Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.1
2.4
Journals
Diversity
Special Issues
Ecological Connectivity among Tropical Coastal Ecosystems
share announcement

Ecological Connectivity among Tropical Coastal Ecosystems

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Diversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2022) | Viewed by 11253

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Charlotte Berkström

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Aquatic Resources, Institute of Coastal Research, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skolgatan 6, SE-742 42 Öregrund, Sweden
2. Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Interests: ecological connectivity; seascape ecology; fish migrations; marine protected areas; marine spatial planning
Dr. Simon Pittman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Seascape Analytics Ltd., Plymouth PL2 1RP, UK
2. Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab., School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK
Interests: seascape ecology; fish movements; land–sea connectivity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ecological connectivity, the movement of organisms and material among populations, communities and ecosystems, is critical for the structure and function of shallow-water ecosystems, their resilience to stress and the effectiveness of conservation strategies. In tropical coastal seascapes, movements of organisms and nutrients between key habitats including mangroves, seagrass meadows, algal beds and coral reefs underpin diverse ecosystem services relied upon by millions of people globally. Low-income countries in tropical regions are heavily dependent on fish as their main source of protein, often caught in small-scale fisheries within shallow-water seascapes. Functionally well-connected seascapes have been found to promote biodiversity, protect coastlines, enhance carbon capture, and enhance the effects of marine protected areas. In some locations, however, human activity has disrupted ecological connectivity through habitat degradation, habitat loss, fragmentation and physical barriers to movement. Incorporating knowledge on ecological connectivity into management strategies can help in the design of effective actions that restore, optimise and conserve ecological connectivity. A greater understanding of connectivity and its importance for ecosystem health, stability, resilience and a broad range of benefits for people is a high-priority research theme in seascape ecology and is being increasingly recognised in global biodiversity policy.

The Convention of Biological Diversity post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) recognises corals, seagrasses, mangroves and other shallow-water habitats as critical for the preservation of biodiversity. The IUCN’s Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group has called for connectivity conservation to be a key element of the post-2020 GBF. The IUCN recommends developing the evidence base and providing best practices and practical guidance to inform policies, laws, plans and operational instruments that support ecological connectivity and species range shifts due to climate change, while mitigating or preventing the unintended spread of invasive species.

For this Special Issue, we invite submissions focusing on different aspects of ecological connectivity among tropical coastal ecosystems, including the consequences of connectivity for species distributions and biodiversity patterns, ecosystem function, stability, resilience and recovery. We are especially interested in studies with a management-oriented focus (e.g., site selection in MPA design and restoration, coupled social–ecological connectivity and land–sea connectivity). These studies can include local to global or site-specific studies, as well as meta-analysis approaches. Thereby, this Special Issue will highlight new research and significant advances in the field of ecological connectivity and aid in building the evidence base required to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the implementation of the Convention of Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework.

Dr. Charlotte Berkström
Dr. Simon Pittman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Connectivity
  • Movement
  • Seascape
  • Coastal habitats
  • Marine protected areas

