Interview forms for integrating education for conservation in marine protected areas management in Colombia

Environmental Education (EE) is a key component in any marine protected area management. However, its visibility and action plans are still poorly developed and structured as a clear element in management procedures. The objective of this study is to contribute with a methodological route that integrates EE to the existing model of management planning and strategies, taking the Colombian National Natural Parks System as a case study. The creation of the route is proposed as a participatory research with different stakeholders in order to respond to the specific conservation needs and goals for the National Parks System. The EE national diagnosis has shown that its integration within the parks management structure is a first priority need, being a converging result on the two case studies on National Parks from the Pacific Coast of Colombia. The diagnosis also demonstrates that communication, participation, training and evaluation have to be reinforced, linking the community and stakeholders involved in the park management to the whole EE process. The proposed methodology route has been agreed upon by the National Parks staff and incorporates advice and recommendations from different stakeholders, in order to better include the park users. This step will help us to advance toward sustainable management in marine and coastal protected areas elsewhere, taking into account not only the biological but also the social-cultural prism. The main challenges in the management and conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems today are discussed.

Conservation Projects (ConPro) data base from The Nature Conservancy and others about the protected areas with analyzed Conservation Action Plans (CAP) before 2009 (Appendix 1) and after 2009 (Appendix 2)

It is widely recognized that climate change poses significant challenges to the conservation of biodiversity. The need of dealing with relatively rapid and uncertain environmental change calls for the enhancement of adaptive capacity of both biodiversity and conservation management systems. Under the hypothesis that most of the conventional biodiversity conservation tools do not sufficiently stimulate a dynamic protected area management, which takes rapid environmental change into account, we evaluated almost 900 of The Nature Conservancy's site-based conservation action plans. These were elaborated before a so-called climate clinic in 2009, an intensive revision of existing plans and a climate change training of the planning teams. We also compare these results with plans elaborated after the climate clinic. Before 2009, 20% of the CAPs employed the term "climate change" in their description of the site viability, and 45% identified key ecological attributes that are related to climate. 8% of the conservation strategies were directly or indirectly related to climate change adaptation. After 2009, a significantly higher percentage of plans took climate change into account. Our data show that many planning teams face difficulties in integrating climate change in their management and planning. However, technical guidance and concrete training can facilitate management teams learning processes. Arising new tools of adaptive conservation management that explicitly incorporate options for handling future scenarios, vulnerability analyses and risk management into the management process have the potential of further making protected area management more proactive and robust against change.

Maps of coastal and marine geomorphology between Albenga and Savona (NW Mediterranean Sea, Italy)

In this paper, we present a map describing the main geomorphological features of the coastal and marine area between the towns of Albenga and Savona (Ligurian Sea, NW Mediterranean) corresponding to a coastal stretch of ~40 km. To produce this map, we collated data from the literature, orthophotos, perspective photos, multibeam and side scan sonar data, and undertook direct surveys to ground truth data obtained using indirect techniques. We divided the information into nine thematic layers, including bathymetry, natural coastal types, geomorphological elements, seafloor coverage (both geological and biological), coastal and nearshore dynamics, human influence on coastal and marine environments, coastal occupation and protected areas.

Diurnal and seasonal measurements of seawater chemistry, temperature and PAR in Hurricane Hole, U.S. Virgin Islands - 2010-2012

Risk analyses indicate that more than 90% of the world's reefs will be threatened by climate change and local anthropogenic impacts by the year 2030 under "business-as-usual" climate scenarios. Increasing temperatures and solar radiation cause coral bleaching that has resulted in extensive coral mortality. Increasing carbon dioxide reduces seawater pH, slows coral growth, and may cause loss of reef structure. Management strategies include establishment of marine protected areas with environmental conditions that promote reef resiliency. However, few resilient reefs have been identified, and resiliency factors are poorly defined. Here we characterize the first natural, non-reef coral refuge from thermal stress and ocean acidification and identify resiliency factors for mangrove-coral habitats. We measured diurnal and seasonal variations in temperature, salinity, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and seawater chemistry; characterized substrate parameters; and examined water circulation patterns in mangrove communities where scleractinian corals are growing attached to and under mangrove prop roots in Hurricane Hole, St. John, US Virgin Islands. Additionally, we inventoried the coral species and quantified incidences of coral bleaching, mortality, and recovery for two major reef-building corals, Colpophyllia natans and Diploria labyrinthiformis, growing in mangrove-shaded and exposed (unshaded) areas. Over 30 species of scleractinian corals were growing in association with mangroves. Corals were thriving in low-light (more than 70% attenuation of incident PAR) from mangrove shading and at higher temperatures than nearby reef tract corals. A higher percentage of C. natans colonies were living shaded by mangroves, and no shaded colonies were bleached. Fewer D. labyrinthiformis colonies were shaded by mangroves, however more unshaded colonies were bleached. A combination of substrate and habitat heterogeneity, proximity of different habitat types, hydrographic conditions, and biological influences on seawater chemistry generate chemical conditions that buffer against ocean acidification. This previously undocumented refuge for corals provides evidence for adaptation of coastal organisms and ecosystem transition due to recent climate change. Identifying and protecting other natural, non-reef coral refuges is critical for sustaining corals and other reef species into the future.

