Quantifying and mapping the human footprint across Earth's coastal areas

Allan, Hannah; Levin, Noam; Kark, Salit

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2023.106476

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…The influence of human activity on coastal regions is substantial [108], and technologies for supporting management of small-scale fisheries in these areas have been called for in relation to many international goals [14]. The MPAs in the case studies presented here are relatively small compared to many that have been proposed and designated to meet global coverage targets [109] but are valuable for managing local fisheries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building a Practical Multi-Sensor Platform for Monitoring Vessel Activity near Marine Protected Areas: Case Studies from Urban and Remote Locations

Cope¹,

Tougher²,

Zetterlind³

et al. 2023

Remote Sensing

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Monitoring vessel activity is an important part of managing marine protected areas (MPAs), but small-scale fishing and recreational vessels that do not participate in cooperative vessel traffic systems require additional monitoring strategies. Marine Monitor (M2) is a shore-based, multi-sensor platform that integrates commercially available hardware, primarily X-band marine radar and optical cameras, with custom software to autonomously track and report on vessel activity regardless of participation in other tracking systems. By utilizing established commercial hardware, the radar system is appropriate for supporting the management of coastal, small-scale MPAs. Data collected in the field are transferred to the cloud to provide a continuous record of activity and identify prohibited activities in real-time using behavior characteristics. To support the needs of MPA managers, both hardware and software improvements have been made over time, including ruggedizing equipment for the marine environment and powering systems in remote locations. Case studies are presented comparing data collection by both radar and the Automatic Identification System (AIS) in urban and remote locations. At the South La Jolla State Marine Reserve near San Diego, CA, USA, 93% of vessel activity (defined as the cumulative time vessels spent in the MPA) was identified exclusively by radar from November 2022 through January 2023. At the Caye Bokel Conservation Area, within the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve offshore of Belize, 98% was identified exclusively by radar from April through October 2022. Spatial and temporal patterns of radar-detected and AIS activity also differed at both sites. These case study site results together demonstrate the common and persistent presence of small-scale vessel activity near coastal MPAs that is not documented by cooperative systems. Therefore, an integrated radar system can be a useful tool for independent monitoring, supporting a comprehensive understanding of vessel activity in a variety of areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building a Practical Multi-Sensor Platform for Monitoring Vessel Activity near Marine Protected Areas: Case Studies from Urban and Remote Locations

Cope¹,

Tougher²,

Zetterlind³

et al. 2023

Remote Sensing

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“…We identified 9 anthropogenic threats (Table 1) of relevance to the region's nearshore marine environment, particularly to temperate reef fish (Fletcher & Fisk, 2017), and for which comprehensive spatial data were available. The threats represent the common dimensions of human‐derived threats for coastal marine species: threats from land pollution and coastal population and development (Allan et al., 2023); threats from marine recreation and commercial fishing; and threats from climate change. As water quality indicators we used nutrient (chlorophyll‐ a ) and turbidity data, which are effective measures of water quality and coastal development (Scanes et al., 2007).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A data‐driven approach to multiple‐stressor impact assessment for a marine protected area

Griffiths,

Williams,

Buelow

et al. 2023

Conservation Biology

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The coastal environment is not managed in a way that considers the impact of cumulative threats, despite being subject to threats from all realms (marine, land and atmosphere). Relationships between threats and species are often non‐linear, thus current (linear) approaches to estimating the impact of threats may be misleading. We developed a data‐driven approach to assessing cumulative impacts on ecosystems and apply it to explore non‐linear relationships between threats and a temperate reef fish community. We use data on water quality, commercial fishing, climate change, and indicators of recreational fishing and urbanisation to build a cumulative threat map of the Northern Region in New South Wales, Australia. Using statistical models of fish abundance, we quantified associations among threats and biophysical covariates and predicted where cumulative impacts are likely to have the greatest impact on fish. We also assessed the performance of no‐take zones, to protect fish from cumulative threats across two marine protected area networks (marine parks). We found that fishing has a greater impact on fish than water quality threats (i.e., percent increase above the mean for invertivores was 337% when fishing was removed c.f. 11% when water quality was removed inside no‐take zones), and that fishing outside of no‐take zones affects fish abundances inside no‐take zones. Quantifying the spatial influence of multiple threats enables managers to understand the multitude of management actions required to address threats.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

