Coupling Biophysical and Socioeconomic Models for Coral Reef Systems in Quintana Roo, Mexican Caribbean

Jessica Melbourne-Thomas,Deborah Cleland,Jeremy Eustache,Elizabeth A Fulton,Pascal Perez,Craig R Johnson

doi:10.5751/es-04208-160323

Abstract

Melbourne-Thomas, J., C. R. Johnson, P. Perez, J. Eustache, E. A. Fulton, and D. Cleland. 2011. Coupling biophysical and socioeconomic models for coral reef systems in Quintana Roo, Mexican Caribbean. Ecology and Society 16(3): 23. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04208-160323

Highlights

The socioeconomic welfare of millions of people in coastal populations worldwide depends on ecosystem services provided by coral reefs (Moberg and Folke 1999)
Transdisciplinary approaches that consider both socioeconomic and biophysical processes are central to understanding and managing rapid change in coral reef systems worldwide
We present an approach to coupling existing biophysical and socioeconomic models for coral reef systems in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The socioeconomic welfare of millions of people in coastal populations worldwide depends on ecosystem services provided by coral reefs (Moberg and Folke 1999). Given that reefs in neighboring Belize, and to a lesser extent Honduras, can act as larval sources for Quintana Roo reefs (MelbourneThomas et al 2011b), we included a fixed larval supply from these “external” sources by assuming uniform values for coral cover, fish biomass, and urchin biomass on Belizean and Honduran reefs (derived as the average of reef state for reef cells in the Quintana Roo model domain at each time step) This approach was used previously in a separate version of CORSET developed for reefs in the Philippines region of the South China Sea (Melbourne-Thomas et al 2011a) and is adopted here for simplicity. Costa Maya for more extreme scenarios (>3.5factor increases in tourist numbers)

DISCUSSION

Findings

Limitations and Recommendations for Integrating Models