The various ecological and economic benefits of tropical marine seascapes and their biodiversity are under threat by a variety of sources, including human development and climate change. Globally, mangroves are being cleared at a quicker rate than tropical rainforests, and tropical fisheries are significantly over-fished. Overfishing of species that graze on algae and seaweeds on the reef can disrupt the ecosystem’s overall balance and prevent new corals from growing. Overfishing also removes the adult grazing fish that are most attractive to larger predator fish, and increases predation on juvenile fish before they’ve had a chance to breed.
Coral bleaching events—when corals lose the symbiotic algae within their tissues that provide them with much of their energy through photosynthesis-- have increased in recent years due to global climate change and warming water temperatures. Scientists also acknowledge that the limestone skeletons of corals will become weakened as seas become more acidic, taking up more carbon dioxide as atmospheric concentration increases. Without healthy coral reefs, tropical marine seascapes can’t maintain their wide varieties of species—and all the benefits they confer to surrounding communities.
One of the key tools for reducing the effects of these and other threats to tropical seascapes is the establishment of marine reserves. These areas, where tourism is actively encouraged but fishing and other destructive activities are banned, can increase the health of many tropical habitats. Reefs in protected areas therefore tend to be more biodiverse and more resilient—so while such reserves cannot directly prevent the effects of climate change (or hurricanes), they can give reefs and the species that depend on them better odds for recovery, after major bleaching events or storms, for example.
For marine reserves to be successful, they must be well designed. If marine reserves are placed in areas with naturally poor-quality habitat there will be very few benefits to wildlife. A number of guidelines are available to coastal managers to help them site their marine reserves. Central among these is to try and include sea grass, mangrove, and coral reef habitats in reserves because of the importance of the interactions between them. However, most tropical seascapes include many types of mangrove and coral reef areas, with differing characteristics and qualities. Which types, and how many, should be included in a marine reserve or a network of reserves? How close to each other do they need to be? What species do they need to shelter? Answering these and related questions is critically important throughout The Bahamas, the wider Caribbean, and indeed anywhere coral reefs exist.
Meet the Scientists
Dr. Alastair Harborne
NERC Independent Research Fellow
University of Exeter, UK
Dr. Harborne is a coral reef ecologist with wide ranging interests in fish and coral ecology and the overarching aim to use ecological insights to aid biodiversity conservation. His key research interest concerns the processes affecting the abundance of reef fishes on coral reefs, and he also studies the landscape ecology of reefs and the design and effects of marine reserves. He’s worked on coral reef ecosystems for nearly ten years, and holds a PhD from The University of Exeter (UK) and a BSc from Southampton University (UK). He is a member of the Ecology and Conservation Biology research group at Exeter, the UK coordinator for Reef Check since 1997, and a founding member of the Reef Conservation-UK committee. A frequently published author and co-author in scientific media, he has also given multiple interviews for mass media outlets like the BBC on coral conversation issues. He is a certified PADI Rescue Diver and Emergency First Responder with more than 550 logged dives in the Caribbean, South East Asia, South Pacific and the Red Sea, and has worked with volunteers for a non-governmental organization in Central America for many years.
Dr. Rod Wilson
Associate Professor in Integrative Animal Physiology
University of Exeter, UK
Dr. Wilson is a comparative physiologist and his research uses multi-disciplinary approaches to provide a broader understanding of homeostasis (the ways an organism regulates itself to maintain a fairly stable biological condition) in animals, with a particular focus upon fish. This includes studies of how anthropogenic (human-caused) and natural environmental changes affect fish physiology and behavior, as well as projects on the welfare and environmental enrichment of laboratory fish. Dr. Wilson is a member of the Ecotoxicology and Ecophysiology research group at Exeter, and holds both a BSc and a PhD from the University of Birmingham (UK). He is the Assistant Editor for the Journal of Fish Biology and Co-Editor for Serial Advances in Experimental Biology.
Dr. Andrew Gill
Senior Lecturer in Aquatic Ecology
Cranfield University, UK
Dr. Andrew Gill started his career in 1989 as a NERC-funded research assistant at Leicester University. Following his Ph.D., he worked for three years with a coral reef conservation organization on field projects, mapping reef communities and providing scientific advice and support for the development of marine protected areas in Belize and the Philippines. On returning to the UK in 1996, Andrew took up a temporary lectureship in fish and fisheries biology at Liverpool University, and in 1999 set up a new postgraduate course in restoration ecology and was appointed course director. In late 2003, Andrew moved to Cranfield to take up his current position as lecturer in applied aspects of aquatic ecology. Andrew manages the environmental water management option on the water management postgraduate program. Andrew graduated in zoology (marine and fisheries biology) from Aberdeen University in Scotland, and subsequently studied for his Ph.D. in fish behavioral ecology at Leicester University. He is a member of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles, a member of the Society for Ecological Restoration International, a member and scientific advisor to the Shark Trust, a member of British Ecological Society and a BES representative, and a member and visiting fellow of the Marine Biological Association UK. He is currently the marine and aquatic editor for the international journal Biological Conservation.
Dr. Katherine Sloman
University of the West of Scotland, UK
Dr. Katherine Sloman graduated from the University of Wales, Swansea, in 1997, and then received her Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow in 2000 following work on stress responses in salmon. She then undertook a series of postdoctoral research projects in fish physiology before becoming a lecturer and then senior lecturer at the University of Plymouth (UK). In 2010 she moved to the University of the West of Scotland to continue her work on ecotoxicology and environmental physiology. Katherine is the author of numerous research papers and book chapters, and is a member of organizations including the Society of Experimental Biology, the Fisheries Society of the British Isles, and the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. She has also taught extensively to undergraduates and supervised many post-graduate students.