Bethoney N David, Zhao Liuzhi, Chen Changsheng, Stokesbury Kevin D E
School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 May 10;12(5):e0177333. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177333. eCollection 2017.
Ecosystem-based management is a place-based approach that considers the relationships between system parts. Due to the complexity of ecosystems in the marine environment it is often difficult to define these relationships in space and time. Maps illustrate spatial concepts. Here we promote ecosystem-based spatial thinking by layering datasets from a larger project that mapped benthic fauna, substrate characteristics, and oceanic conditions on monthly, annual and decadal time scales along the U.S. continental shelf. By combining maps of persistent benthic megafauna and bottom temperature variability over approximately 90,000 km2, we identified wide spread benthic animal assemblages and regional disparity in temperature variability. From a broad-scale perspective the locations of the assemblage appear to be related to sea scallop population dynamics and indicate potential regional differences in climate change resiliency. These findings offer information on a scale that correlates with marine spatial planning, and could be used as a starting point for further investigation. To spur additional analysis and facilitate their linkage to other datasets, these datasets are available through public, online data portals. Overall, this study demonstrates how the growth of maps from single to multiple elements can help promote and facilitate the multifactor, ecosystem-based thinking needed to support regional ocean planning.
基于生态系统的管理是一种基于地点的方法，它考虑系统各部分之间的关系。由于海洋环境中生态系统的复杂性，往往很难在空间和时间上定义这些关系。地图说明了空间概念。在这里，我们通过将一个更大项目中的数据集进行分层，来促进基于生态系统的空间思维。该项目在月度、年度和年代际时间尺度上，绘制了美国大陆架沿线的底栖动物群、海底特征和海洋状况。通过结合大约90000平方公里范围内的持久性底栖大型动物地图和底层温度变化图，我们确定了广泛分布的底栖动物群落以及温度变化的区域差异。从宏观角度来看，这些群落的位置似乎与海扇贝种群动态有关，并表明气候变化适应能力可能存在区域差异。这些发现提供了与海洋空间规划相关尺度的信息，并可作为进一步调查的起点。为了激发更多分析并促进其与其他数据集的关联，这些数据集可通过公共在线数据门户获取。总体而言，本研究展示了从单要素地图到多要素地图的发展如何有助于促进和推动支持区域海洋规划所需的多因素、基于生态系统的思维。
