent control unprotected areas. Understanding the intensity and occurrence of human threats operating at the local scale inside and around MPAs is important for assessing MPAs effectiveness in achieving the goals they have been designed for, informing management strategies, and prioritizing specific actions.

Download Full-text