Marine Biodiversity and the

Health of the Oceans

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. Dr. Paul Snelgrove

University Research Professor

Director, Canadian Health Oceans Network

Memorial University, Newfoundland Canada

The Challenge – Us! (7.5 billion)P.

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DFO

Mora et al. 2013

lofty & often fuzzy objectives

specific objectives & targets

demonstrable economic benefits

Scientists & conservationists want

Managers want

Other stakeholders want

“Conserve biodiversity”What is “baseline”?

historical?

seasonal?

Increased survival of key species

Increased egg production

“Healthy” Oceans

“Healthy” Oceans

The devil is in the details.

• Sustain biodiversity

• Enhance fisheries

• Conserve productivity & function

• Protect (or Restore) habitat

• Recover endangered species

…but relative to what?

How do we measure success (or failure)?

“Healthy” Oceans – Challenge 1

“Healthy” Oceans – Challenge 2

x

x x x xx

xx

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• Environmental impact studies

• Marine Strategy Framework Directive

• Fisheries reference points

• Conservation (and restoration) targets

Indicators

“Healthy” Oceans

• Individual species

• Habitats

• Ecosystems

What can WE do?

• Work to minimize impacts

Sustainable quotas

Minimize gear impacts

Minimize pollution levels

(sewage, bilge, etc.)

• Marine Protected Areas (all types)

“Healthy” Oceans

• Appropriate (defensible) indicators of healthy oceans

Marine Protected Areas as a Management Tool

MPA (all types) 2.0%, Canada ~1 %

(well behind China, Colombia, Cuba….)

MPAs as the next application of DEVOTES tools

• Charismatic / emblematic species

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• Special habitat (productive, pristine, diverse, structural)

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• Strategic species

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• Representative habitat

All good!!!!

What to Protect?

Canada promises 10% (!!!) by 2020

Single Species Focus

• Protect source populations

• Protect all life history stages

• Protect critical habitat

R. G

rego

ry

• Protect spawners

Imperfect knowledge

What to Protect?

Sustaining Humans - Protect functions & services

• Food (and related jobs)

• Gas regulation (O2, CO2)

• Climate control

• Waste treatment

• Energy & minerals

• Nutrients

• Clothing

• Habitats

• Genetic resources & medicines

• Culture and inspiration

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Links to biodiversity?

What to Protect?

Mora et al. 2008

Global fishes

16,475 known, 4000 more to go!

After Ramirez-Llodra et al. 2010

Year

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Cum

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of

new

specie

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500

600

700

800

900

Deep-sea nematodes

100,000+ more to go?

Marine Biodiversity - What We Don’t Know

Marine Biodiversity - What We Don’t Know

Poulsen et al. (2016) PLoS One

A second look at preservation problems doubles known species of barrelfish

• Protect biodiversity by protecting hotspots

• Protect biodiversity by protecting habitat

2 million in total?

9% known

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Land

Sea

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

245,000 known

marine species

Knowns & Unknowns

What about

microbes?

Marine Biodiversity - What We Don’t Know

• Better platforms

• Digital imaging

• Genetics

• Better sensors

• Computational power

Better tools to meet the challenges

Marine Biodiversity - What We Could Know

R. D

ano

varo

Marine Biodiversity – Redefining Textbooks

New phylum 1983

New metabolic processes? (2010)

Marine Biodiversity – Redefining Textbooks

A New Tree of Life

Bacteria

Eucarya

Archaea

rare

Woese & Fox 1977

20% of

marine

microbes

V. T

unnic

liffe

Late 1970s

Redefining how Earth works

Marine Biodiversity - New Habitats

K.

Junip

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Marine Biodiversity - New Habitats

• Biodiversity hotspots

• Habitat, and thus biodiversity

• Spawners

• Source populations

• All life history stages

Sustaining Humans

• Functions and services

Unknown

Known

Protect, through MPAs and other strategies…

What to Protect?

