Southward decrease in the protection of persistent giant kelp forests in the northeast Pacific

Arafeh‐Dalmau, Nur; Cavanaugh, Kyle C.; Possingham, Hugh P.; Munguía‐Vega, Adrián; Montaño-Moctezuma, Gabriela; Bell, Tom W.; Cavanaugh, Katherine C.; Micheli, Fiorenza

doi:10.1038/s43247-021-00177-9

Cited by 21 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…This spatial domain covers regions inhabited by two dominant surface canopy forming kelp species, with bull kelp forming the vast majority of kelp canopies throughout Oregon and northern California, and giant kelp in central and southern California as well as the Baja California Peninsula [1]. Imagery was downloaded as 30 S1). Each Landsat sensor acquires an image every 16 days and an image is provided every eight days when two sensors were operational (1999 to 2011 and 2013 to present).…”

Section: Estimates Of Kelp Canopy Area Dynamics Using Landsat Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Kelpwatch: A new visualization and analysis tool to explore kelp canopy dynamics reveals variable response to and recovery from marine heatwaves

Bell

Cavanaugh

Saccomanno

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Giant kelp and bull kelp forests are increasingly at risk from marine heatwave events, herbivore outbreaks, and the loss or alterations in the behavior of key herbivore predators. The dynamic floating canopy of these kelps is well-suited to study via satellite imagery, which provides high temporal and spatial resolution data of floating kelp canopy across the western United States and Mexico. However, the size and complexity of the satellite image dataset has made ecological analysis difficult for scientists and managers. To increase accessibility of this rich dataset, we created Kelpwatch, a web-based visualization and analysis tool. This tool allows researchers and managers to quantify kelp forest change in response to disturbances, assess historical trends, and allow for effective and actionable kelp forest management. Here, we demonstrate how Kelpwatch can be used to analyze long-term trends in kelp canopy across regions, quantify spatial variability in the response to and recovery from the 2014 to 2016 marine heatwave events, and provide a local analysis of kelp canopy status around the Monterey Peninsula, California. We found that 18.6% of regional sites displayed a significant trend in kelp canopy area over the past 38 years and that there was a strong latitudinal response to heatwave events for each kelp species. The recovery from heatwave events was more variable across space, with some local areas like Bahía Tortugas in Baja California Sur displaying high resilience while kelp canopies around the Monterey Peninsula continued a slow decline and patchy recovery compared to the rest of the Central California region. Kelpwatch provides near real time spatial data and analysis support and makes complex earth observation data actionable for scientists and managers, which can help identify areas for research, monitoring, and management efforts.

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Section: Estimates Of Kelp Canopy Area Dynamics Using Landsat Imagerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Kelpwatch: A new visualization and analysis tool to explore kelp canopy dynamics reveals variable response to and recovery from marine heatwaves

Bell

Cavanaugh

Saccomanno

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…These conditions generate diverse oceanographic features that lead to a variety of habitats. The primary habitat in the region's northern part are the forests formed by the kelp Macrocystis pyrifera (Arafeh-Dalmau et al, 2021). This habitat supports the region's high diversity and productivity, providing both nursery and food for many species (Schiel and Foster, 2015;Ramírez-Valdez et al, 2017).…”

Section: The Pacific Region Of the Baja California Peninsulamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate change, and associated changes to ocean conditions including temperature rise and acidity, requires that marine conservation takes into account the resilience or adaptive capacity of habitats and species (Micheli et al, 2012;Roberts et al, 2017;Wilson et al, 2020;Arafeh-Dalmau et al, 2021), the effects of climate change on ecosystem functioning and different life stages of species (Dahlke et al, 2020;Trisos et al, 2020), and adopts a precautionary approach that takes uncertainty into account in the decisions related to representation and risk spreading (Tittensor et al, 2019;Pinsky et al, 2020). Finally, since threats can impact ecosystems and species and undermine the effectiveness of recovery efforts -consideration should be given to the siting of marine conservation initiatives to avoid areas with high populations, levels of development, or cumulative impacts unless there are efforts to mitigate or manage these existential threats (Ban et al, 2010;Cinner et al, 2018b;Halpern et al, 2019).…”

Section: Biophysical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, scientific working groups were formed to carry out research projects motivated by the principles. These groups compiled existing information, identified data gaps, and developed new databases [e.g., of habitats, biodiversity hotspots, patterns of larval dispersal, movement of focal species, species recovery rates, effects of climate change (Munguia-Vega et al, 2018a;Arafeh-Dalmau et al, 2021)]. They also applied this information to develop new models and identify priority areas for expanding existing networks of marine reserves (Álvarez-Romero et al, 2018), adapting these models with stakeholder and community input (Morzaria-Luna et al, 2020a,b), and publishing academic papers.…”

