Prioritizing land and sea conservation investments to protect coral reefs.
BACKGROUND
Coral reefs have exceptional biodiversity, support the livelihoods of millions of people, and are threatened by multiple human activities on land (e.g. farming) and in the sea (e.g. overfishing). Most conservation efforts occur at local scales and, when effective, can increase the resilience of coral reefs to global threats such as climate change (e.g. warming water and ocean acidification). Limited resources for conservation require that we efficiently prioritize where and how to best sustain coral reef ecosystems.


RESULTS
Here we develop the first prioritization approach that can guide regional-scale conservation investments in land- and sea-based conservation actions that cost-effectively mitigate threats to coral reefs, and apply it to the Coral Triangle, an area of significant global attention and funding. Using information on threats to marine ecosystems, effectiveness of management actions at abating threats, and the management and opportunity costs of actions, we calculate the rate of return on investment in two conservation actions in sixteen ecoregions. We discover that marine conservation almost always trumps terrestrial conservation within any ecoregion, but terrestrial conservation in one ecoregion can be a better investment than marine conservation in another. We show how these results could be used to allocate a limited budget for conservation and compare them to priorities based on individual criteria.


CONCLUSIONS
Previous prioritization approaches do not consider both land and sea-based threats or the socioeconomic costs of conserving coral reefs. A simple and transparent approach like ours is essential to support effective coral reef conservation decisions in a large and diverse region like the Coral Triangle, but can be applied at any scale and to other marine ecosystems.
Klein
Carissa J
CJ
The Ecology Centre, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia. c.klein@uq.edu.au
Ban
Natalie C
NC
Halpern
Benjamin S
BS
Beger
Maria
M
Game
Edward T
ET
Grantham
Hedley S
HS
Green
Alison
A
Klein
Travis J
TJ
Kininmonth
Stuart
S
Treml
Eric
E
Wilson
Kerrie
K
Possingham
Hugh P
HP
D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D002017:Budgets; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics*; D017753:Ecosystem; D007449:Investments; D009792:Oceans and Seas
Science. 2006 Jun 23;312(5781):1750-1
16794065
Science. 2001 Jan 5;291(5501):125-8
11141563
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Nov 15;102(46):16712-6
16267131
Conserv Biol. 2008 Jun;22(3):691-700
18325043
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Apr 29;105(17):6498-501
18413614
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Jun 29;101(26):9694-7
15205483
Trends Ecol Evol. 2008 Dec;23(12):649-54
18848367
Science. 2006 Jul 7;313(5783):58-61
16825561
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 8;106(36):15368-73
19717457
PLoS One. 2008 Jul 02;3(7):e2586
18596914
Science. 2003 Aug 15;301(5635):929-33
12920289
Science. 2002 Dec 6;298(5600):1991-3
12471258
PLoS Biol. 2007 Sep;5(9):e223
17713985
Science. 2008 Feb 15;319(5865):948-52
18276889
Science. 2004 Feb 13;303(5660):1000-3
14963327
Science. 2008 Oct 10;322(5899):189-90
18845729
Conserv Biol. 2007 Oct;21(5):1301-15
17883495
Science. 2008 Jul 25;321(5888):560-3
18653892
Nature. 2006 Mar 16;440(7082):337-40
16541073
Science. 2002 Feb 15;295(5558):1280-4
11847338
Nature. 2009 Nov 19;462(7271):280-1
19924192
Nature. 2004 Jun 24;429(6994):827-33
15215854