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Simple rules can guide whether land- or ocean-based conservation will best benefit marine ecosystems
Many coastal marine ecosystems are threatened by anthropogenic activities, but often, the best way to restore and protect these important ecosystems is unclear. This study by Saunders et al. developed a model based on seagrass meadows and adjacent catchments in Queensland, Australia, using it to ask whether, in order to maximize the extent to coastal marine ecosystems, we should restore or protect, on either the coastal land or in the ocean. The answer was that direct, active marine restoration can be the most cost-effective approach to maximizing extent of marine ecosystems over longer (decades-long) timescales. This image shows a seagrass meadow and adjacent landscape at Carp Island, Palau.
Image Credit: Mark Priest
Citation: (2017) PLoS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 15(9) September 2017. PLoS Biol 15(9): ev15.i09. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v15.i09
Published: September 29, 2017
Copyright: © 2017 Priest. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Many coastal marine ecosystems are threatened by anthropogenic activities, but often, the best way to restore and protect these important ecosystems is unclear. This study by Saunders et al. developed a model based on seagrass meadows and adjacent catchments in Queensland, Australia, using it to ask whether, in order to maximize the extent to coastal marine ecosystems, we should restore or protect, on either the coastal land or in the ocean. The answer was that direct, active marine restoration can be the most cost-effective approach to maximizing extent of marine ecosystems over longer (decades-long) timescales. This image shows a seagrass meadow and adjacent landscape at Carp Island, Palau.
Image Credit: Mark Priest