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Resilience concepts poised to aid management of coastal marine ecosystems
January 02, 2008Journal devotes section to how new approaches can benefit economically vital yet ecologically complex areas
The January 2008 issue of BioScience includes a special section entitled "Managing for Resilience in Coastal Marine Ecosystems." The four articles in the section highlight different aspects of attempts to incorporate modern concepts from mathematical ecology into ecosystem-based management of coastal marine areas.
Appreciation of the economic importance of services that marine ecosystems provide has grown in recent years, as has the awareness of those ecosystems' imperiled state and their susceptibility to sudden ecological shifts. To understand how to sustain these valuable ecosystem services in the face of overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution, among other challenges, researchers need to know how marine ecosystems often continue to function despite disturbances--in other words, they need to know what makes these systems resilient when they are subjected to externally imposed changes.
The introductory article by Simon A. Levin and Jane Lubchenco provides an overview of the theoretical approach adopted by the authors of the other articles in the section. The theoretical constructs suggest a number of ways that management for resilience might be improved. Levin and Lubchenco emphasize that marine ecosystems are usefully seen as complex and adaptive. Interactions among the "agents" of these systems at small scales shape whole-system dynamics, which in turn affect the smaller scales.
The introduction is followed by an article that summarizes lessons learned about recovery, reversibility, and resistance to change of marine ecosystems. Authors Stephen R. Palumbi, Karen L. McLeod, and Daniel Grünbaum hold that these three components, ideally studied together, are key elements of resilience. They stress the need to analyze long-term population data to recognize trends in species' occurrence that could foretell far-reaching disturbances.
Gretchen E. Hofmann and Steven D. Gaines next discuss emerging technologies that can be used to understand natural variability in marine ecosystems, which is essential to managing marine ecosystems for resilience. The technologies they discuss range from space-based monitoring to tagging of large pelagic organisms to the use of genomics to assess the distribution, abundance, and health of marine life.
In the last article of the section, Mary Ruckelshaus, Terrie Klinger, Nancy Knowlton, and Douglas P. DeMaster describe practical experiences and scientific and governance challenges arising from attempts to use the concept of resilience in coastal marine management. Although comprehensive case studies of ecosystem-based management of marine areas do not yet exist, Ruckelshaus and her colleagues detail challenges for fisheries and conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean, the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and coastal California that could be--and in some cases are being--alleviated by ecosystem-based management approaches.
American Institute of Biological Sciences
The introductory article by Simon A. Levin and Jane Lubchenco provides an overview of the theoretical approach adopted by the authors of the other articles in the section. The theoretical constructs suggest a number of ways that management for resilience might be improved. Levin and Lubchenco emphasize that marine ecosystems are usefully seen as complex and adaptive. Interactions among the "agents" of these systems at small scales shape whole-system dynamics, which in turn affect the smaller scales.
The introduction is followed by an article that summarizes lessons learned about recovery, reversibility, and resistance to change of marine ecosystems. Authors Stephen R. Palumbi, Karen L. McLeod, and Daniel Grünbaum hold that these three components, ideally studied together, are key elements of resilience. They stress the need to analyze long-term population data to recognize trends in species' occurrence that could foretell far-reaching disturbances.
Gretchen E. Hofmann and Steven D. Gaines next discuss emerging technologies that can be used to understand natural variability in marine ecosystems, which is essential to managing marine ecosystems for resilience. The technologies they discuss range from space-based monitoring to tagging of large pelagic organisms to the use of genomics to assess the distribution, abundance, and health of marine life.
In the last article of the section, Mary Ruckelshaus, Terrie Klinger, Nancy Knowlton, and Douglas P. DeMaster describe practical experiences and scientific and governance challenges arising from attempts to use the concept of resilience in coastal marine management. Although comprehensive case studies of ecosystem-based management of marine areas do not yet exist, Ruckelshaus and her colleagues detail challenges for fisheries and conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean, the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and coastal California that could be--and in some cases are being--alleviated by ecosystem-based management approaches.
American Institute of Biological Sciences
Marine Ecosystems News and Current Marine Ecosystems Events RSSStudy shows continued spread of 'dead zones'
A global study led by Professor Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, shows that the number of "dead zones"-areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life-has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007.
Pacific coast turning more acidic
An international team of scientists surveying the waters of the continental shelf off the West Coast of North America has discovered for the first time high levels of acidified ocean water within 20 miles of the shoreline, raising concern for marine ecosystems from Canada to Mexico.
Ocean acidification -- another undesired side effect of fossil fuel-burning
Up to now, the oceans have buffered climate change considerably by absorbing almost one third of the worldwide emitted carbon dioxide. The oceans represent a significant carbon sink, but the uptake of excess CO2 stemming from man's burning of fossil fuels comes at a high cost: ocean acidification.
Can Certain Metals Repel Sharks from Fishing Gear?
Sharks in captivity avoid metals that react with seawater to produce an electric field, a behavior that may help fishery biologists develop a strategy to reduce the bycatch of sharks in longline gear.
Butterfly fish 'may face extinction'
A beautiful black, white and yellow butterflyfish, much admired by eco-tourists, divers and aquarium keepers alike, may be at risk of extinction, scientists have warned.
Into the abyss: Deep-sixing carbon
Imagine a gigantic, inflatable, sausage-like bag capable of storing 160 million tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of 2.2 days of current global emissions.
First map of threats to marine ecosystems shows all the world's oceans are affected
As vast and far-reaching as the world's oceans are, every square kilometer is affected by human activities, according to a study in the journal Science by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and others.
New study shows extent of harmful human influences on global ecosystems
More than 40 percent of the world's oceans are heavily impacted by human activities, including overfishing and pollution, according to a new study that will appear in tomorrow's peer-reviewed journal Science.
World's largest marine protected area created in Pacific Ocean
The small Pacific Island nation of Kiribati has become a global conservation leader by establishing the world's largest marine protected area - a California-sized ocean wilderness of pristine coral reefs and rich fish populations threatened by over-fishing and climate change.
Marine scientists warn human safety, prosperity depend on better ocean observing system
Speedy diagnosis of the temper and vital signs of the oceans matters increasingly to the well being of humanity, says a distinguished partnership of international scientists urging support to complete a world marine monitoring system within 10 years.
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