Strategies to enhance the resilience of the world's seagrass meadows

Cullen-Unsworth, Leanne C.; Unsworth, Richard K. F.

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12637

Cited by 65 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Anthropogenic impacts at high disturbance sites may in some cases have been historically higher than they are now (e.g., reduction in industrial practices in some estuaries), and may allow for a recovery of fish diversity over time. However, seagrass is a particularly important nursery habitat for marine fishes and invertebrates (Heck, Hays, & Orth, 2003;McDevitt-Irwin, Iacarella, & Baum, 2016) that remains a global conservation concern (Cullen- Unsworth & Unsworth, 2016). Zostera marina has also been found to be largely persistent despite urbanization in Puget Sound across 40 years, with both increases and declines at a localized scale (≤1 km ;Shelton et al, 2017).…”

Section: Anthropogenic Impacts On Communities and Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zostera marina has also been found to be largely persistent despite urbanization in Puget Sound across 40 years, with both increases and declines at a localized scale (≤1 km ;Shelton et al, 2017). However, seagrass is a particularly important nursery habitat for marine fishes and invertebrates (Heck, Hays, & Orth, 2003;McDevitt-Irwin, Iacarella, & Baum, 2016) that remains a global conservation concern (Cullen- Unsworth & Unsworth, 2016).…”

Section: Anthropogenic Impacts On Communities and Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…) able to tolerate impacted systems (indicative ofM3-4;McKinney & Lockwood, 1999;Clavel et al, 2011). Multiple stressors to seagrass meadows, though not well understood, are expected to have cumulative and synergistic effects (Cullen-Unsworth & Unsworth, 2016;Unsworth et al, 2015). Multiple stressors to seagrass meadows, though not well understood, are expected to have cumulative and synergistic effects (Cullen-Unsworth & Unsworth, 2016;Unsworth et al, 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Anthropogenic disturbance homogenizes seagrass fish communities

Iacarella

Adamczyk

Bowen³

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Anthropogenic activities have led to the biotic homogenization of many ecological communities, yet in coastal systems this phenomenon remains understudied. In particular, activities that locally affect marine habitat-forming foundation species may perturb habitat and promote species with generalist, opportunistic traits, in turn affecting spatial patterns of biodiversity. Here, we quantified fish diversity in seagrass communities across 89 sites spanning 6° latitude along the Pacific coast of Canada, to test the hypothesis that anthropogenic disturbances homogenize (i.e., lower beta-diversity) assemblages within coastal ecosystems. We test for patterns of biotic homogenization at sites within different anthropogenic disturbance categories (low, medium, and high) at two spatial scales (within and across regions) using both abundance- and incidence-based beta-diversity metrics. Our models provide clear evidence that fish communities in high anthropogenic disturbance seagrass areas are homogenized relative to those in low disturbance areas. These results were consistent across within-region comparisons using abundance- and incidence-based measures of beta-diversity, and in across-region comparisons using incidence-based measures. Physical and biotic characteristics of seagrass meadows also influenced fish beta-diversity. Biotic habitat characteristics including seagrass biomass and shoot density were more differentiated among high disturbance sites, potentially indicative of a perturbed environment. Indicator species and trait analyses revealed fishes associated with low disturbance sites had characteristics including stenotopy, lower swimming ability, and egg guarding behavior. Our study is the first to show biotic homogenization of fishes across seagrass meadows within areas of relatively high human impact. These results support the importance of targeting conservation efforts in low anthropogenic disturbance areas across land- and seascapes, as well as managing anthropogenic impacts in high activity areas.

show abstract

Section: Anthropogenic Impacts On Communities and Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Anthropogenic Impacts On Communities and Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Anthropogenic disturbance homogenizes seagrass fish communities

Iacarella

Adamczyk

Bowen³

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Australia has followed global conservation trends and has developed a large number of statutory protected area management plans, primarily terrestrial, to protect areas as a means of conserving biodiversity (Bull et al, 2013;Dhanjal-Adams et al, 2016). Protected areas do benefit marine migratory species (Palumbi, 2004;Dobbs et al, 2008), but many protected areas are static "paper parks" (Cullen- Unsworth and Unsworth, 2016) and often fail to address the habitat connectivity of migratory species (Dryden et al, 2008;Bull et al, 2013;Runge et al, 2015) that actively use nonprotected areas during parts of their lifecycles (Szabo et al, 2016). …”

Section: Protection Of Marine Migratory Species In Australiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Protecting Migratory Species in the Australian Marine Environment: A Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Policy and Management Plans

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine migratory species are difficult to manage because animal movements can span large areas and are unconstrained by jurisdictional boundaries. We reviewed policy and management plans associated with four case studies protected under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act 1999) in order to identify the coherence of policy and management plans for managing marine migratory species in Australia. Environmental policies (n = 23) and management plans (n = 115) relevant to marine turtles, dugongs, humpback whales, and migratory shorebirds were reviewed. Few of the reviewed policies (n = 7) listed protected species and even fewer (n = 4) listed protected marine migratory species. Marine turtles were most represented in the reviewed policies (n = 7), while migratory shorebirds were most represented in management plans (n = 59). Policies and management plans were much more likely to identify relationships to other policies or plans within the same jurisdiction than to different jurisdictions. The EPBC Act 1999 served as the central link between reviewed policies and plans, but the requirements of that Act were weakly integrated into the other documents. This weak integration and the biases toward specific migratory species in environmental policies and management plans are detrimental to the conservation of these Matters of National Environmental Significance in Australia. Any changes to the EPBC Act 1999 will affect all environmental policy and management plans in Australia and highlights a need for cooperative, multi-level governance of migratory species. Our findings may have relevance to the conservation of marine migratory species in a broader international context.

show abstract

“…Minimising local stress on seagrass will support their capacity to remain resilient to the impacts of larger scale, longer term stressors. This means improving local water quality, preventing damage from destructive fishing practices, including seagrasses in Marine Protected Areas, preventing overexploitation of seagrass fisheries and mitigating stress from coastal development [11]. Bold steps are required to ensure the recovery and restoration of these habitats but the cumulative effect of multiple small scale actions can work towards a brighter future for these underappreciated undersea gardens.…”

Section: What Is the Future Outlook For Seagrass Meadows?mentioning

confidence: 99%