Search results for "Marine protected area"
showing 10 items of 105 documents
Marine protected areas rescue a sexually selected trait in European lobster
2020
Abstract Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly implemented worldwide to maintain and restore depleted populations. However, despite our knowledge on the myriad of positive responses to protection, there are few empirical studies on the ability to conserve species’ mating patterns and secondary sexual traits. In male European lobsters (Homarus gammarus), the size of claws relative to body size correlates positively with male mating success and is presumably under sexual selection. At the same time, an intensive trap fishery exerts selection against large claws in males. MPAs could therefore be expected to resolve these conflicting selective pressures and preserve males with large cl…
Assessing the potential of marine Natura 2000 sites to produce ecosystem‐wide effects in rocky reefs: A case study from Sardinia Island (Italy)
2019
A number of policy measures have been adopted to cope with ongoing ocean degradation. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are among them. MPAs and their coverage have increased worldwide, including in EU waters. Natura 2000 (Nat2000) sites are at the core of the EU biodiversity conservation strategy and have been established to protect habitats and species included in two EU directives. Besides their specific objectives, their potential to contribute to an ecosystem-wide conservation and their complementarity with other national and supranational initiatives (e.g. nationally established MPA networks, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Convention on Biological Diversity Ecosystem-Based A…
A multidisciplinary analytical framework to delineate spawning areas and quantify larval dispersal in coastal fish
2019
International audience; Assessing larval dispersal is essential to understand the structure and dynamics of marine populations. However, knowledge about early-life dispersal is sparse, and so is our understanding of the spawning process, perhaps the most obscure component of biphasic life cycles. Indeed, the poorly known species-specific spawning modality and early-life traits, along with the high spatio-temporal variability of the oceanic circulation experienced during larval drift, hamper our ability to properly appraise the realized connectivity of coastal fishes. Here, we propose an analytical framework which combines Lagrangian modeling, network theory, otolith analyses and biogeograph…
Protected areas buffer against harvest selection and rebuild phenotypic complexity
2020
14 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables.-- This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
2019
Local support is important for the longevity of conservation initiatives. The literature suggests that perceptions of ecological effectiveness, social impacts, and good governance will influence levels of local support for conservation. This paper examines these relationships using data from a survey of small‐scale fishermen in 11 marine protected areas from six countries in the Mediterranean Sea. The survey queried small‐scale fishermen regarding perceptions and support for conservation. We constructed composite scores for three categories of perceptions—ecological effectiveness, social impacts, and good governance—and tested the relationship with levels of support using ordinal regression…
Replicated marine protected areas (MPAs) support movement of larger, but not more, European lobsters to neighbouring fished areas
2018
The European lobster Homarus gammarus is heavily exploited in the Norwegian fishery, and several management actions have been implemented to protect the species. Three marine protected areas (MPAs) excluding all but hook and line type fishing gear were established along the Skagerrak coast in 2006, effectively banning the trap-based fishery for European lobster. Lobster populations within MPAs and adjacent control areas were studied by capture-mark-recapture and recovery methods every year from prior to MPA establishment to the present. During 2006-2014, a total of 4682 and 3317 lobsters were captured (including recaptures) in the MPAs and control areas, respectively. In all MPAs, protectio…
A new contribution to the alien macroalgal flora of the Ustica Island Marine Protected Area (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)
2018
A second record of the non-indigenous species Botryocladia madagascariensis G. Feldmann (Rhodophyta) along the coasts of the “Ustica Island” Marine Protected Area (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) is reported. With this additional record for the Sicilian coasts, we provide a description of collected specimens of B. madagascariensis and habitat details. Numerous fertile female gametophytes with cystocarps immersed in vesicles were also observed, for the second time in the Mediterranean Sea, and described.
Time at risk: Individual spatial behaviour drives effectiveness of marine protected areas and fitness
2021
11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table.-- Under a Creative Commons license
Inconsistent relationships among protection, benthic assemblage, habitat complexity and fish biomass in Mediterranean temperate rocky reefs
2021
International audience; Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been proved to effectively protect and restore fish assemblages. There is mixed evidence regarding the effects of MPAs on benthic assemblages, habitat complexity, and how protection might mediate the effects of habitat features (including biotic and abiotic components) on fish assemblages, with very little information concerning temperate areas. Here, our aim is to assess how protection 1) influences benthic assemblages and habitat complexity, and 2) mediates the effects of habitat complexity on fishes.Using non-destructive methods (photosampling for shallow rocky benthic assemblages, and underwater visual census using strip transec…
Citizen science: a successful tool for monitoring invasive alien species (IAS) in Marine Protected Areas. The case study of the Egadi Islands MPA (Ty…
2018
The chief purpose of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is biodiversity conservation. The effects that invasive alien species (IAS) have on MPAs, and vice versa, are not yet fully known, even though assessing them is crucial for MPA planning. Management plans require sound knowledge of the pathways of introduction, the impact and current distribution of IAS. Monitoring plans are essential for preventing and reducing the risk of IAS introduction. In this respect, the involvement of citizen scientists in gathering data (validated by taxonomic experts) on the occurrence of IAS, that would otherwise be impossible to collect, may be crucial. We report on our experience of citizen science in the Egadi …