Using Ecological Theory as a Guide for Marine Protected Area Monitoring

Photo 1. Science team from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Gitxaała Nation surveying rocky intertidal habitat within the proposed MPA network site in McCauley Island, Canada. Following a random stratified survey methodology, scientists are recording benthic cover, taxa presence, and organism count within each quadrat (metrics); they will calculate species richness and community structure (indicators) across different habitat types, to assess all ecosystem status components along heterogeneity and stability dimensions. Photo credit: Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Photo 2. Reef-building glass sponges and associated macroinvertebrates in the Hecate Strait/Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs MPA, Canada. This MPA was established in 2017 to “conserve the biological diversity, structural habitat, and ecosystem function of the glass sponge reefs,” directly addressing all three components of heterogeneity; it would be beneficial for the management plan to explicitly address stability components. Monitoring program design for this MPA should include, at a minimum, percent cover of benthic taxa, taxa presence, and organism count to enable assessing all ecosystem status components along heterogeneity and stability dimensions. Photo credit: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Sally Leys (University of Alberta); CSSF ROPOS. These photographs illustrate the article “Conserving ecosystem integrity: Ecological theory as a guide for marine protected area monitoring” by Anya Dunham, Josephine C. Iacarella, Karen L. Hunter, Sarah C. Davies, Sarah Dudas, Katie S. P. Gale, Emily Rubidge, and Stephanie K. Archer published in Ecological Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.3005