Lists of seamounts and knolls in different formats

Seamounts and knolls are 'undersea mountains', the former rising more than 1000 m from the sea floor. These features provide important habitats for aquatic predators, demersal deep-sea fish and benthic invertebrates. However most seamounts have not been surveyed and their numbers and locations are not well known. Previous efforts to locate and quantify seamounts have used relatively coarse bathymetry grids. Here we use global bathymetric data at 30 arc-second resolution to identify seamounts and knolls. We identify 33,452 seamounts and 138,412 knolls, representing the largest global set of identified seamounts and knolls to date. We compare estimated seamount numbers, locations, and depths with validation sets of seamount data from New Zealand and Azores. This comparison indicates the method we apply finds 94% of seamounts, but may overestimate seamount numbers along ridges and in areas where faulting and seafloor spreading creates highly complex topography. The seamounts and knolls identified herein are significantly geographically biased towards areas surveyed with ship-based soundings. As only 6.5% of the ocean floor has been surveyed with soundings it is likely that new seamounts will be uncovered as surveying improves. Seamount habitats constitute approximately 4.7% of the ocean floor, whilst knolls cover 16.3%. Regional distribution of these features is examined, and we find a disproportionate number of productive knolls, with a summit depth of <1.5 km, located in the Southern Ocean. Less than 2% of seamounts are within marine protected areas and the majority of these are located within exclusive economic zones with few on the High Seas. The database of seamounts and knolls resulting from this study will be a useful resource for researchers and conservation planners.

Global habitat suitability of deep-water Antipatharia

Antipatharia are a diverse group of corals with many species found in deep water. Many Antipatharia are habitat for associates, have extreme longevity and some species can occur beyond 8500 m depth. As they are major constituents of 'coral gardens', which are Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs), knowledge of their distribution and environmental requirements is an important pre-requisite for informed conservation planning particularly where the expense and difficulty of deep-sea sampling prohibits comprehensive surveys. This study uses a global database of Antipatharia distribution data to perform habitat suitability modelling using the Maxent methodology to estimate the global extent of black coral habitat suitability. The model of habitat suitability is driven by temperature but there is notable influence from other variables of topography, surface productivity and oxygen levels. This model can be used to predict areas of suitable habitat, which can be useful for conservation planning. The global distribution of Antipatharia habitat suitability shows a marked contrast with the distribution of specimen observations, indicating that many potentially suitable areas have not been sampled, and that sampling effort has been disproportionate to shallow, accessible areas inside marine protected areas (MPAs). Although 25% of Antipatharia observations are located in MPAs, only 7-8% of predicted suitable habitat is protected, which is short of the Convention on Biological Diversity target to protect 10% of ocean habitats by 2020.

Cenozoic terrestrial palynomorphs from the late Oligocene to early Miocene section of sediment core CRP-2/2A (Table 1)

