Single large or several small marine reserves for the Caribbean spiny lobster?

The ‘SLOSS’ debate—Single Large Or Several Small protected areas—remains unresolved. We used a heuristic model based on population dynamics of Caribbean spiny lobster in Exuma Sound, Bahamas, to compare impacts of regional reserve designs that configured 20% of available coastal habitat as either a randomly located single large reserve or a network of six small, randomly located reserves on three performance indicators (fishery yield, larval production, population growth rate) for a hypothetical overexploited lobster population. Two additional management strategies were considered: one reduced effort by 20% (without protected areas), and one did nothing. Effects were evaluated for two levels of hydrodynamic variability. In general, performance indicators ranked the management strategies, independent of hydrodynamic variability, from best to worst in the order (1) single large reserve (2) several small reserves (3) reduced effort (4) no management action, but differences were not always significant. Therefore, for the model regional system investigated here, a single large reserve is preferable to several small ones. We propose that this conservation strategy is most suitable at the regional scale (~100s of kilometres) and that such single, large regional reserves would function most effectively within a broadscale (~1000s of kilometres) reserve network, barring local catastrophes.

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Evidence that spillover from Marine Protected Areas benefits the spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) fishery in southern California

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-82371-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hunter S. Lenihan ◽

Jordan P. Gallagher ◽

Joseph R. Peters ◽

Adrian C. Stier ◽

Jennifer K. K. Hofmeister ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Spiny Lobster ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Fishing Ground ◽

Catch Per Unit Effort ◽

Panulirus Interruptus ◽

The Status ◽

Larval Production ◽

And Behavior

AbstractMarine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designed to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services. Some MPAs are also established to benefit fisheries through increased egg and larval production, or the spillover of mobile juveniles and adults. Whether spillover influences fishery landings depend on the population status and movement patterns of target species both inside and outside of MPAs, as well as the status of the fishery and behavior of the fleet. We tested whether an increase in the lobster population inside two newly established MPAs influenced local catch, fishing effort, and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) within the sustainable California spiny lobster fishery. We found greater build-up of lobsters within MPAs relative to unprotected areas, and greater increases in fishing effort and total lobster catch, but not CPUE, in fishing zones containing MPAs vs. those without MPAs. Our results show that a 35% reduction in fishing area resulting from MPA designation was compensated for by a 225% increase in total catch after 6-years, thus indicating at a local scale that the trade-off of fishing ground for no-fishing zones benefitted the fishery.

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Federal protected areas management strategies in Brazil: sustainable financing, staffing, and local development

Natureza & Conservação ◽

10.1016/j.ncon.2015.05.003 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 30-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Rafael Morais Chiaravalloti ◽

Caroline Delelis ◽

Cristina Tofoli ◽

Claudio Valladares Padua ◽

Katia Torres Ribeiro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Local Development ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Protected Areas Management ◽

Sustainable Financing

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Managing Alien Plants for Biodiversity Outcomes—the Need for Triage

Invasive Plant Science and Management ◽

10.1614/ipsm-09-042.1 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Paul O. Downey ◽

Moira C. Williams ◽

Leonie K. Whiffen ◽

Bruce A. Auld ◽

Mark A. Hamilton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biodiversity Conservation ◽

Native Species ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Alien Plants ◽

Plant Management ◽

Policy Reforms ◽

Management Decisions ◽

Alien Plant ◽

Triage System

AbstractRecognition that alien plants pose a significant threat to biodiversity has not always translated into effective management strategies, policy reforms, and systems to establish priorities. Thus, many alien plant management decisions for the protection of biodiversity occur with limited knowledge of what needs to be protected (other than biodiversity in a generalized sense) or the urgency of actions. To rectify this, we have developed a triage system that enables alien plant management decisions to be made based on (1) the urgency of control relative to the degree of threat posed to biodiversity, compared with (2) the likelihood of achieving a successful conservation outcome as a result of alien plant control. This triage system is underpinned by a two-step approach, which identifies the biodiversity at risk and assesses sites to determine priorities for control. This triage system was initially developed to manage the threat posed by bitou bush to native species in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It has subsequently been improved with the national assessment of lantana in Australia, and the adaptation from a single to multiple alien plant species approach on a regional scale. This triage system identifies nine levels of priority for alien plant management aimed at biodiversity conservation, ranging from immediate, targeted action to limited or no action. The development of this approach has enabled long-term management priorities to be set for widespread alien plants that are unlikely to be eradicated. It also enables control to occur in a coordinated manner for biodiversity conservation at a landscape scale, rather than as a series of individual unconnected short-term actions.

