Preprint volume - SIBM

Pre-print Volume –Lecture
Topic 1: BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION SCIENCE: CONTRIBUTING TO MANAGEMENT
Fig 1 - Number of species samples available within a) 5 km 2 and b) 20 km 2 grid in subtidal Welsh
waters.
Numero di campioni di specie disponibili in un reticolo di a) 5 km 2 e b) 20 km 2 nelle acque
subtidali (infralitorali e circalitorali) del Galles.
Any layer representing patterns of diversity should be viewed together with the
confidence we have in those estimations. This confidence can be derived from: 1)
quality criteria applied to collated datasets; 2) estimators for extrapolating species
richness from limited numbers of samples (in order to check for artefacts in diversity
analyses) and 3) concordance between different measures to identify whether high
areas for one measure are matched with others. Together this approach gives important
context when identifying persistent large scale patterns.
How this information can be used in selecting areas for protection? - Areas of high
biodiversity are one important factor to include in the site selection process for MPAs.
However, there are limitations to the use of large scale biodiversity patterns, regardless
of how rigorously analyses were conducted. There will always be some degree of bias
in the datasets used to base analyses on, and while this can be mitigated to a greater
extent, it is impossible to completely remove it. Furthermore, it may be that the gaps in
coverage mean that the application is quite limited, generally to inshore areas.
Identifying gaps in sampling coverage at this scale can be a useful exercise in itself
though to direct future survey effort, and assembling data on a large scale can serve to
emphasise the current state of knowledge to decision-makers.
At a more fundamental level, the links between biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and
functioning are not fully understood, and the debate continues. While protecting areas
of high biodiversity is likely to help ensure the continued ecosystem functioning, this
should not be at the expense of low diversity areas, which may be equally important
from a functional perspective. In addition, some rare or threatened species with narrow
habitat preferences may only be found in these areas, and would be outside of
protection if this approach was taken in isolation for site selection.
While the identification of large scale patterns of biodiversity clearly does not provide
immediate solutions to all marine nature conservation issues, there is a strong argument
for it to have a place in the site selection process since these approaches provide
41 st S.I.B.M. CONGRESS Rapallo (GE), 7-11 June 2010
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