Designing connected marine reserves in the face of global warming

New research from the Coral CoE, led by Dr Jorge G. Álvarez-Romero, identifies a new technique to design marine reserve networks that are responsive to current and future climatic conditions – and it’s all about connections!

Marine reserves can increase the ability of marine ecosystems to cope with stress caused by the impacts of climate change, but only if the effects of ocean warming on marine creatures are considered.

For example, warmer ocean temperatures will change the way animals move through marine ecosystems. Many marine creatures protected by reserves, such as commercially important fish species, depend on a larval phase where new young are released into the water column and transported by ocean currents to their new home. As ocean temperatures rise, larvae will need to find their new home more quickly. For marine reserves to remain effective, this change needs to be considered during planning to ensure larvae can reach their new home!

The paper “Designing connected marine reserves in the face of global warming,” provides a framework to achieve connected networks of marine reserves that are responsive to these changes, without additional socioeconomic costs to fishers.

Read more:

The Conservation Planning Group Blog post, 24 December 2017: http://conservationplanning.org/2017/12/designing-connected-marine-reserves-in-the-face-of-global-warming/

Full research paper HERE