Marine reserves: size and age do matter

doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01166.x

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Wiley InterScience

Ecology Letters

Volume 11 Issue 5, Pages 481 - 489

Published Online: 24 Feb 2008

Published on behalf of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Marine reserves: size and age do matter

Joachim Claudet ^1,2*, Craig W. Osenberg ³ , Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi ⁴ , Paolo Domenici ^5,6 , José-Antonio García-Charton ⁷ , Ángel Pérez-Ruzafa ⁷ , Fabio Badalamenti ⁸ , Just Bayle-Sempere ⁹ , Alberto Brito ¹⁰ , Fabio Bulleri ⁴ , Jean-Michel Culioli ¹¹ , Mark Dimech ¹² , Jesús M. Falcón ¹⁰ , Ivan Guala ⁵ , Marco Milazzo ¹³ , Julio Sánchez-Meca ⁷ , Paul J. Somerfield ¹⁴ , Ben Stobart ¹⁵ , Frédéric Vandeperre ¹⁶ , Carlos Valle ⁹ and Serge Planes ¹

¹ Centre of Tropical and Mediterranean Biology and Ecology, EPHE-CNRS UMR 5244, University of Perpignan, 66860 Perpignan cedex, France
² Laboratory of Zoology and Marine Biology, DiSTeBA, University of Salento, I-73100 Lecce, Italy
³ Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-8525, USA
⁴ Dipartimento di Biologia, University of Pisa, Via A. Volta 6, I-56126 Pisa, Italy
⁵ Fondazione IMC, International Marine Centre, Onlus, Loc. Sa Mardini, 09072 Torregrande (Oristano), Italy
⁶ IAMC – CNR Istituto Ambiente Marino Costiero Sezione di Oristano, Loc. Sa Mardini, 09072 Torregrande (Oristano), Italy
⁷ Deptartamento Ecología e Hidrología, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain
⁸ Laboratorio di Ecologia, CNR-IAMC, Via G. da Verrazzano 17, 91014 Castellammare del Golfo (TP), Italy
⁹ Marine Biology Unit, Department of Marine Sciences and Applied Biology, University of Alicante, PO Box 99, E-03080, Alicante, Spain
¹⁰ Grupo de Investigación BIOECOMAC, Departamento de Biología Animal (Ciencias Marinas), Facultad de Biología, Universidad de la Laguna, c/ Francisco Sánchez s/n, 38206 La Laguna, Canary Islands
¹¹ Réserve Naturelle des Bouches de Bonifacio, Office Environnement de la Corse, La Rondinara, 20137 Porto-Vecchio, France
¹² Department of Biology, University of Malta, Msida MSD S06, Malta
¹³ Dipartimento di Ecologia, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via Archirafi 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy
¹⁴ Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK
¹⁵ IEO, Centro Oceanogràfico de Baleares, Muelle de Poniente s/n, Aptdo. 291, 07015 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
¹⁶ Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of the Azores, PT-9901-862 Horta (Azores), Portugal

Correspondence to *E-mail: joachim.claudet@gmail.com

KEYWORDS

Asymmetrical analysis of variance • coastal marine ecosystems • commercial species • fish assemblages • heterogeneity • marine protected area • marine reserve age • marine reserve design • marine reserve network • marine reserve size • weighted meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Marine reserves are widely used throughout the world to prevent overfishing and conserve biodiversity, but uncertainties remain about their optimal design. The effects of marine reserves are heterogeneous. Despite theoretical findings, empirical studies have previously found no effect of size on the effectiveness of marine reserves in protecting commercial fish stocks. Using 58 datasets from 19 European marine reserves, we show that reserve size and age do matter: Increasing the size of the no-take zone increases the density of commercial fishes within the reserve compared with outside; whereas the size of the buffer zone has the opposite effect. Moreover, positive effects of marine reserve on commercial fish species and species richness are linked to the time elapsed since the establishment of the protection scheme. The reserve size-dependency of the response to protection has strong implications for the spatial management of coastal areas because marine reserves are used for spatial zoning.

Editor, John Fryxell Manuscript received 6 November 2007 First decision made 11 December 2007 Accepted 17 January 2008

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01166.x About DOI