Can Static Habitat Protection Encompass Critical Areas for Highly Mobile Marine Top Predators? Insights from Coastal East Africa
Can Static Habitat Protection Encompass Critical Areas for Highly Mobile Marine Top Predators? Insights from Coastal East Africa
复制标题
静态栖息地保护能否涵盖高度机动的海洋顶级掠食者的关键区域？
作者：
S. Pérez‐Jorge;Thalia Pereira;C. Corne;Zeno Wijtten;Mohamed Y. Omar;Jillo Katello;M. Kinyua;D. Oro;M. Louzao
沿着东非海岸，海洋顶级掠食者正面临越来越多的人为威胁，这需要采取有效和紧急的养护措施，以保护基本生境。了解栖息地特征对海洋顶级捕食者分布和丰度的作用是评估现有海洋保护区（MPA）是否适合的关键一步，该保护区最初被指定为保护珊瑚礁。我们开发了物种分布模型（SDM）的世界自然保护联盟的数据不足的印度太平洋海豚（Tursiops aduncus）在肯尼亚南部。我们遵循一个全面的生态模拟方法，研究环境因素影响的发生和丰富的海豚，而发展SDMS。通过集合预测图的组合，我们定义了该物种的经常性，偶尔和不利的栖息地。结果表明，动态和静态预测因子对白海豚空间生态的影响是：白海豚可能选择浅水区（5-30 m）、靠近礁区（< 500 m）和海洋锋区（< 10 km）以及靠近100 m等深线（< 5 km）。我们还预测了MPA内海豚的发生率和丰度明显较高。经常性和偶然的栖息地被确定在现有的MPA（47%和57%，分别使用存在-不存在和丰富的模型）的大百分比。不过，保护区并不足以涵盖所有偶发和经常出现的地区，因此，我们建议扩大保护区的范围，以涵盖所有可能是高度移动的物种的主要生境的地区。这项研究的结果提供了两个关键的养护和管理工具：（一）预测关键海洋生境的综合生境建模方法，以及（二）第一项评估西印度洋海洋哺乳动物现有MPA有效性的研究。
Along the East African coast, marine top predators are facing an increasing number of anthropogenic threats which requires the implementation of effective and urgent conservation measures to protect essential habitats. Understanding the role that habitat features play on the marine top predator’ distribution and abundance is a crucial step to evaluate the suitability of an existing Marine Protected Area (MPA), originally designated for the protection of coral reefs. We developed species distribution models (SDM) on the IUCN data deficient Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) in southern Kenya. We followed a comprehensive ecological modelling approach to study the environmental factors influencing the occurrence and abundance of dolphins while developing SDMs. Through the combination of ensemble prediction maps, we defined recurrent, occasional and unfavourable habitats for the species. Our results showed the influence of dynamic and static predictors on the dolphins’ spatial ecology: dolphins may select shallow areas (5-30 m), close to the reefs (< 500 m) and oceanic fronts (< 10 km) and adjacent to the 100m isobath (< 5 km). We also predicted a significantly higher occurrence and abundance of dolphins within the MPA. Recurrent and occasional habitats were identified on large percentages on the existing MPA (47% and 57% using presence-absence and abundance models respectively). However, the MPA does not adequately encompass all occasional and recurrent areas and within this context, we propose to extend the MPA to incorporate all of them which are likely key habitats for the highly mobile species. The results from this study provide two key conservation and management tools: (i) an integrative habitat modelling approach to predict key marine habitats, and (ii) the first study evaluating the effectiveness of an existing MPA for marine mammals in the Western Indian Ocean.