Biological responses in marine no-take reserves versus partially protected areas

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 367:49-56 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07599 Biological responses in marine no-take reserves versus partially protected areas Sarah E. Lester1,3,*, Benjamin S. Halpern2 1Institute of Marine Sciences, Long Marine Laboratory, 100 Shaffer Road, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA 2National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 735 State Street, Suite 300, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA 3Present address: Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA *Email: slester@ucsc.edu ABSTRACT: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a common tool for conserving and managing marine and coastal ecosystems. MPAs encompass a range of protection levels, from fully protected no-take reserves to restriction of only particular activities, gear types, user groups, target species, or extraction periods. There is a growing body of scientific evidence supporting the ecological benefits of full reserve protection, but it is more difficult to generalize about the effects of other types of MPAs, in part because they include a range of actual protection levels. However, it is critical to determine whether partial protection and no-take reserves provide similar ecological benefits given potential economic costs of lost fishing grounds in no-take areas, common sociopolitical opposition to full protection, and promotion of partially protected areas as a compromise solution in ocean zoning disputes. Here we synthesize all empirical studies comparing biological measures (biomass, density, species richness, and size of organisms) in no-take marine reserves and adjacent partially protected and unprotected areas across a range of geographic locations worldwide. We demonstrate that while partially protected areas may confer some benefits over open access areas, no-take reserves generally show greater benefits and yield significantly higher densities of organisms within their boundaries relative to partially protected sites nearby. KEY WORDS: Marine reserves · Marine protected areas · Protection level · Conservation · Ocean zoning Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Lester SE, Halpern BS (2008) Biological responses in marine no-take reserves versus partially protected areas. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 367:49-56. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07599 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 367. Online publication date: September 11, 2008 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.