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Climate resilience in marine protected areas and the 'Protection Paradox'
Citation
Bates, AE and Cooke, RSC and Duncan, MI and Edgar, GJ and Bruno, JF and Benedetti-Cecchi, L and Cote, IM and Lefcheck, JS and Costello, MJ and Barrett, N and Bird, TJ and Fenberg, PB and Stuart-Smith, RD, Climate resilience in marine protected areas and the 'Protection Paradox', Biological Conservation, 236 pp. 305-314. ISSN 0006-3207 (2019) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2019 Elsevier Ltd.
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2019.05.005
Abstract
Restricting human activities through Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is assumed to create more resilient biological communities with a greater capacity to resist and
recover following climate events. Here we review the evidence linking protection from local pressures (e.g., fishing and habitat destruction) with increased resilience.
Despite strong theoretical underpinnings, studies have only rarely attributed resilience responses to the recovery of food webs and habitats, and increases in the
diversity of communities and populations. When detected, resistance to ocean warming and recovery after extreme events in MPAs have small effect sizes against a
backdrop of natural variability. By contrast, large die-offs are well described from MPAs following climate stress events. This may be in part because protection from
one set of pressures or drivers (such as fishing) can select for species that are highly sensitive to others (such as warming), creating a ‘Protection Paradox’. Given that
climate change is overwhelming the resilience capacity of marine ecosystems, the only primary solution is to reduce carbon emissions. High-quality monitoring data
in both space and time can also identify emergent resilience signals that do exist, in combination with adequate reference data to quantify the initial system state.
This knowledge will allow networks of diverse protected areas to incorporate spatial refugia against climate change, and identify resilient biological components of
natural systems. Sufficient spatial replication further offers insurance against losses in any given MPA, and the possibility for many weak signals of resilience to
accumulate.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Reef Life Survey, citizen science, MPAs, reef fish, coral |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecology |
| Research Field: | Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl. Marine Ichthyology) |
| Objective Division: | Environment |
| Objective Group: | Ecosystem Assessment and Management |
| Objective Field: | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments |
| UTAS Author: | Edgar, GJ (Professor Graham Edgar) |
| UTAS Author: | Barrett, N (Associate Professor Neville Barrett) |
| UTAS Author: | Stuart-Smith, RD (Dr Rick Stuart-Smith) |
| ID Code: | 133070 |
| Year Published: | 2019 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (LP100200122) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 4 |
| Deposited By: | Ecology and Biodiversity |
| Deposited On: | 2019-06-06 |
| Last Modified: | 2020-01-06 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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