Marine Ecosystem Restoration Research Articles

Estimating the non-market benefit value of deep-sea ecosystem restoration: Evidence from a contingent valuation study of the Dohrn Canyon in the Bay of Naples

It is increasingly recognized that restoration actions in marine environments are required in order to deal with continued habitat degradation and to support conservation strategies. Restoration success is judged on the ecological outcomes but with limited resources the magnitude of the societal benefits achieved is an important consideration for policy makers. This study demonstrates how the potential non-market benefit value of a deep-sea restoration project might be assessed. The contingent valuation method is employed to elicit the Italian population's willingness to pay for the restoration of the Dohrn deep-sea canyon in the Bay of Naples. Sample selection models that control for the impact of protest zero bidders on benefit value estimation are compared to more traditional modelling approaches. The results indicate a positive willingness to pay for the restoration of the canyon ecosystem and the importance of accounting for protest zero bidders in contingent valuation studies, especially when the environmental good is unfamiliar to respondents. The paper argues that the inclusion of non-market benefit values is particularly important in assessing the potential for marine ecosystem restoration if a true reflection of the value to society of restoring such habitats are to be correctly captured.

Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) for Marine Ecosystem Restoration

Assessing, implementing and monitoring ecosystem restoration can be a labor intensive process, often short term (< 3 years), and potentially destructive to the habitat. Advances in remote sensing technology are generating rapid, non-destructive methods for siting, executing and monitoring restoration efforts, particularly in fragile marine environments. Unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, are a highly flexible method for accessing and remote sensing ecosystems with on-demand capabilities, greater resolution than sensors from satellites and occupied aircraft, and the ability to cover large areas quickly. With the variety of platforms and payloads available, UASs are providing a suite of tools for conservation practitioners to properly plan marine ecosystem restoration projects and evaluate their success. Both conventional and specialized sensors coupled with image processing techniques can be used to gauge impact to and recovery of entire ecological communities. For example, high-resolution, multispectral imaging allows for discernment of population changes across trophic levels, concurrent with the discrimination of species (including rare) across a landscape, and detection of vegetation stress. Structure from Motion photogrammetric processing provides centimeter-scale three-dimensional models of habitat structure to measure ecologically significant aspects like rugosity and assess their change through time. Water quality around a broad impacted area can be remotely monitored via a number of payloads before and after restoration. Additionally, specially designed payloads can be used to manually disperse seeds or materials for restoration applications without disturbing the habitat. UASs have increasing potential to reduce the costs (both time and money) associated with restoration efforts, making site assessment and long-term, broad-scale monitoring more achievable. Here we present a review of the applications of UASs in marine ecosystem restoration with an overview of the special considerations of using this technology in the marine environment.

Spatial Planning Principles for Marine Ecosystem Restoration

Coastal and marine ecosystems characterized by foundation species, such as seagrass beds, coral reefs, salt marshes, oyster reefs, and mangrove swamps, are rich in biodiversity and support a range of ecosystem services including coastal protection, food provisioning, water filtration, carbon sequestration, recreational opportunities, cultural value, among others. These ecosystems have experienced degradation and a net loss of total area in regions around the world due to a host of anthropogenic stressors, resulting in declines in the associated ecosystem services they provide. Because of the extensive degradation in many locations, increasing attention has turned to ecosystem restoration of these marine habitats. Restoration techniques for marine and coastal ecosystems are generally more expensive when compared to terrestrial ecosystems, highlighting the importance of carefully selecting locations that will provide the largest return on investment, not only for the probability and magnitude of restoration success, but also for ecosystem service outcomes. However, site selection and spatial planning for marine ecosystem restoration receive relatively little attention in the scientific literature, suggesting a need to better articulate how spatial planning tools could be incorporated into restoration practice. To the degree that site selection has been formally evaluated, the criteria have tended to focus more on environmental conditions beneficial for the restored habitat, and less on ecosystem service outcomes once the habitat is restored, which may vary considerably from site to site, or with more complex landscape dynamics and spatial patterns of connectivity. Here we 1) review the recent scientific literature for several marine ecosystems (seagrass beds, salt marshes, and mangrove swamps) to investigate the degree to which site selection or spatial planning principles are applied for marine ecosystem restoration at different spatial scales, 2) provide a conceptual overview of the rationale for applying spatial planning principles to marine ecosystem restoration, and 3) highlight promising analytical approaches from the marine spatial planning and conservation planning literatures that could help improve restoration outcomes. We argue that strategic site selection and spatial planning for marine ecosystem restoration, particularly applied at larger spatial scales and accounting for ecosystem service outcomes, can help support more effective restoration.