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 1948 KiB  
Article
Functional and Taxonomic Overlap in Shore Fish Assemblages in a Tropical Seascape
by Michel Kulbicki, Laurent Wantiez, Pierre Thollot and Gérard Mou Tham
Diversity 2022, 14(5), 310; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/d14050310 - 20 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2118
Abstract
The relationships between shore fish assemblages from habitats neighboring coral reefs have received little attention in the Indo-Pacific. The present study is based on the extensive sampling (539,000 fish; 898 taxa) of three fish assemblages: reefs, mangroves, and soft-bottoms in a large bay [...] Read more.
The relationships between shore fish assemblages from habitats neighboring coral reefs have received little attention in the Indo-Pacific. The present study is based on the extensive sampling (539,000 fish; 898 taxa) of three fish assemblages: reefs, mangroves, and soft-bottoms in a large bay of New Caledonia. Species area curves indicate that sampling was nearly exhaustive in all three habitats (262 species in mangroves, 342 on soft-bottoms, 594 on reefs). Combinations of life-history traits were used as proxies of ecological functions. The species and functional overlaps were highest between soft-bottoms and mangroves and lowest between mangroves and reefs. These overlaps were lower than most recent studies in the Indo-Pacific, a result probably linked to the extent of the sampling in the present study. The life-history traits of species found exclusively in one habitat as opposed to several habitats were not a random selection within the species pool. Overlapping species were mostly large species that fed on nekton, large invertebrates, or plankton; exclusive species were mostly sedentary, solitary, and of small size, except for plankton-feeding species, which mostly had large home ranges and formed large schools. Herbivores were seldom found in several habitats. Functional redundancy was correlated to species richness, and was highest in reef fish assemblages. Functions common to several habitats had very seldom the same relative redundancy, implying that these functions had not the same importance for each assemblage. Functions exclusive to one habitat generally had low redundancy. These functional attributes and species overlap suggest that these three assemblages have a low level of interaction, despite the fact that they share extensive boundaries. These findings may have important applications in the management of shore fish assemblages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecological Connectivity among Tropical Coastal Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2883 KiB  
Article
Ontogenetic Migration of Juvenile Grunts (Haemulon) across a Coral Reef Seascape: Pathways and Potential Mechanisms
by Richard S. Appeldoorn and Björn L. K. Bouwmeester
Diversity 2022, 14(3), 168; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/d14030168 - 26 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2161
Abstract
Many coral reef fishes undergo ontogenetic migrations from inshore nurseries to offshore reefs. Quantifying cross-habitat connectivity is important for understanding reef fish spatio-temporal dynamics, essential habitat and spatial planning. Past studies show connectivity is mediated by distance and habitat arrangement. Few studies have [...] Read more.
Many coral reef fishes undergo ontogenetic migrations from inshore nurseries to offshore reefs. Quantifying cross-habitat connectivity is important for understanding reef fish spatio-temporal dynamics, essential habitat and spatial planning. Past studies show connectivity is mediated by distance and habitat arrangement. Few studies have documented the pathways linking juveniles and adults, nor suggested underlying orientation/navigation processes important for a more generalized understanding of ontogenetic habitat use. Ontogenetic movements of juvenile grunts, primarily Haemulon flavolineatum, in Puerto Rico were studied using mark-recapture. Small juveniles were tagged at a back-reef site designed to determine their potential movement through a series of size-specific daytime resting schools and posing a choice of direction in migration. Larger juveniles were tagged at mid-shelf reefs to capture off-reef migration to adult locations, including a proposed marine reserve. Small juveniles moved toward more exposed areas, accomplished by progressively shifting locations through existing resting schools. Movement was size-related and alongshore, but direction was primarily parallel to the coast, leading fish away from adjacent areas more directly offshore. Direction may have resulted from the potential mechanism of fish transfer between resting schools rather than by orientation cues. Larger juveniles were tracked from back-reef to fore-reef sites, but no fish were recaptured off-reef. Slower growth than predicted may have contributed to the perceived lack of movement. Localized behavior and habitat distribution appear important in determining the initial pathways of ontogenetic migration, and these may fix later directional movements to unexpected areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecological Connectivity among Tropical Coastal Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 2382 KiB  
Article
An MPA Design Approach to Benefit Fisheries: Maximising Larval Export and Minimising Redundancy
by Colm Tong, Karlo Hock, Nils C. Krueck, Vladimir Tyazhelnikov and Peter J. Mumby
Diversity 2021, 13(11), 586; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/d13110586 - 17 Nov 2021
Viewed by 2017
Abstract
In the design of marine protected areas (MPAs), tailoring reserve placement to facilitate larval export beyond reserve boundaries may support fished populations and fisheries through recruitment subsidies. Intuitively, capturing such connectivity could be purely based on optimising larval dispersal metrics such as export [...] Read more.
In the design of marine protected areas (MPAs), tailoring reserve placement to facilitate larval export beyond reserve boundaries may support fished populations and fisheries through recruitment subsidies. Intuitively, capturing such connectivity could be purely based on optimising larval dispersal metrics such as export strength. However, this can lead to inefficient or redundant larval connectivity, as the subset of sites with the best connectivity metrics might share many of the same connections, making them, collectively, poor MPA candidates to provide recruitment subsidies to unprotected sites. We propose a simple, dynamic algorithm for reserve placement optimisation designed to select MPAs sequentially, maximising larval export to the overall network, whilst accounting for redundancy in supply from multiple sources. When applied to four regions in the Caribbean, the algorithm consistently outperformed approaches that did not consider supply redundancy, leading to, on average, 20% greater fished biomass in a simulated model. Improvements were most apparent in dense, strongly connected systems such as the Bahamas. Here, MPA placement without redundancy considerations produced fishery benefits worse than random MPA design. Our findings highlight the importance of considering redundancy in MPA design, and offer a novel, simple approach to improving MPA design for achieving fishery objectives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecological Connectivity among Tropical Coastal Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 3795 KiB  
Article
Habitat Suitability Modeling to Inform Seascape Connectivity Conservation and Management
by Courtney E. Stuart, Lisa M. Wedding, Simon J. Pittman and Stephanie J. Green
Diversity 2021, 13(10), 465; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/d13100465 - 26 Sep 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3932
Abstract
Coastal habitats have experienced significant degradation and fragmentation in recent decades under the strain of interacting ecosystem stressors. To maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, coastal managers and restoration practitioners face the urgent tasks of identifying priority areas for protection and developing innovative, scalable [...] Read more.
Coastal habitats have experienced significant degradation and fragmentation in recent decades under the strain of interacting ecosystem stressors. To maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, coastal managers and restoration practitioners face the urgent tasks of identifying priority areas for protection and developing innovative, scalable approaches to habitat restoration. Facilitating these efforts are models of seascape connectivity, which represent ecological linkages across heterogeneous marine environments by predicting species-specific dispersal between suitable habitat patches. However, defining the suitable habitat patches and migratory pathways required to construct ecologically realistic connectivity models remains challenging. Focusing on two reef-associated fish species of the Florida Keys, United States of America (USA), we compared two methods for constructing species- and life stage-specific spatial models of habitat suitability—penalized logistic regression and maximum entropy (MaxEnt). The goal of the model comparison was to identify the modeling algorithm that produced the most realistic and detailed products for use in subsequent connectivity assessments. Regardless of species, MaxEnt’s ability to distinguish between suitable and unsuitable locations exceeded that of the penalized regressions. Furthermore, MaxEnt’s habitat suitability predictions more closely aligned with the known ecology of the study species, revealing the environmental conditions and spatial patterns that best support each species across the seascape, with implications for predicting connectivity pathways and the distribution of key ecological processes. Our research demonstrates MaxEnt’s promise as a scalable, species-specific, and spatially explicit tool for informing models of seascape connectivity and guiding coastal conservation efforts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecological Connectivity among Tropical Coastal Ecosystems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop