scholarly journals The 'Great Southern Reef': social, ecological and economic value of Australia's neglected kelp forests

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Bennett ◽  
Thomas Wernberg ◽  
Sean D. Connell ◽  
Alistair J. Hobday ◽  
Craig R. Johnson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Political Awareness ◽  
Temperate Reef ◽  
Temperate Reefs ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Research Investment ◽  
Ecological Functioning ◽  
Southern Reef

Kelp forests define >8000km of temperate coastline across southern Australia, where ~70% of Australians live, work and recreate. Despite this, public and political awareness of the scale and significance of this marine ecosystem is low, and research investment miniscule (<10%), relative to comparable ecosystems. The absence of an identity for Australia’s temperate reefs as an entity has probably contributed to the current lack of appreciation of this system, which is at odds with its profound ecological, social and economic importance. We define the ‘Great Southern Reef’ (GSR) as Australia’s spatially connected temperate reef system. The GSR covers ~71000km2 and represents a global biodiversity hotspot across at least nine phyla. GSR-related fishing and tourism generates at least AU$10 billion year–1, and in this context the GSR is a significant natural asset for Australia and globally. Maintaining the health and ecological functioning of the GSR is critical to the continued sustainability of human livelihoods and wellbeing derived from it. By recognising the GSR as an entity we seek to boost awareness, and take steps towards negotiating the difficult challenges the GSR faces in a future of unprecedented coastal population growth and global change.

Cascading social-ecological costs and benefits triggered by a recovering keystone predator

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 368 (6496) ◽  
pp. 1243-1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Gregr ◽  
Villy Christensen ◽  
Linda Nichol ◽  
Rebecca G. Martone ◽  
Russell W. Markel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Ecosystem Change ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Sea Otter ◽  
Sea Otters ◽  
Ecological Benefits ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Keystone Predators

Predator recovery often leads to ecosystem change that can trigger conflicts with more recently established human activities. In the eastern North Pacific, recovering sea otters are transforming coastal systems by reducing populations of benthic invertebrates and releasing kelp forests from grazing pressure. These changes threaten established shellfish fisheries and modify a variety of other ecosystem services. The diverse social and economic consequences of this trophic cascade are unknown, particularly across large regions. We developed and applied a trophic model to predict these impacts on four ecosystem services. Results suggest that sea otter presence yields 37% more total ecosystem biomass annually, increasing the value of finfish [+9.4 million Canadian dollars (CA$)], carbon sequestration (+2.2 million CA$), and ecotourism (+42.0 million CA$). To the extent that these benefits are realized, they will exceed the annual loss to invertebrate fisheries (−$7.3 million CA$). Recovery of keystone predators thus not only restores ecosystems but can also affect a range of social, economic, and ecological benefits for associated communities.

scholarly journals The Elusive Quest for Valuation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Services

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1518 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Walter Milon ◽  
Sergio Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Services Research ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Geophysical Processes ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services ◽  
Policy And Planning

Coastal and marine ecosystem (CME) services provide benefits to people through direct goods and services that may be harvested or enjoyed in situ and indirect services that regulate and support biological and geophysical processes now and in the future. In the past two decades, there has been an increase in the number of studies and journal articles designed to measure the economic value of the world’s CME services, although there is significantly less published research than for terrestrial ecosystems. This article provides a review of the literature on valuation of CME services along with a discussion of the theoretical and practical challenges that must be overcome to utilize valuation results in CME policy and planning at local, regional, and global scales. The review reveals that significant gaps exist in research and understanding of the broad range of CME services and their economic values. It also raises questions about the validity of aggregating ecosystem services as independent components to determine the value of a biome when there is little understanding of the relationships and feedbacks between ecosystems and the services they produce. Finally, the review indicates that economic valuation of CME services has had a negligible impact on the policy process in four main regions around the world. An alternative direction for CME services research would focus on valuing the world’s CME services in a wealth accounting framework.

Looking backwards to look forwards: the role of natural history in temperate reef ecology

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Hawkins ◽  
N. Mieszkowska ◽  
L. B. Firth ◽  
K. Bohn ◽  
M. T. Burrows ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Temperate Reef ◽  
Molecular Approaches ◽  
Temperate Reefs ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Rich History

Temperate reefs are superb tractable systems for testing hypotheses in ecology and evolutionary biology. Accordingly there is a rich history of research stretching back over 100 years, which has made major contributions to general ecological and evolutionary theory as well as providing better understanding of how littoral systems work by linking pattern with process. A brief resumé of the history of temperate reef ecology is provided to celebrate this rich heritage. As a community, temperate reef ecologists generally do well designed experiments and test well formulated hypotheses. Increasingly large datasets are being collected, collated and subjected to complex meta-analyses and used for modelling. These datasets do not happen spontaneously – the burgeoning subject of macroecology is possible only because of the efforts of dedicated natural historians whether it be observing birds, butterflies, or barnacles. High-quality natural history and old-fashioned field craft enable surveys or experiments to be stratified (i.e. replicates are replicates and not a random bit of rock) and lead to the generation of more insightful hypotheses. Modern molecular approaches have led to the discovery of cryptic species and provided phylogeographical insights, but natural history is still required to identify species in the field. We advocate a blend of modern approaches with old school skills and a fondness for temperate reefs in all their splendour.

scholarly journals Improving Metabarcoding Taxonomic Assignment: A Case Study of Fishes in a Large Marine Ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Gold ◽  
Emily Curd ◽  
Kelly Goodwin ◽  
Emma Choi ◽  
Benjamin Frable ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Molecular Ecology ◽  
California Current ◽  
Reference Sequence ◽  
Taxonomic Assignment ◽  
Global Database ◽  
Assignment Accuracy ◽  
Large Marine Ecosystem

