Novel approaches to coral reef conservation

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Coral reefs are among the most valuable ecosystems on the planet but they are also among the most threatened because of overfishing, pollution, disease and climate change.  To address the challenges of preserving coral reefs while allowing their sustainable use, we are addressing three of the most pressing issues in reef conservation using novel statistical and theoretical approaches.  Our first goal is to measure how effective marine reserves are in protecting coral habitats and what influences their effectiveness.  To achieve this, we are using meta-analyses of time-series of ecological data from over 400 reefs across the Caribbean to compare the rates of change in and out of marine reserves.  Our second goal is to understand how people who use reef resources choose which reefs to exploit.  Here, we are using a general framework borrowed from behavioural ecology theory to understand why reef fishermen fish where they do, and why divers dive where they do.  Finding general principles that govern seemingly very different activities should help managers of coral reefs, and other exploited systems, understand what controls the spatial distribution of users and how to devise low-conflict management options.  Finally, we are unraveling the complex indirect impacts of human activities on reef organisms.  We are focusing on the removal of two species, cleaner wrasse and clownfish, from the wild for the aquarium trade and tracking the effects on other species of fish and invertebrates which are not directly targeted by the trade but have close relationships with the targeted species.  Taken together, these studies will advance significantly our understanding of the impacts of humans on coral reefs and will shed light on ways to mitigate these impacts.