The goal of biodiversity conservation has been described as the conservation of diversity at three levels: ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Developing a representative system of marine protected areas is considered an effective way to achieve this goal in the marine environment. The growing concern associated with threats to the marine environment has resulted in an increased demand for marine reserves (i.e. no-take areas) that conserve representative and adequate examples of biodiversity. Often, the decisions about where to locate reserves must be made in the absence of detailed information on the patterns of distribution of the biota. Alternative approaches are required that include defining habitats as surrogates for biodiversity. The development of biodiversity surrogates at fine-scales (i.e. habitats) will have an increasingly important role in the identification of sites that will contribute to a representative system of marine protected areas. This is because it will increase the likelihood that the system will adequately achieve biodiversity objectives by ensuring protection of a greater range of habitats and species. Surrogate measures of biodiversity enable decisions about where to locate marine reserves to be made more reliably in the absence of detailed data on the distribution of species. There is concern, however, about the reliability of surrogate measures to represent biotic diversity and the use of such measures in the design of marine reserve systems. Currently, surrogate measures are most often based on broad-scale (100s to 1000s of kilometres) bioregional frameworks that define general categories (sandy beach, rocky shore) for intertidal systems. These broad-scale categories are inadequate when making decisions about conservation priorities at the local level (10s to 100s of metres). This study provides an explanation of an intertidal shoreline habitat surrogate (i.e. shoreline types) used to describe 24,216 kilometres of Queensland’s coastline. The protective status of shoreline types was evaluated to assist with designing a representative system of intertidal marine protected areas. The shoreline types derived using physical properties of the shoreline were used as a surrogate for intertidal biodiversity to assist with the identification of sites for inclusion in a candidate system of intertidal marine reserves for 17,463 kilometres of the mainland coast of Queensland, Australia. This represents the first systematic approach, on essentially one-dimensional data, using fine-scale (10s to 100s of metres) intertidal habitats to identify a system of marine reserves for such a large length of coast. A range of solutions would provide for the protection of a representative example of shoreline types in Queensland. Shoreline types were used as a surrogate for intertidal biodiversity (i.e. habitats, microhabitats) to assist with the identification of sites to be included in a representative system of marine reserves in south east Queensland. The use of local-scale shoreline types increased the likelihood that sites identified for conservation achieved representation goals for the mosaic of habitats and microhabitats, and therefore the associated biodiversity present on rocky shores, than that provided by the existing marine reserve protection in south east Queensland. These results indicate that using broad-scale surrogate measures (rocky shore, sandy beach) for biodiversity (habitats, microhabitats and species) are likely to result in poor representation of fine-scale habitats and microhabitats, and therefore intertidal assemblages in marine reserves. When additional fine-scale data were added to reserve selection the summed irreplaceability of 24% (for spatial extent of habitats), and 29% (for presence/absence of microhabitats) of rocky shore sites increased above zero, where a value close to one means a site is necessary, for inclusion in a reserve system, to meet conservation targets. The use of finer-scale physical data to support marine reserve design is more likely to result in the selection of reserves that achieve representation at habitat and microhabitat levels, increasing the likelihood that conservation goals will be achieved. The design and planning of marine and terrestrial protected areas systems should not be undertaken independently of each other because it is likely to lead to inadequate representation of intertidal habitats in either system. The development of reserve systems specially designed to protect intertidal habitats should be integrated into the design of terrestrial and marine protected area systems. Marine reserve networks are a necessary and effective tool for conserving marine biodiversity. They also have an important role in the governance of oceans and the sustainable management of marine resources. The translation of marine reserve network theory into practice is a challenge for conservation practitioners. Barriers to implementing marine reserves include varying levels of political will and agency support and leadership, poorly coordinated marine conservation policy, inconsistencies with the use of legislation, polarised views and opposition from some stakeholders, and difficulties with defining and mapping conservation features. The future success of marine reserve network implementation will become increasingly dependent on: increasing political commitment and agency leadership to remove conflicts within and between government agencies involved in site identification and selection; greater involvement and collaboration with stakeholders; and the provision of resources to define and map conservation features. Key elements of translating marine reserve theory into implementation of a network of marine reserves are discussed based on approaches used successfully in New Zealand and New South Wales (Australia).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/254139 |
| Creators | Simon Banks |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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