Marine protected area networks: assessing whether the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Anthropogenic impacts are increasingly affecting the world's oceans. Networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) provide an option for increasing the ecological and economic benefits often provided by single MPAs. It is vital to empirically assess the effects of MPA networks and to prioritize the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-08, Vol.9 (8), p.e102298-e102298
Main Authors: Grorud-Colvert, Kirsten, Claudet, Joachim, Tissot, Brian N, Caselle, Jennifer E, Carr, Mark H, Day, Jon C, Friedlander, Alan M, Lester, Sarah E, de Loma, Thierry Lison, Malone, Daniel, Walsh, William J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Anthropogenic factors
Biology
Biology and Life Sciences
Climate change
Computer simulation
Conservation of Natural Resources
Coral reefs
Data security
Design
Ecology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Ecology, environment
Ecosystem
Ecosystem biology
Ecosystems
Environmental Engineering
Environmental Sciences
Fisheries
Fishing
Hawaii
Human influences
Life Sciences
Lutjanus kasmira
Marine conservation
Marine protected areas
Monitoring
Networks
Objectives
Oceans
Oceans and Seas
Protected areas
Protection and preservation
Science
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Summary:Anthropogenic impacts are increasingly affecting the world's oceans. Networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) provide an option for increasing the ecological and economic benefits often provided by single MPAs. It is vital to empirically assess the effects of MPA networks and to prioritize the monitoring data necessary to explain those effects. We summarize the types of MPA networks based on their intended management outcomes and illustrate a framework for evaluating whether a connectivity network is providing an outcome greater than the sum of individual MPA effects. We use an analysis of an MPA network in Hawai'i to compare networked MPAs to non-networked MPAs to demonstrate results consistent with a network effect. We assert that planning processes for MPA networks should identify their intended outcomes while also employing coupled field monitoring-simulation modeling approaches, a powerful way to prioritize the most relevant monitoring data for empirically assessing MPA network performance.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0102298