Section: Moving From Principles To Practice -Initial Actions and Effortsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrating Biophysical, Socio-Economic and Governance Principles Into Marine Reserve Design and Management in Mexico: From Theory to Practice

Mora¹,

Bennett²,

Fulton³

et al. 2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Marine conservation design and fisheries management are increasingly integrating biophysical, socio-economic and governance considerations. Integrative approaches are adopted to achieve more effective, equitable, inclusive, and robust marine policies and practices. This paper describes a participatory process to co-produce biophysical, socio-economic, and governance principles to guide the design and management of marine reserves in three regions of Mexico: the Pacific region of the Baja California Peninsula, the Gulf of California, and the Mexican Caribbean. The process of co-producing the principles included convening a coordination team, reviewing the science, convening multi-stakeholder workshops, developing and communicating the principles with key practitioners and policy makers, and supporting uptake and application to policy and practice. Biophysical principles were related to: habitat representation and risk spreading; protecting critical, special and unique areas; incorporating connectivity; allowing time for recovery; adapting to changes in climate and ocean chemistry; and considering threats and opportunities. Socio-economic principles focused on: integrating the social context, local aspirations, and human-environment interactions; considering economic and non-economic uses, promoting an equitable distribution of costs and benefits, and respecting and maintaining cultural identity and diversity. Governance principles prioritized establishing and ensuring legitimacy and institutional continuity; implementing collaborative and adaptive management; and, promoting effective management. The paper also examines early efforts to implement the principles, next steps to promote further uptake and application in Mexico, and lessons learned from the process. Thus it provides insights into a practical process and a set of principles that are valuable to inform marine conservation and fisheries management processes elsewhere.

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“…To date, however, few long‐term studies have followed population trajectories and documented actual recovery after mass mortality events in the presence of marine reserves. Thus, while short‐term recruitment studies and models predict population recovery, the question of whether such outcomes occur under continued environmental variability and extremes, including recent marine heat waves (Arafeh‐Dalmau et al, 2020, 2021; Beas et al, 2020), remains open.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid recovery of depleted abalone in Isla Natividad, Baja California, Mexico

Smith

Aguilar²,

Boch

et al. 2022

Ecosphere

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In the last decades, many marine invertebrates have experienced dramatic declines throughout many coastal marine ecosystems worldwide due to overfishing, disease outbreaks, and climate vulnerability. Despite extensive conservation and restoration effort, evidence of successful population recovery is rare. In this work, we document mass mortality events of pink and green abalone (Haliotis corrugata and Haliotis fulgens) in 2009–2010, and their subsequent rapid recovery following the continued enforcement and monitoring of two voluntary no‐take reserves by the local fishing cooperative (2006–present) and a 6‐year fishing closure (2012–2017) around Isla Natividad, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Age data collected from harvested abalone in 2019 suggest recruitment was maintained throughout the years when abundance was lowest following mass mortalities. The observed 6 to 8‐year time frame for recovery is consistent with scenarios presented in previous modeling studies, where marine reserves and other measures aimed at protecting large spawners predicted the potential for rapid recovery of abalone populations. This case study supports the effectiveness of a portfolio of resilience strategies, which include combining climate refugia and marine reserves, adherence to conservative annual fishing quotas, fishing closures, minimum size limitations, and ecological monitoring. Importantly, this example showcases how close collaboration between fishers, resource managers, scientists, and non‐governmental organization (NGOs) is critical for designing, implementing, and learning from conservation and management interventions to reverse marine population and ecosystem decline, reinforcing the legacy of Dr. Pete Peterson's life work on fully integrating ecology with marine management and restoration.

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Southward decrease in the protection of persistent giant kelp forests in the northeast Pacific

Cited by 21 publications

References 33 publications

Kelpwatch: A new visualization and analysis tool to explore kelp canopy dynamics reveals variable response to and recovery from marine heatwaves

Kelpwatch: A new visualization and analysis tool to explore kelp canopy dynamics reveals variable response to and recovery from marine heatwaves

Integrating Biophysical, Socio-Economic and Governance Principles Into Marine Reserve Design and Management in Mexico: From Theory to Practice

Rapid recovery of depleted abalone in Isla Natividad, Baja California, Mexico

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