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Achieving mangrove conservation and sustainable use in Mexico through community-based Management Units for Wildlife Conservation within and beyond Protected Areas

10.7287/peerj.preprints.26841 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Paola Fajardo ◽

Ignacio Valdez Hernández

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Wildlife Conservation ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Conservation Strategy ◽

Close Monitoring ◽

Community Based ◽

Management Units ◽

Alternative Scheme

Mangroves are valuable socio-ecological ecosystems that provide vital goods and services to millions of people, including wood, a renewable natural capital, which is the primary source of energy and construction material for several coastal communities in developing countries. Unfortunately, mangrove loss and degradation occur at alarming rates. Regardless of the protection and close monitoring of mangrove ecosystems in Mexico during the last two decades, mangrove degradation and the loss of biodiversity is still ongoing. In some regions, unregulated and unsustainable mangrove wood harvesting are important causes of degradation. In this context, community-based mangrove forestry through Management Units for Wildlife Conservation could be a cost-effective alternative scheme to manage and conserve mangrove forests, their ecosystem services and biological diversity within and beyond protected areas while providing sustainable local livelihoods and helping reduce illegal logging. The objective of the Management Units is to promote alternative means of production with the rational and planned use of renewable resources based on Management Plans. If implemented with a multidisciplinary perspective that incorporates scientific assessments this conservation strategy may contribute to achieving national and international environmental and biodiversity agreements providing multiple social, ecological and economic benefits from local to global scales.

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Climate changes in mangrove forests and salt marshes

Brazilian Journal of Oceanography ◽

10.1590/s1679-875920160919064sp2 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 64 (spe2) ◽

pp. 37-52 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Yara Schaeffer-Novelli ◽

Eduardo Juan Soriano-Sierra ◽

Claudia Câmara do Vale ◽

Elaine Bernini ◽

André Scarlate Rovai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Salt Marsh ◽

Early Warning ◽

Salt Marshes ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Level Energy ◽

Mangrove Forests ◽

Coastal Zones ◽

Coastal Habitat ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Salt Marsh Species

Abstract This synthesis is framed within the scope of the Brazilian Benthic Coastal Habitat Monitoring Network (ReBentos WG 4: Mangroves and Salt Marshes), focusing on papers that examine biodiversity-climate interactions as well as human-induced factors including those that decrease systemic resilience. The goal is to assess difficulties related to the detection of climate and early warning signals from monitoring data. We also explored ways to circumvent some of the obstacles identified. Exposure and sensitivity of mangrove and salt marsh species and ecosystems make them extremely vulnerable to environmental impacts and potential indicators of sea level and climate-driven environmental change. However, the interpretation of shifts in mangroves and salt marsh species and systemic attributes must be scrutinized considering local and setting-level energy signature changes; including disturbance regime and local stressors, since these vary widely on a regional scale. The potential for adaptation and survival in response to climate change depends, in addition to the inherent properties of species, on contextual processes at the local, landscape, and regional levels that support resilience. Regardless of stressor type, because of the convergence of social and ecological processes, coastal zones should be targeted for anticipatory action to reduce risks and to integrate these ecosystems into adaptation strategies. Management must be grounded on proactive mitigation and collaborative action based on long-term ecosystem-based studies and well-designed monitoring programs that can 1) provide real-time early warning and 2) close the gap between simple correlations that provide weak inferences and process-based approaches that can yield increasingly reliable attribution and improved levels of anticipation.

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Expert knowledge assessment of threats and conservation strategies for breeding Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl across Europe

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s0959270920000349 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

DARÍO FERNÁNDEZ-BELLON ◽

JOHN LUSBY ◽

JULES BOS ◽

TONIO SCHAUB ◽

ALAN MCCARTHY ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Habitat Management ◽

Expert Knowledge ◽

Prey Availability ◽

Active Management ◽

Conservation Strategy ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Conservation Threats ◽

