Warming climate undoes decades of knowledge of marine protected areas

Warming climate undoes decades of knowledge of marine protected areas - University of Lancaster

A picture of recovering coral reef and a couple of blue fish swimming ( ©Nick Graham)

Climate change and warming seas are transforming tropical coral reefs and undoing decades of knowledge about how to protect these delicate and vital ecosystems.

Many of the world’s coral reefs are seeing biodiversity plunge in the face of repeated coral bleaching events.

Protected areas, called marine reserves, are an effective and long-established tool in the conservation toolbox. Marine reserves have been used for decades to enhance biodiversity and fish biomass by preventing damage and over-exploitation by fishing.

However, a new study highlights that tropical coral reef marine reserves can offer little defence in the face of climate change impacts. And the changes that are being observed will force scientists, conservationists and reserve managers to rethink the role these protected areas can bring.

“Climate change is so fundamentally changing the structure and composition of coral reef ecosystems, that the way the ecosystem functions and responds to common management and conservation approaches needs to be carefully re-evaluated,” explains Professor Nick Graham of Lancaster University and lead author of the study. “The rules we have come to rely on, no longer apply.”

Read the study outlined in the paper ‘Changing Role of Coral Reef Marine Reserves in a Warming Climate’. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15863-z