TY - JOUR
T1 - Functionality and Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in Southeastern Brazilian Waters for Demersal Elasmobranchs
AU - Karlovic, Thamíris C.
AU - Gomes, Renata R.
AU - Paiva, Paulo C.
AU - Babcock, Elizabeth A.
AU - Dias, June F.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are indebted to undergraduate and graduate students, especially to Natasha. T. Hoff, Francesco Chioatto and Giovanna A. Garcia from ECORREP, who had participated in oceanographic expeditions and laboratorial analysis, assisting on data acquisition. We thank the Masters and crews of R/Vs Alpha Delphini and Soloncy Moura for all support provided. We are deeply grateful to Jos? L. Figueiredo and Michel M. de Mahiques, as well as the laboratorial assistants, Michel Gianeti and Edilson Oliveira, for the use of laboratorial facilities, guidance on identification of Pseudobatos sp. specimen?s and sedimentological analyses to TK. We would like to thank the biologist Joana D. Ho and Marcella F. de Almeida for the amazing scientific illustrations and visual content design. This study was possible thanks to the collaboration between the Oceanographic Institute of the University of S?o Paulo and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation - Alcatrazes, which provided logistical and financial support for campaigns and laboratorial analyses. This article is part of TK Ph.D. thesis in Oceanography under supervision of JD (IO ? USP) and EB (RSMAS ? UM). Funding. PP received productivity grants from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (Proc. 28447/2018?0) and the Funda??o de Amparo ? Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) (E-26/202.607/2019 ? 246952). The Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) provided national (Finance Code 001) and international (88887.371157/2019-00) scholarships to TK, through the programs PROEX and PrInt, respectively. The University of Miami hosted part of TK?s Ph.D. at The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS) as a visiting student. The Oceanographic Institute of the University of S?o Paulo and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation - Alcatrazes financed oceanographic cruises (fuel, food on board, and vessel personnel).
Funding Information:
We are indebted to undergraduate and graduate students, especially to Natasha. T. Hoff, Francesco Chioatto and Giovanna A. Garcia from ECORREP, who had participated in oceanographic expeditions and laboratorial analysis, assisting on data acquisition. We thank the Masters and crews of R/Vs Alpha Delphini and Soloncy Moura for all support provided. We are deeply grateful to José L. Figueiredo and Michel M. de Mahiques, as well as the laboratorial assistants, Michel Gianeti and Edilson Oliveira, for the use of laboratorial facilities, guidance on identification of Pseudobatos sp. specimen’s and sedimentological analyses to TK. We would like to thank the biologist Joana D. Ho and Marcella F. de Almeida for the amazing scientific illustrations and visual content design. This study was possible thanks to the collaboration between the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation - Alcatrazes, which provided logistical and financial support for campaigns and laboratorial analyses. This article is part of TK Ph.D. thesis in Oceanography under supervision of JD (IO – USP) and EB (RSMAS – UM).
Funding Information:
PP received productivity grants from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (Proc. 28447/2018–0) and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) (E-26/202.607/2019 – 246952). The Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) provided national (Finance Code 001) and international (88887.371157/2019-00) scholarships to TK, through the programs PROEX and PrInt, respectively. The University of Miami hosted part of TK’s Ph.D. at The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS) as a visiting student. The Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation - Alcatrazes financed oceanographic cruises (fuel, food on board, and vessel personnel).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2021 Karlovic, Gomes, Paiva, Babcock and Dias.
PY - 2021/9/1
Y1 - 2021/9/1
N2 - Ensuring the efficacy of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) requires that adequate management strategies be implemented according to the MPA’s objectives. Within the scope of species conservation, achieving MPA objectives demands understanding of the role played by MPAs for the target species. In 2014, Brazilian stakeholders and experts set the action plan for elasmobranchs’ conservation, which intended to create new protected areas and expand the existing ones. Nevertheless, more than 65% of Brazilian elasmobranch species are threatened by anthropogenic pressures such as fisheries and habitat loss. In addition, their ecological aspects are not well studied, which might jeopardize the success of the proposed actions. To assess the functionality and effectiveness of two no-take MPAs for sixteen demersal species, the Wildlife Refuge of Alcatrazes (WRA) and the Tupinambás Ecological Station (TES), we evaluated the community structure, space-time variations in functional diversity and changes in fishery indicators. Community dynamics were driven by inshore intrusion and time persistent effects of a cold and nutrient-rich water mass, the South Atlantic Central Water, which increased the relative abundance of species, functional groups, and overall diversity. Spatially, the heterogeneity of benthic habitats, due to the action of stronger waves in specific parts of the MPAs, reflects a diverse community of benthic invertebrates, explaining differences in relative abundance and similarities in space use by the functional groups. Regarding effectiveness, the MPAs make up a key network with the surrounding protection areas to support the ecosystem maintenance on the central and northern coast of the São Paulo state. The establishment of the TES has positively influenced the community throughout the years while the recent creation of the WRA may have promoted some improvements in fisheries indicators for a threatened guitarfish. We propose different functions of the Alcatrazes archipelago for each species and suggest some measures to enhance not only elasmobranch conservation but also the MPAs’ effectiveness.
AB - Ensuring the efficacy of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) requires that adequate management strategies be implemented according to the MPA’s objectives. Within the scope of species conservation, achieving MPA objectives demands understanding of the role played by MPAs for the target species. In 2014, Brazilian stakeholders and experts set the action plan for elasmobranchs’ conservation, which intended to create new protected areas and expand the existing ones. Nevertheless, more than 65% of Brazilian elasmobranch species are threatened by anthropogenic pressures such as fisheries and habitat loss. In addition, their ecological aspects are not well studied, which might jeopardize the success of the proposed actions. To assess the functionality and effectiveness of two no-take MPAs for sixteen demersal species, the Wildlife Refuge of Alcatrazes (WRA) and the Tupinambás Ecological Station (TES), we evaluated the community structure, space-time variations in functional diversity and changes in fishery indicators. Community dynamics were driven by inshore intrusion and time persistent effects of a cold and nutrient-rich water mass, the South Atlantic Central Water, which increased the relative abundance of species, functional groups, and overall diversity. Spatially, the heterogeneity of benthic habitats, due to the action of stronger waves in specific parts of the MPAs, reflects a diverse community of benthic invertebrates, explaining differences in relative abundance and similarities in space use by the functional groups. Regarding effectiveness, the MPAs make up a key network with the surrounding protection areas to support the ecosystem maintenance on the central and northern coast of the São Paulo state. The establishment of the TES has positively influenced the community throughout the years while the recent creation of the WRA may have promoted some improvements in fisheries indicators for a threatened guitarfish. We propose different functions of the Alcatrazes archipelago for each species and suggest some measures to enhance not only elasmobranch conservation but also the MPAs’ effectiveness.
KW - Alcatrazes archipelago
KW - community structure
KW - elasmobranch conservation
KW - fishery indicators
KW - functional diversity
KW - habitat use
KW - management strategies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115024892&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85115024892&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2021.694846
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2021.694846
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85115024892
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
SN - 2296-7745
M1 - 694846
ER -