Alvarado Juan José, Herrera Bernal, Corrales Lenin, Asch Jenny, Paaby Pía
Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR), Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, 11501-2060 San José, Costa Rica.
Rev Biol Trop. 2011 Jun;59(2):829-42.
Costa Rica is recognized as one of the most diverse countries in species and ecosystems, in their terrestrial realm as well as in the marine. Besides this relevance, the country presents a delay on conservation and management of marine and coastal biodiversity, with respect to terrestrial. For 2006, the marine protected surface was 5,208.8 km2, with 331.5 km of coastline, in 20 protected areas. The country has made progress on the conservation priority sites identification for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity, with few efforts on marine planning. This research presents the analysis and results of the gap identification process, for marine and coastal biodiversity conservation in the protected areas system of Costa Rica. The analysis was built with the spatial information available on the presence and distribution of coastal and marine biodiversity, the establishment of the conservation goals and a threat analysis over the ecological integrity of this biodiversity. The selection of high-priority sites was carried out using spatial optimization techniques and the superposition over the current shape of marine protected areas, in order to identify representation gaps. A total of 19,076 km2 of conservation gaps were indentified, with 1,323 km2 in the Caribbean and 17,753 km2 in the Pacific. Recommendations are aimed at planning and strengthening the marine protected areas system, using the gaps identified as a framework. It is expected that the results of this study would be the scientific base needed for planning and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in the country.
哥斯达黎加被公认为物种和生态系统最为多样的国家之一，无论是在陆地还是海洋领域。除了这一重要地位，该国在海洋和沿海生物多样性的保护与管理方面，相较于陆地领域存在滞后。2006年，海洋保护区面积为5208.8平方公里，海岸线长度为331.5公里，分布在20个保护区内。该国在陆地和淡水生物多样性保护优先地点的识别方面取得了进展，但在海洋规划方面投入甚少。本研究呈现了哥斯达黎加保护区系统中海洋和沿海生物多样性保护差距识别过程的分析及结果。该分析基于有关沿海和海洋生物多样性的存在与分布的现有空间信息、保护目标的设定以及对这种生物多样性生态完整性的威胁分析构建而成。通过使用空间优化技术并将其叠加在当前海洋保护区的形状上，来选择高优先级地点，以识别代表性差距。总共识别出19076平方公里的保护差距，其中加勒比地区为1323平方公里，太平洋地区为17753平方公里。建议旨在以识别出的差距为框架，规划并加强海洋保护区系统。预计本研究结果将成为该国海洋生物多样性规划和可持续利用所需的科学依据。
