Fig 1.
PRISMA 2009 flowchart describing the process of selecting articles for inclusion in the qualitative synthesis of our systematic review.
Table 1.
AR deployment for scientific experimentation or de facto ARs deposited as marine waste or accidental submergences (n = 75 studies).
Table 2.
AR deployment for conservation objectives (n = 51 studies).
Fig 2.
Abundance of tropical and subtropical (up to 35° latitude) deployments of ARs in each marine realm by decade of deployment from 1940s to 2010s.
Inset shows marine realms defined by [48].
Fig 3.
Number of studies that measured each objective by marine realm (Temperate Australasia, n = 11 studies; Temperate Northern Atlantic, n = 6; Tropical Atlantic, n = 12; Central Indo-Pacific, n = 22; Eastern Indo-Pacific, n = 3; Western Indo-Pacific, n = 42; Temperate Northern Pacific, n = 1; Tropical Eastern Pacific, n = 1) in ARs reporting success in meeting conservation objectives.
See Fig 2 for map of bioregions.
Fig 4.
Number of studies monitoring conservation success of an AR (n = 51 studies) that measured ecological response variables for 4 taxonomic groups (Benthic Algae, Coral, Other Invertebrates, Fish) for each marine realm.
See Fig 2 for map of bioregions.
Fig 5.
Number of studies monitoring conservation success of an AR (n = 51) that measured ecological response variables for 4 taxonomic groups (Benthic Algae, Coral, Other Invertebrates, Fish) on ARs by publication decade from 1980s to 2020s (to December 2020).
Fig 6.
Percent of studies citing each category of AR conservation objective (n = 50 studies; 1 study was excluded because deployment date was unavailable) by deployment decade from 1960s to 2010s.
Numbers above bars indicate number of studies.
Fig 7.
Number of studies that measured each ecological response variable by marine realm (Temperate Australasia, n = 6 study; Temperate Northern Atlantic, n = 4; Tropical Atlantic, n = 9; Central Indo-Pacific, n = 15; Eastern Indo-Pacific, n = 2; Western Indo-Pacific, n = 13; Temperate Northern Pacific, n = 1; Tropical Eastern Pacific, n = 1) in ARs reporting success in meeting conservation objectives.
See Fig 2 for map of bioregions.