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Society for Conservation Biology: 2002 Annual Meeting

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Society for Conservation Biology: 2002 Annual Meeting

Society for Conservation Biology 16th Annual Meeting July 14-July 19 2002
co-hosted by DICE and the British Ecological Society


Abstracts for Marine Conservation
Session One

Tuesday 15th July, 13.30 - 15.00, Grimond Lecture Theatre 3

Chair: Jose Guerreiro




(BLOCK CAPITALS indicate the presenting author)

13.30 - 13.45
MYERS, MONIQUE R. and Richard F. Ambrose University of California, Los Angeles, Environmental Science and Engineering Program, 46-059 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 USA (nic@ucla.edu)

Monitoring Coral Reefs with a Global Network of Volunteers: An Assessment of Reef Check Methods and its Utility for Management Purposes


A worldwide non-profit volunteer-based coral reef monitoring method called Reef Check has recently been established. While other coral reef monitoring programs exist, this is the only one (scientific or volunteer) that uses a single methodology and is implemented internationally. While Reef Check was initially established to provide a general picture of the condition of coral reef health on a global scale, there is now interest in using Reef Check methods to monitor local reefs. I will determine whether Reef Check methods provide a similar picture of reef condition as those methods routinely used by government agencies both in a developed (Australia) and developing (Thailand) country. Reef Check data are compared to long-term monitoring data from the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Phuket Marine Biological Center collected by government scientists. The assessment of Reef Check methods and the utility of Reef Check data for management purposes are assessed based on expert input from interviews with coral reef scientists and managers. In addition, field sampling data are analyzed to determine the number of Reef Check surveys necessary to adequately characterize a reef.



13.45 - 14.00
WEST, JORDAN M. and Rod Salm. AAAS Environmental Fellow, Global Change Research Program, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (8601D), Washington, DC 20460, USA, <west.jordan@epa.gov> (JMW), The Nature Conservancy, Asia Pacific Coastal Marine Program, 923 Nu’uanu Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96817, USA (RS).

CORAL BLEACHING RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE: IMPLICATIONS FOR MARINE PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT

The massive scale of the 1997-98 El Niño-associated coral bleaching event underscores an urgent need for strategies to mitigate biodiversity losses resulting from temperature-induced coral mortality. As baseline sea surface temperatures continue to rise, climate change may represent the single greatest threat to coral reefs worldwide. In response, one strategy might be to identify: 1) specific reef areas where natural environmental conditions are likely to result in low or negligible temperature-related bleaching and mortality (i.e., areas of natural "resistance" to bleaching); and 2) reef areas where environmental conditions are likely to result in maximum recovery of reef communities after bleaching mortality has occurred (i.e., areas of natural community "resilience"). These "target areas", where environmental conditions appear to boost resistance and resilience during and after large-scale bleaching events, could then be incorporated into strategic networks of marine protected areas designed to maximise conservation of global coral reef biodiversity. Based on evidence from the literature and observations by scientists in the field, this study assesses likely environmental determinants of resistance and resilience to coral bleaching and discusses some implications of this information for evaluation, design and management of coral reef marine protected areas.



14.00 - 14.15
CURTIS, JANELLE M.R. and Amanda C.J. Vincent. Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1B1, Canada, <janelle.curtis@mail.mcgill.ca>.

IMPACTS OF EXPLOITATION ON THE POPULATION STRUCTURE OF SEAHORSES (FAMILY SYNGNATHIDAE).

Seahorses are recognised as vulnerable to exploitation and habitat loss because some species exhibit high site fidelity and complex social interactions, have relatively low fecundity and are associated with threatened marine habitats. Population assessments, however, are impeded due to a lack of in situ biological information. We quantified home-ranges, habitat use, reproductive behaviour, and population structure of Hippocampus guttulatus and H. hippocampus in the Ria Formosa Lagoon, Portugal. We also compared seahorses captured incidentally by fishers with those observed in situ to determine whether fishing potentially exerts selective pressures on seahorse population structure. Adults of both species maintained home-ranges and were associated with seagrass beds and macro-algal communities. Hippocampus hippocampus occurred at smaller densities than H. guttulatus and exhibited monogamous behaviour while H. guttulatus greeted and courted one or more potential mates. Both species were incidentally captured with a wide range of fishing gears including beam trawls, trammel and gill nets, push nets and seines. Seines captured a disproportionate number of individuals from the largest size classes in each species and captured disproportionately more H. guttulatus than the smaller H. hippocampus. Our results suggest that the incidental capture of seahorses reduces density and alters the size structure of populations.



14.15 - 14.30
LUNDQUIST, CAROLYN J., Simon F. Thrush, Sara Hatton, Judi E. Hewitt, Iain MacDonald, Pip Nicholls, John Oldman, Alistair Senior
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)
Gate 10, Silverdale Road
Hamilton, New Zealand 2001
<c.lundquist@niwa.cri.nz>

RECOLONISATION POTENTIAL AFTER ESTUARINE DISTURBANCE: EMPIRICAL TEST OF A HYDRODYNAMIC MODEL

Estuarine disturbance from human activities often results in the destruction of benthic communities. Recolonisation of soft-sediment habitats is particularly dependent on transport of post-settlement (i.e., not larval) organisms via either active movement or passive bedload transport. To predict the potential for recovery of different sites within an estuary, we adapted a sediment transport model. To test model predictions, we empirically estimated the pool of colonists available for local dispersal in a relatively undisturbed New Zealand estuary. We deployed sediment traps at 7 intertidal sites, ranging from upper tidal creek to lower sandflat. Total sediment collected by traps was positively correlated with the number of organisms found. Organisms collected included recently metamorphosed juveniles, but consisted primarily of post-settlement juvenile and adult life history stages. Sandflat traps had much higher numbers of organisms than tidal creek traps. Sites within the sandflat differed in colonization based on tidal height, time of submersion, and location relative to channel features. Organism transport and sediment deposition during wind wave events was much higher than during calm conditions. Our research demonstrates how recovery dynamics interact with the frequency and scale of disturbance to evaluate the risk of long-term chronic degradation on an estuary-wide scale.



14.30 - 14.45
GUERREIRO, JOSÉ and Ricardo Araújo. Instituto de Ciência Aplicada e Tecnologia, Campus da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande - Edíficio ICAT, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal (JG), Museu Municipal do Funchal - Estação de Biologia Marinha, 9000 Funchal - Madeira, Portugal (RA).

GUIDELINES FOR MARINE PROTECTED AREAS AT PORTO SANTO ISLAND

Following a local government request, the guidelines for establishing a net of MPA’s for Porto Santo were presented. The primary criteria were to preserve biodiversity and habitats, following the principles of replication and network. The island has an area of 42Km2 (32º N; 16º 20’W) and is part of the Archipelago of Madeira in the south-eastern North Atlantic Ocean, included in the biogeographic area of Macaronesia. Porto Santo is volcanic in origin and includes several islets. The north coast is rocky, while the south coast presents a large sandy beach 8 km long, unique in the archipelago. Studies on biodiversity of this island began in the eighties, and increased with the impact assessment of the Aragon oil spill in 1990. The islets are considered under the EU Birds Directive (i.e. Sterna dougalli; Sterna hirundo, among others) while dunes (with Euphorbia terracina) and fossil cliffs are considered under Habitats Directive. Marine biodiversity is well known and includes several notable endemics (i.e. Mauligobius madeirensis and Scorpaena madeirensis, amongst others). More then 150 species of marine algae are reported. Soft bottom communities are dominated by Polychaetes, Bivalves and Amphipods. The intertidal rocky shores are characterised by several species of Patella.


14.45 - 15.00
Discussion