Mapping intertidal habitats and an evaluation of their conservation status in Queensland, Australia

The goal of biodiversity conservation has been described as the conservation of diversity at three levels: ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Developing a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) is considered an effective way to achieve this goal in the marine environment. In t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ocean & coastal management 2002, Vol.45 (8), p.485-509
Main Authors: Banks, Simon A, Skilleter, Greg A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Exploitation and management of natural biological resources (hunting, fishing and exploited populations survey, etc.)
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Marine
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Summary:The goal of biodiversity conservation has been described as the conservation of diversity at three levels: ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Developing a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) is considered an effective way to achieve this goal in the marine environment. In the absence of detailed information relating to biological distributions there has been increasing use of biodiversity surrogates to determine MPA priorities at regional levels. The development of biodiversity surrogates at fine scales (i.e. habitats) will have an increasingly important role in the identification of sites that will contribute to a representative system of MPAs. This is because it will increase the likelihood that the system will adequately achieve biodiversity objectives by ensuring protection of a greater range of habitats and species. This article provides an explanation of an intertidal shoreline habitat surrogate used to describe 24,216 km of Queensland's coastline. The protective status of intertidal habitats was evaluated to assist with designing a representative system of intertidal MPAs.
ISSN:0964-5691
1873-524X
DOI:10.1016/S0964-5691(02)00082-0