Marine Biodiversity and the Health of the Oceans

Transcription

1 Marine Biodiversity and the Health of the Oceans... Dr. Paul Snelgrove University Research Professor Director, Canadian Health Oceans Network Memorial University, Newfoundland Canada.

2 P. Archambault Mora et al P. Auster DFO NL Provincial Archives The Challenge Us! (7.5 billion)

3 Healthy Oceans Scientists & conservationists want lofty & often fuzzy objectives Conserve biodiversity Managers want What is baseline? historical? seasonal? specific objectives & targets Increased egg production Other stakeholders want demonstrable economic benefits Increased survival of key species

4 Healthy Oceans The devil is in the details.

5 Healthy Oceans Challenge 1 Sustain biodiversity Enhance fisheries Conserve productivity & function Protect (or Restore) habitat Recover endangered species but relative to what? How do we measure success (or failure)?

6 Healthy Oceans Challenge 2 x x x x x x x x x x

7 Healthy Oceans Environmental impact studies Marine Strategy Framework Directive Fisheries reference points Conservation (and restoration) targets Individual species Habitats Indicators Ecosystems

8 Healthy Oceans What can WE do? Work to minimize impacts Sustainable quotas Minimize gear impacts Minimize pollution levels (sewage, bilge, etc.) Marine Protected Areas (all types) Appropriate (defensible) indicators of healthy oceans

9 Marine Protected Areas as a Management Tool MPAs as the next application of DEVOTES tools MPA (all types) 2.0%, Canada ~1 % (well behind China, Colombia, Cuba.)

10 M. Strong/M. Inez-Buzeta P Snelgrove/ROPOS P Lawton/ROPOS P Snelgrove What to Protect? Canada promises 10% (!!!) by 2020 Charismatic / emblematic species Special habitat (productive, pristine, diverse, structural) Representative habitat Strategic species All good!!!!

11 R. Gregory What to Protect? Single Species Focus Protect spawners Protect source populations Protect all life history stages Protect critical habitat Imperfect knowledge

12 Mike Strong/Maria Inez-Buzeta What to Protect? Sustaining Humans - Protect functions & services Food (and related jobs) Gas regulation (O 2, CO 2 ) Climate control Waste treatment Energy & minerals Nutrients Clothing Habitats Genetic resources & medicines Culture and inspiration Links to biodiversity?

13 Marine Biodiversity - What We Don t Know Global fishes Deep-sea nematodes 900 Cumulative number of new species Year Mora et al After Ramirez-Llodra et al ,475 known, 4000 more to go! 100,000+ more to go?

14 Marine Biodiversity - What We Don t Know A second look at preservation problems doubles known species of barrelfish Poulsen et al. (2016) PLoS One

15 Marine Biodiversity - What We Don t Know 245,000 known marine species What about microbes???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Sea??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Land???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Knowns & Unknowns 2 million in total? Protect biodiversity by protecting hotspots Protect biodiversity by protecting habitat 9% known

16 Marine Biodiversity - What We Could Know Better platforms Digital imaging Genetics Better sensors Computational power Better tools to meet the challenges

17 R. Danovaro Marine Biodiversity Redefining Textbooks New phylum 1983 New metabolic processes? (2010)

18 Marine Biodiversity Redefining Textbooks Eucarya 20% of marine microbes Archaea Bacteria rare A New Tree of Life Woese & Fox 1977

19 K. Juniper V. Tunnicliffe Marine Biodiversity - New Habitats Late 1970s Redefining how Earth works

20 Marine Biodiversity - New Habitats

21 What to Protect? Protect, through MPAs and other strategies Biodiversity hotspots Habitat, and thus biodiversity Spawners Unknown Known Source populations All life history stages Functions and services Sustaining Humans

22 10% by 2020 Turning Challenges Into Solutions Conservation strategies for Canada s changing oceans Networks of collaboration for effective networks of MPAs Canadian Healthy Oceans Network

23 Challenges Incomplete Information General Approach Photosynthesis drives seafloor biomass How to scale up snapshots from benthic surveys? Use satellite data and best space-time predictions to match benthic empirical data Interpolate spatially, extrapolate temporally satellite data human impacts on seafloor (e.g. oil spill) Benefits: Cost effective remote monitoring, potential nowcast / forecast of seafloor conditions. Free R package available! Chih-Lin Wei (P Snelgrove, P Lawton) Memorial University

24 Rénald Belley (& P Snelgrove) Memorial University Challenges Predictors of Function General Approach: Measured respiration & nutrient fluxes from contrasting sediments. Major Findings: Environment and functional groups equally influence nutrient efflux. Does biodiversity influence rates of carbon and nutrient recycling? Strong spatial variation in parameters complicates global models. Benefits: Better understanding of role of biodiversity in healthy ocean ecosystems AND indicators of ecosystem health.

25 Challenges Scales of Dispersal Acoustic telemetry tracking Major Findings Dichotomy between residents and dispersers Weak site fidelity in dispersers Movements on km+ scale! Age 1 cod travel farther than expected Single and reciprocal transplants between 2 source coves Shapiera et al. (2014) MEPS Benefits: These connectivity estimates can inform management on cod nursery areas in Newfoundland and spatial planning. Melanie Shapiera (& R Gregory, P Snelgrove) Memorial University

26 Challenges Habitat as Predictor Acoustic Telemetry Movement patterns overlayed on habitat map Sonic tags used to track juvenile cod over a year Kernel Density Dynamic Brownian Bridge = Selection 59% Kelp 7% Kelp = Avoidance Benefits: Path-based estimate of spatial use (vs. point-based) better identifies movement corridors from high-frequency tracking data. Dustin Schornagel (& R Gregory, P Snelgrove) Memorial University

27 Challenges Adaptability General Approach Major Findings Short, seasonal excursions outside the MPA likely result in bycatch loss. Use acoustic tags to test whether golden cod movement explains declining numbers post MPA. Benefits: Knowledge of cod movement aided adaptive management of fishing season that should reduce bycatch and improve MPA efficacy. Morris et al Can J Fish Aquat Sci

28 The Common Thread Abundance Biomass Trends Diversity Indicators of Growth Productivity Diversity Habitat Connectivity Function From fuzzy to quantitative From desirable to defensible

29 Peter Lawton/Anna Metaxas Mike Strong/Maria Inez-Buzeta Turning Challenges Into Solutions Cooperation, dialogue, and action MPA and individual adaptability Multiple MPA strategies and objectives Networks of MPAs Postage stamps won t do Ocean outposts (alone) won t do Clear objectives, monitoring, and research Not a silver bullet, but an ESSENTIAL tool

30 Immediate Short-term Medium-term Long-term Cessation of activity Mortality reduced Longer lived individuals Damage stops Marine Protected Area The Payoff Better habitat Better spawning habitat Mean age & size increase Spawning & total biomass increase Number & density increase Biodiversity increases Ecological function enhanced Resilient communities Habitat complexity increases Other economic opportunities Insurance Enhanced recruitment Increased reproductive output Improved age & size structure Reduced loss of genetic diversity Adjacent Areas Spillover benefits (e.g. larval & adult export, stability After R. Stanley et al. (in prep)

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32 4 th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity Montreal (Canada) May Connecting with the Living Ocean Detailed information, registration, call for abstracts and sponsor/exhibitor opportunities will be available on the WCMB web site in December