Jessica and colleagues from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, and the French Research Institute for Development recently published a paper in PLoS ONE. The study looked at different factors related to data resolution and spatial heterogeneity involved in the process of prioritising areas for marine conservation, and how … Continue reading New Paper: Sympathy for the devil: Detailing the effects of planning-unit size, thematic resolution of reef classes, and socioeconomic costs on spatial priorities for marine conservation
Marine reserve design infographic in Bahasa Indonesia
Last week I wrote about our new paper in Journal of Applied Ecology, Using reef fish movement to inform marine reserve design. My co-authors and I really excited to see the approach we demonstrate in the paper applied elsewhere, so I was thrilled to be contacted by Jensi Sartin of Reef Check Foundation Indonesia (and JCU alumnus) who asked … Continue reading Marine reserve design infographic in Bahasa Indonesia
New Paper: Using reef fish movement to inform marine reserve design
In this post Rebecca Weeks discusses her recent paper ‘Using reef fish movement to inform marine reserve design‘. Reproduced from the Journal of Applied Ecology blog. Photo above: Luiz Rocha The majority of marine protected areas in Pohnpei (Federated States of Micronesia) are too small to protect the species that people care about most. But when livelihoods depend … Continue reading New Paper: Using reef fish movement to inform marine reserve design
Are spatially variable costs more of a hindrance to conservation prioritisations at regional, coarse-resolution scales?
Regional-scale conservation planning considering ecosystems as a whole is important in allowing us to capture emergent system properties, such as complementarity, connectivity, and large-scale ecological processes and threats. Consequently, there has been an increase in the number of regional-scale prioritisation assessments in the conservation planning literature. However, conservation planning cannot stop at regional scales. Planning … Continue reading Are spatially variable costs more of a hindrance to conservation prioritisations at regional, coarse-resolution scales?
Help identify research priorities for Oceania
As conservation scientists, most of us hope to conduct research that will be useful to practitioners, and will ultimately "make a difference". However, it remains unclear whether the areas towards which we are investing our research efforts will actually produce the information that conservation practitioners and natural resource managers need. Understanding the information that decision-makers … Continue reading Help identify research priorities for Oceania
Protected area network planning in Pohnpei
Last week I was in Pohnpei, Micronesia, to help the wonderful folks at The Nature Conservancy and the Conservation Society of Pohnpei to facilitate a state-wide protected area network planning workshop (Pohnpei is one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia). Previous conservation planning initiatives have produced impressive results on paper, but have … Continue reading Protected area network planning in Pohnpei