Planning Marine Reserve Networks for Both Feature Representation and Demographic Persistence Using Connectivity...

Area of Science:

• Marine Conservation Planning
• Systematic Conservation Design
• Population Viability Analysis

Background:

• Designing effective marine reserve networks requires representing key conservation features and ensuring population persistence.
• Current systematic conservation planning methods often use inadequate surrogates for demographic processes like larval dispersal.
• Limited spatial and life-history data, particularly on larval dispersal, complicates reserve network design for many species.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel systematic conservation planning method that integrates demographic persistence with feature representation.
• To address the challenge of incorporating mechanistic descriptions of population viability into reserve design.
• To apply and evaluate this method for designing a marine reserve network for coral reefs in the Keppel Islands.

Main Methods:

• Constructed a novel systematic conservation planning method incorporating persistence and complementary feature representation.
• Parameterized the method using demographic persistence goals for the bar-cheeked trout (Plectropomus maculatus).
• Designed and compared reserve networks optimized for representation, persistence, or both simultaneously.

Main Results:

• Persistence constraints are significantly more complex and challenging to achieve than representation targets for marine reserves.
• Representation and persistence goals often conflict, pulling reserve network designs in divergent directions.
• The developed method provides a practical approach for designing reserve networks that meet both representation and persistence criteria.

Conclusions:

• The novel method effectively integrates demographic persistence and feature representation in marine reserve design.
• Achieving population persistence for dispersive marine organisms presents unique challenges in conservation planning.
• The method's utility in data-limited situations requires further consideration for broader marine conservation applications.