The Ecology Centre and Centre for Applied Environmental Decision Analysis, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia.
PLoS One. 2011 Feb 2;6(2):e16552. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016552.
Pelagic ecosystems support a significant and vital component of the ocean's productivity and biodiversity. They are also heavily exploited and, as a result, are the focus of numerous spatial planning initiatives. Over the past decade, there has been increasing enthusiasm for protected areas as a tool for pelagic conservation, however, few have been implemented. Here we demonstrate an approach to plan protected areas that address the physical and biological dynamics typical of the pelagic realm. Specifically, we provide an example of an approach to planning protected areas that integrates pelagic and benthic conservation in the southern Benguela and Agulhas Bank ecosystems off South Africa. Our aim was to represent species of importance to fisheries and species of conservation concern within protected areas. In addition to representation, we ensured that protected areas were designed to consider pelagic dynamics, characterized from time-series data on key oceanographic processes, together with data on the abundance of small pelagic fishes. We found that, to have the highest likelihood of reaching conservation targets, protected area selection should be based on time-specific data rather than data averaged across time. More generally, we argue that innovative methods are needed to conserve ephemeral and dynamic pelagic biodiversity.
远洋生态系统是海洋生产力和生物多样性的重要组成部分。它们也受到了广泛的开发利用，因此成为了许多空间规划倡议的重点。在过去的十年中，人们越来越热衷于将保护区作为保护远洋生物的一种手段，然而，实施的却很少。在这里，我们展示了一种针对远洋生态系统的保护规划方法，该方法解决了典型的远洋领域的物理和生物动态问题。具体来说，我们提供了一个在南非南部本格拉和阿古拉斯浅滩生态系统中整合远洋和海底保护的保护区规划方法示例。我们的目的是代表对渔业重要的物种和受保护关注的物种在保护区内。除了代表性，我们还确保保护区的设计要考虑到关键海洋过程的时间序列数据以及小型洄游鱼类丰度数据所描述的远洋动态。我们发现，为了有最大的可能实现保护目标，保护区的选择应该基于特定时间的数据，而不是跨时间平均的数据。更一般地说，我们认为需要创新的方法来保护短暂而动态的远洋生物多样性。