Sparse terrestrial palynomorphs (spores and pollen) were recovered from glacigene Lower Miocene and Oligocene core samples from the Cape Roberts Project (CRP) drillhole CRP-2/2A, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica. Rarity of palynomorphs probably results from the spares periglacial vegetation in the surrounding landscape at the time of deposition, as well as dilution from rapid sediment accumulation. The Miocene and Late Oligocene vegetation is interpreted as including herb-moss tundra with low-growing woody plants (including Nothofagus and podocarp conifers) in more protected areas, similar to that encountered in the Miocene of CRP-1. Species richness and numbers of specimens increase downhole, a trend that begins very gradually below ~307 mbsf, and increases below ~443 mbsf through the Early Oligocene. These lower assemblages reflect low diversity woody vegetation dominated by several species of Nofhofagus and podocarps, growing in somewhat milder conditions, though still cold temperate to periglacial in the Early Oligocene. The CRP-2/2A core provides new biostratigraphical information, such as the First Appearance Datums (FADS) of Tricolpites sp. a near the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, and Marchantiaceae in the Early/Late Oligocene transition: these are taxa that along with N. lachlaniae, Coptospora spp. and Podocarpidites sp.b characterize assemblages recovered from outcrops of the Pliocene Sirius Group in the Transantarctic Mountains. Some elements of the extremely hardy periglacial tundra vegetation that survived in Antarctica into the Pliocene had their origin in the Oligocene during a time of deteriorating (colder, drier) climatic conditions. The CRP results highlight the long persistence of this tundra vegetation, through approximately 30 million years of dynamically changing climatic conditions. Rare Jurassic and more common Permian-Triassic spores and pollen occur sporadically throughout the core. These are derived from Jurassic Ferrar Group sediments, and from the Permian-Triassic Victoria Group, upper Beacon Supergroup. Higher frequencies of reworked Beacon palynomorphs and coaly organic matter below ~307 mbsf indicate greater erosion of the Beacon Supergroup for this lower part of the core. A color range from black, severely metamorphosed specimens, to light-colored, yellow (indicating low thermal alteration), reworked Permian palynomorphs, indicates local provenance in the dolerite-intruded Beacon strata of the Transantarctic Mountains, as well as areas (now sub-ice) of Beacon strata with little or no associated dolerite well inland (cratonwards) of the present Transantarctic Mountains.

A virtual species set for robust and reproducible Species Distribution Modelling tests

Predicting species potential and future distribution has become a relevant tool in biodiversity monitoring and conservation. In this data article we present the suitability map of a virtual species generated based on two bioclimatic variables, and a dataset containing more than 700.000 random observations at the extent of Europe. The dataset includes spatial attributes such as, distance to roads, protected areas, country codes, and the habitat suitability of two spatially clustered species (grassland and forest species) and a wide spread species.

(Table 1) UK research stations, refuges and major depots between 1944 and 2010

Globally, areas categorically known to be free of human visitation are rare, but still exist in Antarctica. Such areas may be among the most pristine locations remaining on Earth and, therefore, be valuable as baselines for future comparisons with localities impacted by human activities, and as sites preserved for scientific research using increasingly sophisticated future technologies. Nevertheless, unvisited areas are becoming increasingly rare as the human footprint expands in Antarctica. Therefore, an understanding of historical and contemporary levels of visitation at locations across Antarctica is essential to a) estimate likely cumulative environmental impact, b) identify regions that may have been impacted by non-native species introductions, and c) inform the future designation of protected areas under the Antarctic Treaty System. Currently, records of Antarctic tourist visits exist, but little detailed information is readily available on the spatial and temporal distribution of national governmental programme activities in Antarctica. Here we describe methods to fulfil this need. Using information within field reports and archive and science databases pertaining to the activities of the United Kingdom as an illustration, we describe the history and trends in its operational footprint in the Antarctic Peninsula since c. 1944. Based on this illustration, we suggest that these methodologies could be applied productively more generally.

Appendix 7: List of species with their distribution ranges restricted to the corresponding phytogeographical region

Understanding species distribution patterns and the corresponding environmental determinants is a crucial step in the development of effective strategies for the conservation and management of plant communities and ecosystems. Therefore, a central prerequisite is the biogeographical and macroecological analysis of factors and processes that determine contemporary, potential, as well as future geographic distribution of species. This thesis has been conducted in the framework of the BIOMAPS-BIOTA project at the Nees Institute of Biodiversity of Plants, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The study investigated patterns of plants species richness and phytogeographic regions under contemporary environmental conditions and forecasted future climate change in the area of West Africa covering five countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo. Firstly, geographic patterns of vascular plant species richness have been depicted at a relatively fine spatial resolution based on the potential distribution of 3,393 species. Species richness is closely related to the steep climatic gradient existing in the region with a high concentration of species in the most humid areas in the south and decreases towards the northern drier areas. The investigation of the effectiveness of the existing network of protected areas shows an overall good coverage of species in the study area. However, the proportion of covered species is considerably lower at national extent for some countries, thus calling for more protected areas in order to cover adequately a maximum number of plants species in these countries. Secondly, based on the potential distribution range of vascular plant species, seven phytogeographic regions have been delineated that broadly reflect the vegetation zones as defined by White (1983). However notable differences to the delineation of White (1983) occur at the margins of some regions. Corresponding to a general southward shifted of all regions. And expansion of the Sahel vegetation zone is observed in the north, while the rainforest zone is decreased in the very south.This is alarming since the rainforest shelters a high number of species and a high proportion of range-restricted or endemic species, despite their relatively small extent compared to the other regions. Finally, the evaluation of the potential impact of climate change on plant species richness in the study area, results in a severe loss of future suitable habitat for up to 50% of species per grid cell, particularly in the rainforest region. Moreover, the analysis of the possible shift of phytogeographic regions shows in general a strong deterioration of the West African rainforest. In contrast the drier areas are expanding continuously, although a slight gain in species number can be observed in some particular regions. The overall lesson to retain from the results of this study is that the West African rainforest should be fixed as a high priority area for the conservation of biodiversity of plants, since it is subject to severe contemporary and projected future threats.

