Two new papers, from Rafael’s PhD thesis, were published this year and are now online at Ecography and PLoS ONE.
The first is a new attempt to incorporate multi species connectivity into conservation planning for coral reefs. By using a combination of remote sensing techniques and biophysical modelling tools, the paper aims to provide an improved proxy for biological persistence and design marine reserves that are well connected.
Magris, R. A., Treml, E. A., Pressey, R. L. and Weeks, R. (2015), Integrating multiple species connectivity and habitat quality into conservation planning for coral reefs. Ecography. doi: 10.1111/ecog.01507
The second one provides an approach for conservation planning dealing with dynamic climate-warming disturbances. By combining historical and future sea-surface-temperature data, the paper identifies different types of thermal refugia, and shows how we could delineate conservation strategies for threats that are unstoppable. The paper is open access and available here.
Magris RA, Heron SF, Pressey RL (2015) Conservation Planning for Coral Reefs Accounting for Climate Warming Disturbances. PLoS ONE 10(11): e0140828. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140828
Both papers focused on Brazilian coral reefs, a conservation priority in the Atlantic Ocean but facing a lack of applied conservation studies. We hope these newly published studies can progress ongoing efforts to prioritise areas for conservation in the future.
