11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

23-61
Mitigating The Effects Of Coral Bleaching Through Improved Methods Of Marine
Reserve Design
Ian ELLIOTT* 1 , Helen EDWARDS 1 , Peter MUMBY 1 , Claire PARIS 2 , William
SKIRVING 3 , Mark EAKIN 3
1 Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom, 2 University of Miami,
Miami, FL, 3 NOAA, Townsville, Australia
Conventional methods of selecting locations for marine reserves have not fully addressed
the impacts of climate change and disturbance events upon coral reef ecosystems. Here
we present a new approach that combines ecosystem models, climate change predictions
and reserve selection tools in order to provide greater sophistication and resilience to
marine reserve networks in areas prone to coral bleaching.
Reserves are chosen from potential sites in the Bahamas. The conservation value of a site
is determined by its current status (dependent upon the species and habitat it contains),
and by the temperature characteristics of that location. Future sea surface temperatures
are projected using data from a model that incorporates IPCC climate predictions. We
consider both the average summer temperature and the variability in temperature at each
location and in each decade until 2100. We prioritise sites that suffer less thermal stress
and are less likely to experience bleaching. Sites are further prioritised if they have
strong connectivity, allowing for coral larvae recruitment from hot-variable sites with
resistance to bleaching.
An optimisation algorithm returns the configurations of reserves that minimise the losses
to the fishing industry whilst meeting user-defined conservation and habitat-connectivity
targets. The summed irreplaceability, defined as the number of all the reserve systems to
which a site belongs out of the total number of reserve systems generated, is used to
identify the most frequently selected sites. Reserve system efficiency and cost are
compared under different bleaching scenarios and for different biodiversity targets.
Incorporating the risk of future bleaching events modifies the influence of biodiversity
criteria and has a profound influence on the distribution of reserves. Our results
demonstrate that an increased awareness of the impacts of disturbance events can enable
more effective management of coral reef ecosystems.
23-62
Management Of The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary As Impacts Of
Climate Change Strengthen
Brian KELLER* 1
1 NOAA/SE Region/National Marine Sanctuary Program, St. Petersburg, FL
Coral reefs within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary have experienced
bleaching events of increasing spatial extent and severity over the past 25 years. Live
coral cover has decreased over the past decade, associated primarily with the 1997-1998
mass bleaching event and the passage of Hurricane Georges in 1998. Projections of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggest that stressors on reef-building
corals, such as ocean temperature, acidification, and tropical storm severity, will increase
during the next few decades. “Adaptations” to climate change are fast gaining the
attention of managers of marine protected areas. Management adaptations include four
categories of actions: 1) ameliorating existing stressors in coastal waters; 2) protecting
apparently resistant and potentially resilient areas; 3) developing networks of marine
protected areas; and 4) integrating climate change into marine protected area planning,
management, and evaluation. The National Marine Sanctuary Program has formed a
Climate Change Working Group that is initiating a systematic approach to develop
practical strategies for resource protection in the context of climate change. Application
of these strategies in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary includes: the continued
use of fully protected marine reserves; continued improvements to wastewater treatment
and stormwater management through the sanctuary’s Water Quality Protection Program;
considering further protection of apparently resistant and potentially resilient areas
identified by the Florida Reef Resilience Program; planning and implementing networks
of these areas; and working closely with the National Marine Sanctuary Program’s
Climate Change Working Group as it helps implement practical climate change strategies
at each national marine sanctuary. For the Florida Keys, implementing recommendations
of the Reef Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching will be a major part of incorporating
climate-change impacts into sanctuary management.
Oral Mini-Symposium 23: Reef Management
23-63
Do Marine Protected Areas Mitigate Coral Cover Decline?
Elizabeth SELIG* 1 , John BRUNO 2 , Kenneth CASEY 3
1 Curriculum in Ecology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 2 Department of Marine
Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 3 National Ocean and Atmospheric
Administration, Silver Spring, MD
The global decline of corals has intensified the need for management strategies that can restore
coral health, particularly in the face of climate change. Marine protected areas (MPAs) have
clearly been effective for fisheries management, but their effects on coral health at regional
scales are not well understood. MPAs could have positive indirect effects on corals by
increasing resistance through the mitigation of stressors like overfishing and nutrient run-off if
there is a terrestrial component. In addition, MPAs could increase the resilience or recovery
rate from disturbance events by increasing herbivore abundance through better fisheries
management. Using spatial databases of MPAs and surveys from more than 3800 reefs around
the world, we analyzed how MPAs and MPA duration affected the rate of change of coral
cover. We found a weak positive effect of MPAs on coral cover and a positive effect of the
number of years of protection on the rate of coral cover change within MPAs. We also used a
21-year satellite temperature anomaly database to specifically test whether MPAs could lessen
the effects of rising temperatures and if MPAs could be better designed to maximize benefits.
Although our results suggest that MPAs can increase coral resilience, the weakness of the effect
underscores the need for additional and more direct conservation measures including those
aimed at reducing climate change.
23-64
Ecological Effects Of No-Take Marine Reserves: Tests Of Latitudinal Variation And
Adult Spillover And Comparison To Partial Protection
Sarah LESTER* 1 , Benjamin HALPERN 2 , Kirsten GRORUD-COLVERT 3
1 Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, 2 National
Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa
Barbara, CA, 3 Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans, Oregon State
University, Corvallis, OR
The study and implementation of marine reserves has increased rapidly over the past few
decades, providing ample data on the biological effects of reserve protection for a wide range of
geographic locations and organisms. Reserves have been shown to support more intact
communities, with a greater abundance and biomass of key species compared to areas outside.
Nonetheless, numerous questions remain about their potential benefits and management utility.
We conducted a survey of peer-reviewed scientific literature to compile a global database of
studies documenting biological effects for multiple taxa in no-take marine reserves. We show
that on average reserves generate strong positive effects for the biomass, density, species
richness, and size of organisms within their boundaries and we explore how these results vary
across different taxa. We then address several core issues in marine reserve science. First, we
compare the performance of marine reserves in tropical and temperate environments and show
that reserves have parallel positive effects across latitude. Second, we present emerging
evidence that spillover of adults into unprotected waters is a general and quantifiable
phenomena and likely scales with reserve size. Lastly, we evaluate the relative benefit of partial
protection versus full protection (no-take reserves) and show that while partial protection
affords some ecological benefits over open-access, on average greater responses are likely to be
found for fully protected areas. These results have important implications for future efforts to
design and implement marine reserves.
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