Conservation strategies for

Canada’s changing oceans Networks of collaboration for

effective networks of MPAs

10% by 2020 – Turning Challenges Into Solutions

Canadian Healthy Oceans Network

2008-2020

Chih-Lin Wei (P Snelgrove, P Lawton) – Memorial University

Benefits: Cost effective remote “monitoring”, potential nowcast /

forecast of seafloor conditions. Free “R” package available!

General Approach

• Photosynthesis drives seafloor biomass

• How to scale up “snapshots” from

benthic surveys?

• Use satellite data and best space-time

predictions to match benthic empirical

data

• Interpolate spatially, extrapolate

temporally

Challenges – Incomplete Information

satellite data human impacts on seafloor (e.g. oil spill)

Rénald Belley (& P Snelgrove) – Memorial University

Benefits: Better understanding of role of biodiversity in healthy ocean

ecosystems AND indicators of ecosystem health.

Challenges – Predictors of Function

Strong spatial variation in parameters

complicates global models.

General Approach:

Measured respiration & nutrient

fluxes from contrasting sediments.

Does biodiversity influence rates

of carbon and nutrient recycling?

Major Findings:

Environment and functional groups

equally influence nutrient efflux.

Challenges – Scales of Dispersal

Melanie Shapiera (& R Gregory, P Snelgrove) – Memorial University

Benefits: These connectivity estimates can inform management on

cod nursery areas in Newfoundland and spatial planning.

Acoustic telemetry tracking Major Findings

• Dichotomy between “residents” and

“dispersers”

• Weak site fidelity in dispersers

• Movements on km+ scale!

• Age 1 cod travel farther than

expected

• Single and reciprocal transplants

between 2 source coves

Shapiera et al.

(2014) MEPS

Dustin Schornagel (& R Gregory, P Snelgrove) – Memorial University

Benefits: Path-based estimate of spatial use (vs. point-based) better

identifies movement corridors from high-frequency tracking data.

Kernel

Density

Dynamic

Brownian

Bridge

59%Kelp

7%Kelp

= Avoidance

= Selection

Sonic tags used

to track juvenile

cod over a year

Movement

patterns

overlayed

on habitat

map

Acoustic Telemetry

Challenges – Habitat as Predictor

General Approach Major Findings

Use acoustic tags to test whether

“golden cod” movement explains

declining numbers post MPA .

Short, seasonal excursions outside the MPA likely result in bycatch loss.

Benefits: Knowledge of cod movement aided adaptive management of

fishing season that should reduce bycatch and improve MPA efficacy.

Morris et al. 2014

Can J Fish Aquat Sci

Challenges – Adaptability

Indicators of…

The Common Thread

Abundance

Biomass

Trends

Diversity

Growth

Productivity

Diversity

Habitat

Connectivity

Function• From fuzzy to quantitative

• From desirable to defensible

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• Cooperation, dialogue, and action

• MPA and individual adaptability

• Multiple MPA strategies and objectives

• Networks of MPAs

• Postage stamps won’t do

• Ocean outposts (alone) won’t do

• Clear objectives, monitoring, and research

Not a silver bullet, but an ESSENTIAL tool

Turning Challenges Into Solutions

After R. Stanley et al. (in prep)

Immediate Short-term Medium-term Long-term

Cessation

of activity

Damage stops

Mortality

reduced

Longer lived

individuals

Better

habitat

Better spawning

habitat

Mean age &

size increase

Spawning & total

biomass increase

Number & density

increase

Biodiversity increases

Ecological function enhanced

Resilient communities

Habitat complexity increases

Other economic opportunities

Insurance

Enhanced

recruitment

The Payoff

Marine

Protected Area

Adjacent

AreasSpillover benefits (e.g. larval &

adult export, stability

Improved age &

size structure

Reduced loss of

genetic diversity

Increased

reproductive output

4th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity

Montreal (Canada) ● May 20-23 2018

Detailed information, registration, call for abstracts and sponsor/exhibitor opportunities will be available on the WCMB web site in December 2016.

www.wcmb2018.org

Connectingwith the

Living Ocean