Challenges and opportunities of implementing the marine and coastal areas for indigenous peoples policy in Chile

The Marine and Coastal Areas for Indigenous Peoples (MCAIP) policy in Chile has the potential for scaling up marine biodiversity and cultural conservation through assigning access and management rights over marine areas to indigenous communities. While the policy is dominated by state institutions and frames management under western science protocols, it offers the opportunity to control unregulated activities, restore marine ecosystems and develop management plans which include traditional knowledge. In this article we review the policy implementation process and highlight current opportunities and threats, which if left unattended could jeopardize the policy. Currently, 91 areas have been requested by indigenous communities and are at various stages of the application and implementation process. Current spatial scale status at different levels of application procedure represent nearly 31.959 km2 of marine coastal zones. Key challenges of policy implementation relate to differences in worldviews between Indigenous communities and state institutions. Problems also relate to time frames and financial resources for the implementation of the policy and conflict which arises from concerns from non-indigenous artisanal fishers, who have legal access rights to fisheries, under the narrative that new access rights would limit existing livelihood alternatives and increase fishing pressure with the consequent diminishment of resources. Ensuring a legitimate implementation of the policy is a key starting point to enable further recognition of indigenous communities’ rights for self-determination in Chile.

The 3D Reconstruction of Pocillopora Colony Sheds Light on the Growth Pattern of This Reef-Building Coral

SummaryCoral reefs are formed by living polyps, and understanding the dynamic processes behind the reefs is crucial for marine ecosystem restoration. However, these processes are still unclear because the growth and budding patterns of living polyps are poorly known. Here, we investigate the growth pattern of a widely distributed reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis from Xisha Islands using high-resolution computed tomography. We examine the corallites in a single corallum of the species in detail, to interpret the budding, growth, and distribution pattern of the polyps, to reconstruct the growth pattern of this important reef-building species. Our results reveal a three-stage growth pattern of P. damicornis, based on different growth bundles that are secreted by polyps along the dichotomous growth axes of the corallites. Our work on the three-dimensional reconstruction of calice and inter-septal space structure of P. damicornis sheds lights on its reef-building processes by reconstructing the budding patterns.

Comparison of catch per unit effort of invasive European green crab (Carcinus maenas) across four bait types

Restoration of marine ecosystems impacted by invasive, non-native species usually depends on reducing the density of the invader through a targeted cull. The effectiveness of these programs depends, in part, on using a selective fishing gear that maximizes catch per unit effort (CPUE). In this study, we examine how using different types of bait affects CPUE of European green crab (Carcinus maenas), an invasive species impacting ecosystems on the south and west coasts of the island of Newfoundland, Canada. We compared both CPUE and mean body size of green crabs caught in Fukui traps baited with Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), short-fin squid (Illex illecebrosus), blue mussels (Mytilus edulis), and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). We found that squid and cod produced substantially higher catch rates, and also caught larger-bodied crabs. Despite green crabs being generalist predators, our results show that bait choice affects capture efficiency, and thus managers should preface removal programs with controlled studies designed to identify locally-effective and ecologically-appropriate baits.

Dissipation Theory-Based Ecological Protection and Restoration Scheme Construction for Reclamation Projects and Adjacent Marine Ecosystems

According to the 2017 results of the Special Inspector of Sea Reclamation, a substantial number of idle reclamation zones existed in 11 provinces (cities) along the coast of China. To improve the protection level of coastal wetlands and strictly control reclamation activities, it is necessary to carry out ecological restoration of reclamation projects and adjacent marine ecosystems. The characteristics of Guanghai Bay and its reclamation project are typical in China’s coastal areas, making it an optimal representative site for this study. The dissipative structure and entropy theory was used to analyze ecological problems and environmental threats. The analytic hierarchy process was applied to determine the order of the negative entropy flow importance. The entropy increase and decrease mechanism was used to determine an ecological protection and restoration scheme for the reclamation, including the reclamation of wetland resource restoration, shoreline landscape restoration, environmental pollution control, and marine biological resource restoration. Finally, based on system logic, a typical ecological restoration system was constructed east of Guanghai Bay, with the mangrove wetland area as the model in the north and the artificial sandbeach recreation area as the focus in the south.

