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Ecoregion-based conservation planning in the Mediterranean: dealing with large-scale heterogeneity
Sylvaine Giakoumi1, Maria Sini, Vasilis Gerovasileiou
1Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Ag. Kosmas, Greece ; ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Plos One
|October 25, 2013
Summary
Conservation planning for Mediterranean habitats like seagrass meadows and coralligenous formations identified ecoregional planning as superior for biodiversity protection, despite higher costs. This approach ensures better representation and diversity across marine ecoregions.
Area of Science:
- Marine conservation planning
- Habitat distribution modeling
- Systematic conservation planning
Background:
- Mediterranean Sea hosts critical habitats: seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) meadows, coralligenous formations, and marine caves.
- Effective conservation requires spatial prioritization informed by habitat distribution and socioeconomic costs.
- Previous efforts often focused on species rather than habitat distribution for conservation planning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine spatial priorities for conserving key Mediterranean habitats using systematic planning.
- To compare a whole-basin planning scenario with an ecoregional planning scenario.
- To assess the trade-offs between opportunity cost and representativeness in conservation planning.
Main Methods:
- Compiled basin-scale distribution maps for seagrass, coralligenous, and marine cave habitats.
- Set conservation targets based on EU guidelines.
- Utilized Marxan software with surrogates for opportunity costs (fishing, aquaculture) to evaluate two scenarios: whole-basin vs. ecoregional.
Main Results:
- Both scenarios achieved conservation targets, but opportunity costs varied.
- The whole-basin scenario had lower opportunity costs but lacked representation of certain ecoregions (e.g., Alboran Sea) and concentrated areas in the Ionian, Aegean, and Adriatic Seas.
- The ecoregional scenario showed higher ecoregion representation and more even area distribution, but at a higher opportunity cost.
Conclusions:
- Ecoregional planning enhances the representativeness of selected conservation features and protects biodiversity (species, functional, genetic) more adequately across the Mediterranean basin.
- This study's novel approach integrates habitat distribution, spatial cost variability, and ecoregions for large-scale conservation planning.
- Planning at the ecoregional level is recommended for comprehensive and representative marine conservation in the Mediterranean.
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