Mapped distribution of intertidal habitats in Australia between 1999 and 2014, link to data in ArcGIS format (29 MB)

Shorebirds have declined severely across the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Many species rely on intertidal habitats for foraging, yet the distribution and conservation status of these habitats across Australia remain poorly understood. Here, we utilised freely available satellite imagery to produce the first map of intertidal habitats across Australia. We estimated a minimum intertidal area of 9856 km**2, with Queensland and Western Australia supporting the largest areas. Thirty-nine percent of intertidal habitats were protected in Australia, with some primarily within marine protected areas (e.g. Queensland) and others within terrestrial protected areas (e.g. Victoria). In fact, three percent of all intertidal habitats were protected both by both marine and terrestrial protected areas. To achieve conservation targets, protected area boundaries must align more accurately with intertidal habitats. Shorebirds use intertidal areas to forage and supratidal areas to roost, so a coordinated management approach is required to account for movement of birds between terrestrial and marine habitats. Ultimately, shorebird declines are occurring despite high levels of habitat protection in Australia. There is a need for a concerted effort both nationally and internationally to map and understand how intertidal habitats are changing, and how habitat conservation can be implemented more effectively.

Grain size distribution of the lagoonal deposits within the South Malé Atoll, Maldives, Indian Ocean

Seismic and multibeam data, as well as sediment samples were acquired in the South Malé Atoll in the Maldives archipelago in 2011 to unravel the stratigraphy and facies of the lagoonal deposits. Multichannel seismic lines show that the sedimentary succession locally reaches a maximum thickness of 15-20 m above an unconformity interpreted as the emersion surface which developed during the last glacial sea-level lowstand. Such depocenters are located in current-protected areas flanking the reef rim of the atoll or in infillings of karst dolinas. Much of the 50 m deep sea floor in the lagoon interior is current swept, and has no or very minor sediment cover. Erosive current moats line drowned patch reefs, whereas other areas are characterized by nondeposition. Karst sink holes, blue holes and karst valleys occur throughout the lagoon, from its rim to its center. Lagoonal sediments are mostly carbonate rubble and coarse-grained carbonate sands with frequent large benthic foraminifers, Halimeda flakes, red algal nodules, mollusks, bioclasts, and intraclasts, some of them glauconitic, as well as very minor ooids. Finer-grained deposits locally are deposited in current-protected areas behind elongated faros, i.e., small atolls which are part of the rim of South Malé Atoll. The South Malé Atoll is a current-flushed atoll, where water and sediment export with the open sea is facilitated by the multiple passes dissecting the atoll rim. With an elevated reef rim and tower-like reefs in the atoll interior it is an example of a leaky bucket atoll which shares characteristics of incipiently drowned carbonate banks or drowning sequences as known from the geological record.

Reduced calcification and lack of acclimatization by coral colonies growing in areas of persistent natural acidification

As the surface ocean equilibrates with rising atmospheric CO2, the pH of surface seawater is decreasing with potentially negative impacts on coral calcification. A critical question is whether corals will be able to adapt or acclimate to these changes in seawater chemistry. We use high precision CT scanning of skeletal cores of Porites astreoides, an important Caribbean reef-building coral, to show that calcification rates decrease significantly along a natural gradient in pH and aragonite saturation (Omega arag). This decrease is accompanied by an increase in skeletal erosion and predation by boring organisms. The degree of sensitivity to reduced ?arag measured on our field corals is consistent with that exhibited by the same species in laboratory CO2 manipulation experiments. We conclude that the Porites corals at our field site were not able to acclimatize enough to prevent the impacts of local ocean acidification on their skeletal growth and development, despite spending their entire lifespan in low pH, low Omega arag seawater.