Long-Distance Benefits of Marine Reserves: Myth or Reality?

Stéphanie Manel; Nicolas Loiseau; Marco Andrello; Katharina Fietz; Raquel Goñi; Aitor Forcada; Philippe Lenfant; Stuart Kininmonth; Concepción Marcos; Virginie Marques; Sandra Mallol; Angel Pérez-Ruzafa; Corinna Breusing; Oscar Puebla; David Mouillot

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2019.01.002

Long-Distance Benefits of Marine Reserves: Myth or Reality?

Trends Ecol Evol. 2019 Apr;34(4):342-354. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.01.002. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ CEFE, PSL Research University, EPHE, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, IRD, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: stephanie.manel@ephe.psl.eu.
² MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, Montpellier, France.
³ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
⁵ Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Moll de Ponent s/n, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
⁶ Department of Marine Sciences and Applied Biology, University of Alicante, P.O. Box 99, 03080 Alicante, Spain.
⁷ Univ. Perpignan Via Domitia, Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens, UMR 5110, 58 Avenue Paul Alduy, F-66860 Perpignan, France.
⁸ School of Marine Studies, University of South Pacific, Suva, Fiji; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁹ Departmento de Ecología e Hidrología, Facultad de Biología, Campus de Espinardo, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
¹⁰ MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, Montpellier, France; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811 Australia.

PMID: 30777295
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.01.002

Abstract

Long-distance (>40-km) dispersal from marine reserves is poorly documented; yet, it can provide essential benefits such as seeding fished areas or connecting marine reserves into networks. From a meta-analysis, we suggest that the spatial scale of marine connectivity is underestimated due to the limited geographic extent of sampling designs. We also found that the largest marine reserves (>1000km²) are the most isolated. These findings have important implications for the assessment of evolutionary, ecological, and socio-economic long-distance benefits of marine reserves. We conclude that existing methods to infer dispersal should consider the up-to-date genomic advances and also expand the spatial scale of sampling designs. Incorporating long-distance connectivity in conservation planning will contribute to increase the benefits of marine reserve networks.

Keywords: connectivity; global network; long-distance dispersal; marine protected areas; marine reserves.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Conservation of Natural Resources*
Ecology*
Fishes
Larva