Diving into science and conservation: recreational divers can monitor reef assemblages

Vieira, Edson A.; Souza, Leonardo Rodrigues; Longo, Guilherme O.

doi:10.1016/j.pecon.2019.12.001

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Photo-identification sample sizes used in humpback whale stock comparisons jumped 50-fold when citizens started to participate in biodiversity monitoring, facilitated by public campaigns, tourism, and the development of user-friendly platforms to engage and receive feedback on their contributions. In ours and other cases, these contributions add great complementary value to dedicated scientific research 75 , 76 . Global citizen engagement informs, at a much faster pace, stakeholders’ actions towards conservation of marine life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

The Southern Ocean Exchange: porous boundaries between humpback whale breeding populations in southern polar waters

Marcondes

Cheeseman

Jackson

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are a cosmopolitan species and perform long annual migrations between low-latitude breeding areas and high-latitude feeding areas. Their breeding populations appear to be spatially and genetically segregated due to long-term, maternally inherited fidelity to natal breeding areas. In the Southern Hemisphere, some humpback whale breeding populations mix in Southern Ocean waters in summer, but very little movement between Pacific and Atlantic waters has been identified to date, suggesting these waters constituted an oceanic boundary between genetically distinct populations. Here, we present new evidence of summer co-occurrence in the West Antarctic Peninsula feeding area of two recovering humpback whale breeding populations from the Atlantic (Brazil) and Pacific (Central and South America). As humpback whale populations recover, observations like this point to the need to revise our perceptions of boundaries between stocks, particularly on high latitude feeding grounds. We suggest that this “Southern Ocean Exchange” may become more frequent as populations recover from commercial whaling and climate change modifies environmental dynamics and humpback whale prey availability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

The Southern Ocean Exchange: porous boundaries between humpback whale breeding populations in southern polar waters

Marcondes

Cheeseman

Jackson

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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“…The fact that some divers understand the impacts of tourism, despite working in or promoting the sector, possibly suggests that they have been following reef degradation in areas increasingly subjected to visitation (Dearden et al, 2007). Conversely, divers can also be critical allies of science and conservation through their involvement in citizen-science programs that suggest divers without previous scientific training can provide reliable estimates of fish abundance (Vieira et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Different Types of Knowledge to Understand Temporal Changes in Reef Landscapes

et al. 2021

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Reefs are highly diverse ecosystems threatened by anthropogenic actions that change their structure and dynamics. Many of these changes have been witnessed by different reef users who hold specific knowledge about the reefscape according to their experiences and uses. We aimed to understand whether fishers, divers, and reef scientists have different perceptions of general changes that have occurred in reefs and whether their knowledge converge, diverge or are complementary. We conducted 172 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from Northeast and Southeast Brazil where either coral or rocky reefs occur, comprising most reefs occurring in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Reef scientists and divers perceived corals have undergone the sharpest declines among reef species and indicate pollution and tourism as the major negative impacts on reefs. On the contrary, fishers noticed greater declines in fishing targets (i.e., groupers) and have hardly noticed differences in coral abundance or diversity over time. Divers had a broader view of changes in reef organisms, with some level of convergence with both reef scientists and fishers, while reef scientists and fishers provided information on more specific groups and economically relevant resources, respectively. The different stakeholders generally agree that reefscapes have undergone negative changes including diversity loss and abundance declines of reef organisms. The complementarity of information among different stakeholders enables a better understanding of how human behavior impact and perceive changes in natural ecosystems, which could be essential to manage reef environments, particularly those without baseline data.

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“…Despite the potential for sea turtle research on the Brazilian coast, few published articles use photo-id in underwater surveys (Reisser et al 2008;Calmanovici et al 2018). Even with the high potential recreational use of Brazilian coastal areas, few studies have taken advantage of citizen science to access sea turtles (Calmanovici et al 2018;Vieira et al 2020).…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen science to determine sea turtles’ spatio-temporal parameters on a subtropical foraging ground

Neves-Ferreira

Mello-Fonseca

Ferreira

2022

Preprint

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Sea turtles spend most of their life cycle in foraging grounds. Nevertheless, given the logistical ease, bulk of studies are carried out in nesting grounds. One strategy to gather information in foraging grounds is the use of cost-effective and non-invasive techniques that allow public participation. The present study aimed to use photographic-identification to investigate the spatio-temporal distribution of Chelonia mydas and Eretmochelys imbricata. Furthermore, we describe the occurrence of fibropapillomatosis. This work was carried out at subtropical rocky reefs of the Brazilian coast in Arraial do Cabo (22°57’S, 42°01’W), within a sustainable conservation unit. The images were obtained through social media screening, citizen science and intentional capture. A total of 641 photos (between 2006 and 2021) and 19 diving forms (between November 2019 and March 2020) were obtained. All diving forms presented at least one turtle. The photo-id identified 174 individuals of C. mydas, with 45 resighted individuals. E. imbricata had 32 individuals identified, and 7 individuals resighted. The median interval between the first and last individual sighting was 1.7 years for C. mydas and 2.4 years for E. imbricata. Fibropapillomatosis was only observed in C. mydas, with a prevalence of 13.99% and regression in 2 individuals (10.00%). The results indicated Arraial do Cabo as an important development area for sea turtles with resident individuals showing fidelity for at least 6 years. As the region accumulates anthropogenic impacts, it is critical to propose significant management measures to protect sea turtles from continuous and synergistic impacts, mainly on resident individuals.

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Diving into science and conservation: recreational divers can monitor reef assemblages

Cited by 15 publications

References 49 publications

The Southern Ocean Exchange: porous boundaries between humpback whale breeding populations in southern polar waters

The Southern Ocean Exchange: porous boundaries between humpback whale breeding populations in southern polar waters

Integrating Different Types of Knowledge to Understand Temporal Changes in Reef Landscapes

Citizen science to determine sea turtles’ spatio-temporal parameters on a subtropical foraging ground

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