The Role of Indigenous Resurgence in Marine Conservation

Indigenous peoples’ efforts toward environmental conservation are indivisible from their cultural identity and their social and political organizations. Indigenous resurgence, including the reinvigoration and reestablishment of Indigenous ways of living, are linked to the management, restoration, and conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems around the world. However, there remains a significant gap in the recognition and support of Indigenous governance systems in international policy discussions regarding conservation work. As a way to address this gap, we offer an analysis of marine Indigenous community-led conservation initiatives from around the world that were recipients of the UNDP Equator Prize, framed by initial research on Indigenous-led conservation in British Columbia, Canada. We highlight specific Indigenous governance strategies undertaken by such communities that foster both marine resource conservation and stewardship. The strategies we identified included practicing Indigenous traditional resource management, protection of traditional territories, Indigenous-led actions of environmental conservation, and data collection and monitoring. We also identified networking and collaboration with non-Indigenous supporters, as was reinvestment into education and capacity-building within the community. We conclude with concrete policy suggestions drawn from these cases that can help strengthen the leadership and self-determination of Indigenous peoples on local resource and environmental issues, and aid in much broader conservation efforts globally.

International principles and standards for the practice of ecological restoration. Second edition

Ecological restoration, when implemented effectively and sustainably, contributes to protecting biodiversity; improving human health and wellbeing; increasing food and water security; delivering goods, services, and economic prosperity; and supporting climate change mitigation, resilience, and adaptation. It is a solutions-based approach that engages communities, scientists, policymakers, and land managers to repair ecological damage and rebuild a healthier relationship between people and the rest of nature. When combined with conservation and sustainable use, ecological restoration is the link needed to move local, regional, and global environmental conditions from a state of continued degradation, to one of net positive improvement. The second edition of the International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration (the Standards) presents a robust framework for restoration projects to achieve intended goals, while addressing challenges including effective design and implementation, accounting for complex ecosystem dynamics (especially in the context of climate change), and navigating trade-offs associated with land management priorities and decisions.

(Re)Framing ocean acidification in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Paris Agreement

ABSTRACTOcean acidification is most frequently framed by the scientific community as a concurrent threat to climate change, rather than an effect of it. This separation of the two phenomena has long been deemed as a way of garnering heightened policy attention for ocean acidification rather than having it bound up in the often contested politics of climate change. This effort, however, appears to have resulted in the inadvertent placing of ocean acidification outside of the mandate of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This has created a significant gap in the global governance of this issue with no multilateral agreement understood as having jurisdiction over the mitigation of rising ocean acidity. For these reasons this paper argues that an alternative framing of ocean acidification as an effect of climate change is warranted. This would include ocean acidification in the core obligations of the Convention, thereby filling the mitigation governance gap and avoiding perverse implementation outcomes. It is contended that interpreting the UNFCCC in this way is more consistent with its objective and purpose than the existing interpretations that place ocean acidification beyond the remit of the Convention.Key policy insightsOcean acidification is best understood as an effect of climate change in the context of the UNFCCC, and therefore is included in its obligations to combat climate change and its adverse effects.An obligation to address ocean acidification has implications for the way that the provisions of the Convention, particularly on mitigation, are implemented. Mitigation activities that exacerbate ocean acidification or lead to emission reduction pathways that do not prevent dangerous acidification should be deemed inconsistent with the Convention.Protection, conservation and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems should become a priority area for action within the UNFCCC.

The Protection of Species, Ecosystems and Biodiversity Under UNCLOS in Light of the South China Sea Arbitration: An Emergent Duty of Marine Ecosystem Restoration?

The Tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration referred to a number of additional international treaties in order to inform the general obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment in Article 192 of UNCLOS. This dynamic and systematic interpretative approach potentially opens the door to using a wide variety of instruments in order to inform our understanding of Part XII of UNCLOS. This paper begins by reviewing the interpretative methods used by the Tribunal, before applying it to the positive duty to maintain and improve the marine environment, which was identified by the Tribunal in their interpretation of Article 192. In particular, the paper considers how other international treaties and related instruments could be used to inform a duty to restore degraded marine ecosystems. It will also address the legal and practical challenges of adopting this strategy.

Human activities and resultant pressures on key European marine habitats: An analysis of mapped resources

Human activities exert a wide range of pressures on marine ecosystems, often resulting in the loss of species and degradation of habitats. If effective policies and management practices to restore past damage and reduce future impacts to the marine environment are to be developed, knowledge of the extent, duration and severity of activities and pressures is essential, yet often lacking. As part of the EU H2020 project “Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Changing European Seas”, this study uses an exhaustive review of published records, web resources, and grey literature to comprehensively assess the degree to which human activities and pressures are mapped within European seas. The results highlight a number of limitations and gaps, including: (a) limited geographic coverage at both the regional and sub-regional level; (b) insufficient spatial resolution and accuracy in recorded data for the planning of conservation and restoration actions; (c) a lack of access to the background data and metadata upon which maps are based, thus limiting the potential for synthesis of multiple data sources. Based on the findings, several recommendations for future marine research initiatives arise, most importantly the need for coordinated, geographically extended baseline assessments of the distribution and intensity of human activities and pressures, complying with high-level standardization regarding methodological approaches and the treatment of produced data.

