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Bioregions in marine environments: combining biological and environmental data for management and scientific understanding
Citation
Woolley, SNC and Foster, SD and Bax, NJ and Currie, JC and Dunn, DC and Hansen, C and Hill, N and O'Hara, TD and Ovaskainen, O and Sayre, R and Vanhatalo, JP and Dunstan, PK, Bioregions in marine environments: combining biological and environmental data for management and scientific understanding, Bioscience, 70, (1) pp. 48-59. ISSN 0006-3568 (2019) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2019 the authors
DOI: doi:10.1093/biosci/biz133
Abstract
Bioregions are important tools for understanding and managing natural resources. Bioregions should describe locations of relatively homogenous assemblages of species occur, enabling managers to better regulate activities that might affect these assemblages. Many existing bioregionalization approaches, which rely on expert-derived, Delphic comparisons or environmental surrogates, do not explicitly include observed biological data in such analyses. We highlight that, for bioregionalizations to be useful and reliable for systems scientists and managers, the bioregionalizations need to be based on biological data; to include an easily understood assessment of uncertainty, preferably in a spatial format matching the bioregions; and to be scientifically transparent and reproducible. Statistical models provide a scientifically robust, transparent, and interpretable approach for ensuring that bioregions are formed on the basis of observed biological and physical data. Using statistically derived bioregions provides a repeatable framework for the spatial representation of biodiversity at multiple spatial scales. This results in better-informed management decisions and biodiversity conservation outcomes.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | biogeography, community ecology, statistics, marine biology |
Research Division: | Environmental Sciences |
Research Group: | Environmental management |
Research Field: | Natural resource management |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Marine systems and management |
Objective Field: | Marine biodiversity |
UTAS Author: | Bax, NJ (Professor Nicholas Bax) |
UTAS Author: | Hill, N (Dr Nicole Hill) |
ID Code: | 137438 |
Year Published: | 2019 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 9 |
Deposited By: | Directorate |
Deposited On: | 2020-02-13 |
Last Modified: | 2020-09-18 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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