| The long-term sustainability of many marine ecosystems is currently threatened by multi-sectoral exploitation, and a holistic, ecosystem approach to the preservation and conservation of these ecosystems and their resources is urgently needed. An international, ecosystem-wide network of marine protected areas is perceived by the governments (of the nations that surround them) and international agencies as a key to achieving this goal. Many reserve design algorithms are currently in use. However, none of them consider the uncertainties we experience when dealing with ecological data. The main theoretical question is how to handle the uncertainties encountered when using ecological data, since this is mainly the type of data used for input into reserve design algorithms. The practical questions are where to place the marine protected areas and how to configure them. The process requires the optimization of a few, key attributes based on many, weighted input parameters. The numerical simulation algorithm I have designed provides computationally efficient solutions to the questions of size and proximity in a network of spatially cohesive areas that satisfy an entourage of user-quantified biodiversity conservation objectives. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
