Article detail · 2013
Ecoregion Based Conservation Planning in the Mediterranean Dealing with Large Scale Heterogeneity
- Year
- 2013
- Type
- article
Data source split
- YÖKSİS YÖKSİS article record
- YÖKSİS venue PLoS ONE
- Catalog match (ISSN) PLOS ONE
- OpenAlex OpenAlex enrichment (abstract, citations, topics)
Abstract
OpenAlex · English
Spatial priorities for the conservation of three key Mediterranean habitats, i.e. seagrass Posidonia oceanica meadows, coralligenous formations, and marine caves, were determined through a systematic planning approach. Available information on the distribution of these habitats across the entire Mediterranean Sea was compiled to produce basin-scale distribution maps. Conservation targets for each habitat type were set according to European Union guidelines. Surrogates were used to estimate the spatial variation of opportunity cost for commercial, non-commercial fishing, and aquaculture. Marxan conservation planning software was used to evaluate the comparative utility of two planning scenarios: (a) a whole-basin scenario, referring to selection of priority areas across the whole Mediterranean Sea, and (b) an ecoregional scenario, in which priority areas were selected within eight predefined ecoregions. Although both scenarios required approximately the same total area to be protected in order to achieve conservation targets, the opportunity cost differed between them. The whole-basin scenario yielded a lower opportunity cost, but the Alboran Sea ecoregion was not represented and priority areas were predominantly located in the Ionian, Aegean, and Adriatic Seas. In comparison, the ecoregional scenario resulted in a higher representation of ecoregions and a more even distribution of priority areas, albeit with a higher opportunity cost. We suggest that planning at the ecoregional level ensures better representativeness of the selected conservation features and adequate protection of species, functional, and genetic diversity across the basin. While there are several initiatives that identify priority areas in the Mediterranean Sea, our approach is novel as it combines three issues: (a) it is based on the distribution of habitats and not species, which was rarely the case in previous efforts, (b) it considers spatial variability of cost throughout this socioeconomically heterogeneous basin, and (c) it adopts ecoregions as the most appropriate level for large-scale planning.
Topics
Citations
OpenAlex cited_by_count. Not a WoS or Scopus citation count; those sources have no separate column here.
196 citations
OpenAlex cited_by_count (cache / database)
12 publications in the local catalog that cite this work (OpenAlex reference match; not the full global list).
- Marine conservation challenges in an era of economic crisis and geopolitical instability The case of the Mediterranean Sea 2015
- Biodiversity data requirements for systematic conservation planning in the Mediterranean Sea 2014
- Coralligenous assemblages along their geographicaldistribution: Testing of concepts and implicationsfor management 2020
- CIGESMED for divers Establishing a citizen science initiative for the mapping and monitoring of coralligenous assemblages in the Mediterranean Sea 2016
- CIGESMED for divers: Establishing a citizen science initiative for the mapping and monitoring of coralligenous assemblages in the Mediterranean Sea 2016
- Seasonality and phenology of an epiphytic calcareous red alga, Hydrolithon boreale, on the leaves of Posidonia oceanica (L) Delile in the Turkish water 2023
- Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) Know No Geopolitical Borders—An Update of NIS in the Aegean Sea 2025
- Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) Know No Geopolitical Borders—An Update of NIS in the Aegean Sea 2025
- Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) Know No Geopolitical Borders—An Update of NIS in the Aegean Sea 2024
- Macrozoobenthic invertebrates in three submarine caves of the Aegean Sea: Preliminary results 2019