Persistence of self-recruitment and patterns of larval connectivity in a marine protected area network

Berumen, Michael L., Almany, Glenn R., Planes, Serge, Jones, Geoffrey P., Saenz-Agudelo, Pablo, and Thorrold, Simon R. (2012) Persistence of self-recruitment and patterns of larval connectivity in a marine protected area network. Ecology and Evolution, 2 (2). pp. 444-452.

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Abstract

The use of marine protected area (MPA) networks to sustain fisheries and conserve biodiversity is predicated on two critical yet rarely tested assumptions. Individual MPAs must produce sufficient larvae that settle within that reserve's boundaries to maintain local populations while simultaneously supplying larvae to other MPA nodes in the network that might otherwise suffer local extinction. Here, we use genetic parentage analysis to demonstrate that patterns of self-recruitment of two reef fishes (Amphiprion percula and Chaetodon vagabundus) in an MPA in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, were remarkably consistent over several years. However, dispersal from this reserve to two other nodes in an MPA network varied between species and through time. The stability of our estimates of self-recruitment suggests that even small MPAs may be self-sustaining. However, our results caution against applying optimization strategies to MPA network design without accounting for variable connectivity among species and over time.

Item ID: 23384
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2045-7758
Keywords: Amphiprion percula, Chaetodon vagabundus, connectivity, larval dispersal, marine protected areas, microsatellite parentage analysis, self-recruitment
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© 2012 The Authors. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Date Deposited: 17 Sep 2012 02:57
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0602 Ecology > 060205 Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl Marine Ichthyology) @ 50%
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0602 Ecology > 060207 Population Ecology @ 50%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960808 Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity @ 100%
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