Governing marine ecosystem restoration: the role of discourses and uncertainties

Governing marine environments has evolved from dominant interests in exploitation, allocation, conservation, and protection to restoration. Compared to terrestrial and freshwater environments, restoration of and in marine ecosystems presents a new mode of intervention with both technical and governance challenges. This paper aims to enhance understanding of the important factors at play in governing marine ecosystem restoration. Discourses of marine ecosystem restoration are an important factor which shape how the restoration activity is governed, as discourses structure how actors and coalitions define problems and their approaches to solutions. The article produces a conceptual model of the discourses of marine ecosystem restoration, built on two dimensions: (1) the degree of human intervention and (2) motivations for restoration. Together, these dimensions create four broad restoration discourses: “Putting Nature First,” “Bringing Nature Back,” “Helping Nature support Humans,” and “Building with Nature.” Moreover, marine ecosystem restoration is confronted with different forms of uncertainty, such as incomplete knowledge, unpredictability, and ambiguity, which must be managed by actors participating in restoration initiatives. The article's overall contribution is the synthesis of these components, which illuminates the specific governance challenges under various circumstances.

Experimental study on settlement and scour characteristics of artificial reef with different reinforcement type and soil type

An artificial reef has been actively installed to restore marine ecosystems and increase fish catching. The artificial reef which installed on soft ground loses its function due to the settlement and scour of seabed. This study performed a series of laboratory tests to investigate settlement and scour characteristics of seabed according to different reinforcement type, reinforced area and soil type. Two reinforcement types with different reinforced area were applied to reduce settlement and scour of ground: geogrid and geogrid-bamboo mat. Soil types of ground are clay, silt and sand deposits. A series of laboratory tests includes California bearing ratio test, large size settlement test, and two-dimensional wave channel test. The test results indicated that the reinforced artificial reef had less settlement and scour depth than the unreinforced artificial reef. Especially, the artificial reef reinforced with geogrid-bamboo mat had more improved stability than that with geogrid due to high bending stiffness of bamboo mat.

Species richness accelerates marine ecosystem restoration in the Coral Triangle.

Ecosystem restoration aims to restore biodiversity and valuable functions that have been degraded or lost. The Coral Triangle is a hotspot for marine biodiversity held in its coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and mangrove forests, all of which are in global decline. These coastal ecosystems support valuable fisheries and endangered species, protect shorelines, and are significant carbon stores, functions that have been degraded by coastal development, destructive fishing practices, and climate change. Ecosystem restoration is required to mitigate these damages and losses, but its practice is in its infancy in the region. Here we demonstrate that species diversity can set the trajectory of restoration. In a seagrass restoration experiment in the heart of the Coral Triangle (Sulawesi, Indonesia), plant survival and coverage increased with the number of species transplanted. Our results highlight the positive role biodiversity can play in ecosystem restoration and call for revision of the common restoration practice of establishing a single target species, particularly in regions having high biodiversity. Coastal ecosystems affect human well-being in many important ways, and restoration will become ever more important as conservation efforts cannot keep up with their loss.

Bubble Curtains: Herbivore Exclusion Devices for Ecology and Restoration of Marine Ecosystems?

Herbivorous fishes play a critical role in maintaining or disrupting the ecological resilience of many kelp forests, coral reefs and seagrass ecosystems, worldwide. The increasing rate and scale of benthic habitat loss under global change has magnified the importance of herbivores and highlights the need to study marine herbivory at ecologically relevant scales. Currently, underwater herbivore exclusions (or inclusions) have been restricted to small scale experimental plots, in large part due to the challenges of designing structures that can withstand the physical forces of waves and currents, without drastically altering the physical environment inside the exclusion area. We tested the ability of bubble curtains to deter herbivorous fishes from feeding on seaweeds as an alternative to the use of rigid exclusion cages. Kelps (Ecklonia radiata) were transplanted onto reefs with high browsing herbivore pressure into either unprotected plots, exclusion cages or plots protected by bubble curtains of 0.785 m2 and 3.14 m2. Remote underwater video was used to compare the behavioural response of fishes to kelps protected and unprotected by bubble curtains. Kelp biomass loss was significantly lower inside the bubble curtains compared to unprotected kelps and did not differ from kelp loss rates in traditional exclusion cages. Consistent with this finding, no herbivorous fishes were observed entering into the bubble curtain at any point during the experiment. In contrast, fish bite rates on unprotected kelps were 1621 ± 702 bites hr-1 (mean ± SE). Our study provides initial evidence that bubble curtains can exclude herbivorous fishes, paving the way for future studies to examine their application at larger spatial and temporal scales, beyond what has been previously feasible using traditional exclusion cages.