The Impact ◽

Hen Harrier

Summary Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus and Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus are open-country birds of prey with overlapping distributions. Although both species face similar conservation threats across their ranges, work to date has largely been undertaken at a national scale with few attempts to collate and assess factors relevant to their conservation at an international scale. Here we use an expert knowledge approach to evaluate the impact of conservation threats and the effectiveness of conservation strategies for each species across Europe. We report results of responses to a questionnaire from 23 Hen Harrier experts from nine countries and 12 Short-eared Owl experts from six countries. The majority of responses for both species reported declines in breeding numbers. The perceived impact of threats was broadly similar for both species: ecological factors (predation, extreme weather and prey availability), changes in land use (habitat loss and agricultural intensification) and indirect persecution (accidental nest destruction) were considered to be the greatest threats to breeding Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl. Short-eared Owl experts also highlighted lack of knowledge and difficulties associated with monitoring as a major conservation challenge. Despite broad-scale similarities, geographical variation was also apparent in the perceived importance of conservation threats, with some threats (such as direct persecution, large-scale afforestation or habitat degradation) requiring country-specific actions. Implementation of different conservation strategies also varied between countries, with the designation of protected areas reported as the most widespread conservation strategy adopted, followed by species and habitat management. However, protected areas (including species-specific protected areas) were perceived to be less effective than active management of species and habitats. These findings highlight the overlap between the conservation requirements of these two species, and the need for collaborative international research and conservation approaches that prioritise pro-active conservation strategies subject to continued assessment and with specific conservation goals.

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Analyzing the Performances of Water User Associations to Increase the Irrigation Sustainability: An Application of Multivariate Statistics to a Case Study in Italy

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12166327 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (16) ◽

pp. 6327

Author(s):

Demetrio Antonio Zema ◽

Pasquale Filianoti ◽

Daniela D’Agostino ◽

Antonino Labate ◽

Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Performance Indicators ◽

Linear Models ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Water Price ◽

Water User Associations ◽

Large Variability ◽

Water User ◽

Economy Of Scale ◽

Self Sufficiency

Benchmarking techniques are useful and simple tools to analyze the performance of the collective irrigation in the Water User Associations (WUAs) towards an increase in service sustainability. Several benchmarking techniques have been proposed to process and predict performance indicators. Instead, some meaningful statistical techniques based on the distance of data samples, which overcome the limitations of the traditional benchmarking techniques, have never been applied to the collective irrigation sector. This study applies Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance (PERMANOVA), Multidimensional Scale Models (MDS), and Distance-Based Linear Models (DISTLM) as benchmarking techniques to evaluate the technical and financial performances of 10 WUAs in Calabria (Southern Italy). These benchmarking techniques revealed that the significant differences in the irrigated areas and financial self-sufficiency of the WUAs, shown by PERMANOVA, depend on the large variability of the remaining performance indicators. Both the MDS and DISTLM demonstrated that a higher number of associated users and larger irrigation service coverage allows an increase in the irrigated areas; this enlargement is facilitated if the water price and the size of the personnel staff decrease. The WUAs’ self-sufficiency is mainly influenced by the number of workers and the maintenance, organization, and management costs, while the impacts of the due service fees and water price are more limited; it is also convenient to increase the number of the associated farmers since this increases the economy of scale and the gross revenues of the irrigation service. Overall, from the analysis carried out for the regional case study, these benchmarking techniques seem to be powerful and easy tools to identify the problems of the irrigation service and help in planning the most suitable policies to improve the sustainability of the collective irrigation at the regional scale.

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Marine Protected Areas, Multiple-Agency Management, and Monumental Surprise in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Journal of Marine Biology ◽

10.1155/2011/241374 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2011 ◽

pp. 1-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

John N. Kittinger ◽

Anne Dowling ◽

Andrew R. Purves ◽

Nicole A. Milne ◽

Per Olsson

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Large Scale ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Hawaiian Islands ◽

Collaborative Management ◽

Governance Arrangement ◽

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands ◽

Agency Management ◽

Multiple Agency

Large, regional-scale marine protected areas (MPAs) and MPA networks face different challenges in governance systems than locally managed or community-based MPAs. An emerging theme in large-scale MPA management is the prevalence of governance structures that rely on institutional collaboration, presenting new challenges as agencies with differing mandates and cultures work together to implement ecosystem-based management. We analyzed qualitative interview data to investigate multi-level social interactions and institutional responses to the surprise establishment of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (monument) in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). The governance arrangement for the monument represents a new model in US MPA management, requiring two federal agencies and the State of Hawai‘i to collaboratively manage the NWHI. We elucidate the principal barriers to institutional cotrusteeship, characterize institutional transformations that have occurred among the partner agencies in the transition to collaborative management, and evaluate the governance arrangement for the monument as a model for MPAs. The lessons learned from the NWHI governance arrangement are critical as large-scale MPAs requiring multiple-agency management become a prevalent feature on the global seascape.

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