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“…While change in Earth's climate system has been unambiguously attributed to anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions (IPCC, 2021), distinguishing the role of anthropogenic climate change in altering ecological systems from the roles of other potential drivers has proven more problematic and contentious (Brander et al, 2011;Pielke, 2011;Stocker et al, 2011). Such attribution has been especially difficult in coastal systems, where human impact is ubiquitous (Williams et al, 2022;Allan et al, 2023) and drivers of change compete with each other amidst naturally variable conditions, confounding unambiguous interpretations (Cooley et al, 2022;Friess et al, 2022). In such systems, attribution instead usually comprises a sequence of steps (Figure 1), often involving multiple lines of evidence (Parmesan et al, 2013;Hansen et al, 2016;Phillips, 2023).…”

Section: Confirming That Climate Change Has Caused Ecological Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Not only do climate-induced drivers interact with each other, but their effects also modify and are modified by the effects of nonclimate anthropogenic drivers (Sage, 2020;Gissi et al, 2021;Cooley et al, 2022). This is particularly truebut under-recognisedin coastal ecosystems, few of which remain untouched by human activities (Williams et al, 2022;Allan et al, 2023), rendering them especially vulnerable to the coupled climate and biodiversity crises (Pörtner et al, 2023).…”

Section: The Effects Of Climate Change Worsen and Are Worsened By The...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the ecological consequences of climate change in coastal ecosystems

Schoeman,

Bolin,

Cooley

2023

Camb. prisms Coast. futures

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Few coastal ecosystems remain untouched by direct human activities, and none are unimpacted by anthropogenic climate change. These drivers interact with and exacerbate each other in complex ways, yielding a mosaic of ecological consequences that range from adaptive responses, such as geographic range shifts and changes in phenology, to severe impacts, such as mass mortalities, ecological regime shifts and loss of biodiversity. Identifying the role of climate change in these phenomena requires corroborating evidence from multiple lines of evidence, including laboratory experiments, field observations, numerical models and palaeorecords. Yet few studies can confidently quantify the magnitude of the effect attributable solely to climate change, because climate change seldom acts alone in coastal ecosystems. Projections of future risk are further complicated by scenario uncertainty – that is, our lack of knowledge about the degree to which humanity will mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions, or will make changes to the other ways we impact coastal ecosystems. Irrespective, ocean warming would be impossible to reverse before the end of the century, and sea levels are likely to continue to rise for centuries and remain elevated for millennia. Therefore, future risks to coastal ecosystems from climate change are projected to mirror the impacts already observed, with severity escalating with cumulative emissions. Promising avenues for progress beyond such qualitative assessments include collaborative modelling initiatives, such as model intercomparison projects, and the use of a broader range of knowledge systems. But we can reduce risks to coastal ecosystems by rapidly reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, by restoring damaged habitats, by regulating non-climate stressors using climate-smart conservation actions, and by implementing inclusive coastal-zone management approaches, especially those involving nature-based solutions.

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Quantifying and mapping the human footprint across Earth's coastal areas

Cited by 17 publications

References 78 publications

Building a Practical Multi-Sensor Platform for Monitoring Vessel Activity near Marine Protected Areas: Case Studies from Urban and Remote Locations

Building a Practical Multi-Sensor Platform for Monitoring Vessel Activity near Marine Protected Areas: Case Studies from Urban and Remote Locations

A data‐driven approach to multiple‐stressor impact assessment for a marine protected area

Quantifying the ecological consequences of climate change in coastal ecosystems

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