Marine ecosystem restoration and biodiversity offset

The mitigation hierarchy is increasingly used in environmental policy as a way of reconciling economic development and biodiversity conservation. The principle of the mitigation hierarchy is to avoid, reduce and offset the environmental impacts arising from development projects by providing ecological gains through conservation or restoration measures. Most of the research on its implementation to date has focused on terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the relevance of marine ecosystem restoration in meeting offset requirements. Stemming from a brief literature review on existing restoration techniques for marine ecosystems (e.g. coral reefs, seagrass meadows, macroalgae beds, ‘green’ marine construction, and marine sediment remediation) and our experience on Environmental Impact Assessments undertaken in mainland France and in its oversea territories, we discuss the main criteria ensuring a suitable use of ‘restoration’ practice regarding offset requirements. We then clarify the different levels of equivalence that should be met when designing offsets relying on ‘restoration’ techniques. This study aims to clarify to what extent the environmental impacts of economic activity on marine biodiversity can be offset through marine ecosystem restoration.

Efficiency of the Chinese Ocean Economy within a Governance Framework Using an Improved Malmquist-Luenberger Index

Ding, L.; Zheng, H., and Zhao, X., 2018. Efficiency of the Chinese ocean economy within a governance framework using an improved Malmquist-Luenberger index.This study provides a novel idea to assess the ocean economic efficiency in a governance framework. Using an improved Malmquist-Luenberger index method, this study estimates and decomposes the total factor environment-energy-governance performance of 11 coastal regions over 2002–2014. Furthermore, it adopts the Moran's I method to investigate the spatial structure among these coastal regions. The results show that China's ocean economy performs well on the economic front, while the introduction of governance behavior slows down the total factor environment-energy-governance performance growth between 2010 and 2014. This indicates the 12th Five-year Plan (FYP) about restoration of marine ecosystems and protection of marine reclamation activities has made certain achievements. Moreover, technical progress is the dominating contributor to ameliorate the total factor environment-energy-governance performance. The value of Moran's I shows that there is a significant spatial clustering effect on total factor environment-energy-governance performance. However, the governance policies for ocean economy have resulted in an unstable spatial structure, since there are many uncertain treatment effects, and there is excessive competition in local markets. In the future, both the state and local governments should insist on internalizing the cost of pollution treatment through technology improvement and market reform of marine resources.

Is a Global Quantitative Assessment of Shark Populations Warranted?

A recent global quantitative assessment suggested that “the majority of shark populations will continue to decline under current fishing pressure” (Worm et al. 2013:198) and concluded that global shark mortality needs to be drastically reduced to rebuild populations and restore marine ecosystems with functional top predators. The high exploitation rates inferred by the authors are alarming and, if accurate, justify the increased concern of the global conservation community. To assess the generality and accuracy of this work, I critically evaluate the assumptions and validity of the extrapolations made by the authors. This global study provided a valuable overall perspective on the highly relevant topic of shark conservation; however, the generalizations made carry substantial uncertainty that was not accounted for. My review aims to place the conclusions drawn by the authors into perspective, highlighting numerous factors that, having been considered, would have significantly affected their claims.

Key food web technique and evaluation of nearshore marine ecological restoration of Bohai Bay

An ecological key food web restoration technique is proposed to restore the degraded nearshore marine ecosystem near the Bohai Bay, in which the key species are screened and the local key food web is built according to the trophic relationships of screening species to reference ecosystem. The trophic relationships of the key food web are quantified by the biomass of the screening species of each trophic level and the restoration input biomass is fixed. The restoration effect of the proposed technique on the restored ecosystem is predicted by the maturity and health with the Ecopath model and the ocean health index. The proposed technique is applied to the First Harbor of Tianjin Lin Gang Economic Zone. The calculated restoration effect shows that the restored (target) ecosystem is more mature, faster ecological balanced and healthier than the existing ecosystem. The ocean health index of the target ecosystem is 86.3, which is much higher than 51.8 of the existing ecosystem. It is concluded that the proposed technique is effective and applicable in the nearshore marine ecosystem restoration.