Knowledge through partnerships: integrating marine protected area monitoring and ocean observing systems

Abstract

Escalating concern over the state of coastal marine ecosystems highlights the need for a better understanding of how such systems are structured by physical, biological, and chemical processes, and how human activities interact with these processes. Marine protected area (MPA) networks are being established around the world, in an effort to protect marine populations, communities, and ecosystems. Concurrently, ocean observing systems (OOSs) are being developed and implemented to identify and describe changes in the coastal oceans. Because marine ecosystems are strongly influenced by oceanographic processes, proper interpretation of ecological data to assess MPA performance requires information generated by coastal OOSs. At the same time, OOSs designed with the goal of identifying ecosystem responses to climate change require information from long‐term ecological monitoring studies of MPAs. Collaborative integration between ecological and oceanographic monitoring programs is central to elucidating both the role of MPAs for conservation and the influence of climate change on marine ecosystems.