DNA metabarcoding is an important tool for molecular ecology. However, its effectiveness hinges on the quality of reference sequence databases and classification parameters employed. Here we evaluate the performance of MiFish 12S taxonomic assignments using a case study of California Current Large Marine Ecosystem fishes to determine best practices for metabarcoding. Specifically, we use a taxonomy cross-validation by identity framework to compare classification performance between a global database comprised of all available sequences and a curated database that only includes sequences of fishes from the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. We demonstrate that the curated, regional database provides higher assignment accuracy than the comprehensive global database. We also document a tradeoff between accuracy and misclassification across a range of taxonomic cutoff scores, highlighting the importance of parameter selection for taxonomic classification. Furthermore, we compared assignment accuracy with and without the inclusion of additionally generated reference sequences. To this end, we sequenced tissue from 605 species using the MiFish 12S primers, adding 253 species to GenBank’s existing 550 California Current Large Marine Ecosystem fish sequences. We then compared species and reads identified from seawater environmental DNA samples using global databases with and without our generated references, and the regional database. The addition of new references allowed for the identification of 16 native taxa and 17.0% of total reads from eDNA samples, including species with vast ecological and economic value. Together these results demonstrate the importance of comprehensive and curated reference databases for effective metabarcoding and the need for locus-specific validation efforts.

scholarly journals Keystone predators govern the pathway and pace of climate impacts in a subarctic marine ecosystem

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 369 (6509) ◽  
pp. 1351-1354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas B. Rasher ◽  
Robert S. Steneck ◽  
Jochen Halfar ◽  
Kristy J. Kroeker ◽  
Justin B. Ries ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Enhydra Lutris ◽  
Sea Otters ◽  
Historical Reconstructions ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Structural Base ◽  
Keystone Predators

Predator loss and climate change are hallmarks of the Anthropocene yet their interactive effects are largely unknown. Here, we show that massive calcareous reefs, built slowly by the alga Clathromorphum nereostratum over centuries to millennia, are now declining because of the emerging interplay between these two processes. Such reefs, the structural base of Aleutian kelp forests, are rapidly eroding because of overgrazing by herbivores. Historical reconstructions and experiments reveal that overgrazing was initiated by the loss of sea otters, Enhydra lutris (which gave rise to herbivores capable of causing bioerosion), and then accelerated with ocean warming and acidification (which increased per capita lethal grazing by 34 to 60% compared with preindustrial times). Thus, keystone predators can mediate the ways in which climate effects emerge in nature and the pace with which they alter ecosystems.

scholarly journals Sustainable Agroforestry Landscape Management: Changing the Game

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meine van Noordwijk ◽  
Erika Speelman ◽  
Gert Jan Hofstede ◽  
Ai Farida ◽  
Ali Yansyah Abdurrahim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Scenario Development ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Research Investment ◽  
Scenario Evaluation ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
Ecological Relations ◽  
Local Discourses ◽  
Participative Approaches

Location-specific forms of agroforestry management can reduce problems in the forest–water–people nexus, by balancing upstream and downstream interests, but social and ecological finetuning is needed. New ways of achieving shared understanding of the underlying ecological and social-ecological relations is needed to adapt and contextualize generic solutions. Addressing these challenges between thirteen cases of tropical agroforestry scenario development across three continents requires exploration of generic aspects of issues, knowledge and participative approaches. Participative projects with local stakeholders increasingly use ‘serious gaming’. Although helpful, serious games so far (1) appear to be ad hoc, case dependent, with poorly defined extrapolation domains, (2) require heavy research investment, (3) have untested cultural limitations and (4) lack clarity on where and how they can be used in policy making. We classify the main forest–water–people nexus issues and the types of land-use solutions that shape local discourses and that are to be brought to life in the games. Four ‘prototype’ games will be further used to test hypotheses about the four problems identified constraining game use. The resulting generic forest–water–people games will be the outcome of the project “Scenario evaluation for sustainable agroforestry management through forest-water-people games” (SESAM), for which this article provides a preview.

The economic value of fisheries, blue carbon, and nutrient cycling in global marine forests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Matthius Eger ◽  
Ezequiel Marzinelli ◽  
Rodrigo Baes ◽  
Caitlin Blain ◽  
Laura Blamey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Nutrient Cycling ◽  
Nitrogen Removal ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Blue Carbon ◽  
Kelp Forests ◽  
Marine Management ◽  
Change Mitigation

Underwater kelp forests have provided valuable ecosystem services for millennia. However, the global economic value of those services is largely unresolved. Kelp forests are also diminishing globally and efforts to manage these valuable resources are hindered without accurate estimates of the services kelp forests provide to society. We present the first global economic estimation of services - fisheries production, nutrient cycling, and carbon removal - provided by four major forest forming kelp genera (Macrocystis, Nereocystis, Ecklonia, and Laminaria). Each of these genera provides between $135,200 and $177,100/ ha/ year. Collectively, they contribute $684 billion/year worldwide. These values are primarily driven by fisheries and nitrogen removal, but kelp forests also have the potential to sequester 2.7 megatons of carbon from the atmosphere/year and may be considered blue carbon systems valuable for climate change mitigation. These findings highlight the value of kelp forests to society and will enable informed marine management decisions.

Economic value of a large marine ecosystem: Danajon double barrier reef, Philippines

2016 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 9-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giselle P.B. Samonte ◽  
Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio ◽  
Rizaller Amolo ◽  
Alan White
Keyword(s):  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Double Barrier ◽  
Large Marine Ecosystem
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