Connectivity of Marine Protected Areas and Its Relation with Total Kinetic Energy.

The East Continental Shelf (ECS) of Brazil is a hotspot of endemism and biodiversity of reef biota in the South Atlantic, hosting a number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Connectivity of MPAs through larval dispersal influences recruitment, population dynamics, genetic structure and biogeography i...

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Main Authors: Andressa D'Agostini, Douglas Francisco Marcolino Gherardi, Luciano Ponzi Pezzi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0139601&type=printable
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author Andressa D'Agostini
Douglas Francisco Marcolino Gherardi
Luciano Ponzi Pezzi
author_facet Andressa D'Agostini
Douglas Francisco Marcolino Gherardi
Luciano Ponzi Pezzi
author_sort Andressa D'Agostini
collection DOAJ
description The East Continental Shelf (ECS) of Brazil is a hotspot of endemism and biodiversity of reef biota in the South Atlantic, hosting a number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Connectivity of MPAs through larval dispersal influences recruitment, population dynamics, genetic structure and biogeography in coral reef ecosystems. Connectivity of protected reef ecosystem in the ECS was investigated with a hydrodynamic model (ROMS) forcing an Individual Based Model (IBM-Ichthyop), and used groupers (genus Mycteroperca) as functional group. The hydrodynamic output from ROMS was compared with satellite data and showed good agreement with observed surface fields. Eggs were released, in IBM experiments, from April to September along six years (2002-2007) in five MPAs along the ECS. Intrannual variability in recruitment and self-recruitment of grouper larvae was observed, as well as a negative correlation of these population parameters with total Kinetic Energy (KE) used as a metric of the physical environment. Higher KE leads to increased offshore advection of larvae, reduced total recruitment and connectivity of MPAs. Our results indicate high and uni-directional connectivity between MPAs from north to south influenced by the Brazil Current flowing in the same direction. Results also showed that some MPAs act predominantly as "sink" while others are mainly "source" areas.
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spelling doaj-art-e3babe6bd1a74ce1abde0c20a70d34252025-08-20T02:15:42ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-011010e013960110.1371/journal.pone.0139601Connectivity of Marine Protected Areas and Its Relation with Total Kinetic Energy.Andressa D'AgostiniDouglas Francisco Marcolino GherardiLuciano Ponzi PezziThe East Continental Shelf (ECS) of Brazil is a hotspot of endemism and biodiversity of reef biota in the South Atlantic, hosting a number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Connectivity of MPAs through larval dispersal influences recruitment, population dynamics, genetic structure and biogeography in coral reef ecosystems. Connectivity of protected reef ecosystem in the ECS was investigated with a hydrodynamic model (ROMS) forcing an Individual Based Model (IBM-Ichthyop), and used groupers (genus Mycteroperca) as functional group. The hydrodynamic output from ROMS was compared with satellite data and showed good agreement with observed surface fields. Eggs were released, in IBM experiments, from April to September along six years (2002-2007) in five MPAs along the ECS. Intrannual variability in recruitment and self-recruitment of grouper larvae was observed, as well as a negative correlation of these population parameters with total Kinetic Energy (KE) used as a metric of the physical environment. Higher KE leads to increased offshore advection of larvae, reduced total recruitment and connectivity of MPAs. Our results indicate high and uni-directional connectivity between MPAs from north to south influenced by the Brazil Current flowing in the same direction. Results also showed that some MPAs act predominantly as "sink" while others are mainly "source" areas.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0139601&type=printable
spellingShingle Andressa D'Agostini
Douglas Francisco Marcolino Gherardi
Luciano Ponzi Pezzi
Connectivity of Marine Protected Areas and Its Relation with Total Kinetic Energy.
PLoS ONE
title Connectivity of Marine Protected Areas and Its Relation with Total Kinetic Energy.
title_full Connectivity of Marine Protected Areas and Its Relation with Total Kinetic Energy.
title_fullStr Connectivity of Marine Protected Areas and Its Relation with Total Kinetic Energy.
title_full_unstemmed Connectivity of Marine Protected Areas and Its Relation with Total Kinetic Energy.
title_short Connectivity of Marine Protected Areas and Its Relation with Total Kinetic Energy.
title_sort connectivity of marine protected areas and its relation with total kinetic energy
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0139601&type=printable
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AT lucianoponzipezzi connectivityofmarineprotectedareasanditsrelationwithtotalkineticenergy