ECOFUN – Quantification and monitoring of the provision of ecosystem services in Atlantic and Mediterranean protected areas: connectivity of ecological functions across geographical and bathymetric gradients.
Pleamar program
Description
The ECOFUN project aims to determine the ecological functions and processes relevant from the point of view of conservation within marine protected areas (MPAs) and to develop functionality indicators that can be used to include these processes in management and monitoring plans, in compliance with the national regulations on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity.
MPAs therefore have a fundamental role to play in improving the production of fisheries and aquaculture activities in adjacent ecosystems, especially in sensitive areas or highly impacted by fishing, which need to recover not only their production levels but also their stability and functioning. For all these reasons, functional connectivity is a fundamental attribute of MPAs, understood as the set of ecological properties associated with the use of space, both in the inter-specific relationships of the food web and in the intra-specific ones, throughout the life cycle of each species in relation to its interaction with the habitat. Despite its recognized importance, there are hardly any references in which functional connectivity has been evaluated in a comprehensive way, possibly due to its multidisciplinary nature. However, quantifying the ecological properties that contribute to functional connectivity is essential to understand the ecological functioning of marine protected areas, their resilience to climate change, as well as the improvement of ecosystem services over adjacent areas and, ultimately, to carry out effective monitoring of MPAs that strengthens their management and recovery.
To understand and measure these ecological properties, it is important to consider two spatial gradients: i) the vertical gradient, a bento-pelagic coupling that determines the connections between the benthic and pelagic domains, and ii) the horizontal geographic gradient, which connects the protected area and adjacent ecosystems. In this sense, the MPAs included in the LIFE-IP INTEMARES project provide an ideal scenario to implement a more integrated perspective of the ecosystem, its services and functions, through the study of the bentho-pelagic coupling and the geographical area of influence of the MPAs. The project will focus on two areas of the Natura 2000 Network representative of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but comparable in terms of ecosystems and orographic structure – the Avilés submarine canyon system in the Atlantic and the Mazarrón Escarpment submarine valleys in the Mediterranean. These two systems are characterized by a narrow continental shelf and a continental slope furrowed by submarine canyons that contribute to their high hydro-dynamism. Both systems are areas with high productivity associated with canyon systems and high biodiversity in relation to their environment, which have historically hosted intense fishing activity.
Line of action:
Marine ecosystemsStatus:
FinalizadoExecution date:
2019General:
To characterize the key ecological properties within marine protected areas and to assess the role of these areas as guarantors of functional connectivity in adjacent
areas in order to implement this integrated perspective of ecosystems, their services and functions in the management and monitoring plans of marine protected areas.
Specific:
1. To evaluate a series of key ecological properties and processes of the marine ecosystem framed in the spatial and multidimensional context of MPAs.
2. To define the spatial and temporal scale of variation of these properties in order to propose a possible common monitoring framework for the Spanish state, but adapted to the ecosystem context of the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
3. To provide a protocol for the monitoring of these ecological properties and ecosystem services that is coupled to the products and indicators developed for these MPAs by other projects such as LIFE-IP INTEMARES and CAMONMAR3.
4. Disseminate and communicate the results of the project.
A1. Meta-analysis of bibliographic data of the different functional groups to catacterize ecological properties associated with the use of space
A2. To analyse trophic connectivity in the different functional groups by means of biochemical analyses of biological samples.
A2.1 Shipments in ocean campaigns and collection of biological samples
A2.2-A2.6 Laboratory analysis, including sample preprocessing and analysis of lipid profiles and isotopic ratios.
A2.7 Statistical analysis of biochemical data: Determination of trophic position, benthopelagic coupling and quality of the feeding habitat.
A3. Calculate indicators of ecological properties based on historical series.
A4. Estimate the extent of the transition area between MPA and outdoor zone through gradients in ecological properties.
A5. To synthesize the results of the project (A1-A4) and to develop a protocol for monitoring and monitoring ecological properties and ecosystem services.
A6. Present and discuss the results of the project based on the synthesis document (A5) with the competent authorities.
A7. Communicate and disseminate the objectives of the project and its results.
The ECOFUN project has made it possible to assess for the first time the connectivity of ecological functions around deep marine protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network, specifically, in the Avilés Canyon System and the Underwater Valleys of the Mazarrón Escarpment. This project has used a holistic methodology, combining a meta‐analysis of bibliographic data, trophic connectivity indicators estimated from biochemical analyses and ecological indicators estimated from the analysis of historical series of abundance of demersal communities. For this last set of indicators, the Spanish National Institute of Oceanography (IEO – CSIC) has made available to the project more than two decades of annual monitoring data from demersal communities in the two study areas. The combination of these three types of analysis has allowed us to estimate patterns of functional connectivity in the two areas of the Natura2000 Network under study with a very robust approach.
The meta-analysis of the bibliographic data has confirmed the abiotic niche of the species previously selected as indicators, allowing the relative estimation of their areas of fidelity based on indirect information such as their life cycle attributes or their diets. In relation to functional connectivity, we see that the organisms with the greatest mobility and size may be the most interesting species (such as catshark or olayo), without neglecting animals that perform vertical migrations and can, therefore, play a fundamental role in bento‐pelagic connectivity (such as blue whiting or hake). The combination of the three proposed trophic indicators (trophic level, proportion of pelagic productivity and quality of feeding habitat) gives an idea of the mobility of the different indicator species according to their sizes. Specifically, benthic shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris) promise to be an excellent indicator species in reference to bento-pelagic connectivity, while catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) is possibly the species considered to have the greatest potential to explore both vertical and horizontal connectivity. On the other hand, the ecological indicators derived from the analysis of the spatio‐temporal series of abundances of demersal communities (taxonomic diversity, functional diversity and heterogeneity of the food web) did not yield the expected results, making it impossible to determine transition areas around the marine protected areas under study. The results of the project will serve to propose measures for monitoring and monitoring trophic and functional connectivity in these areas of the Natura 2000 Network.
Finally, the dissemination actions have made it possible to bring the importance of the conservation of our marine protected areas closer to the general population, as well as their involvement in the management of biodiversity and Natura 2000 Network areas.
ECOFUN – Quantification and monitoring of the provision of ecosystem services in Atlantic and Mediterranean protected areas: connectivity of ecological functions across geographical and bathymetric gradients.
back to search 