Document of bibliographic reference 288158

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Managing marine biodiversity: the rising diversity and prevalence of marine conservation translocations

Abstract

Translocations, the human-mediated movement and free-release of living organisms, are increasingly used as conservation tools in imperiled terrestrial ecosystems. Marine ecosystems, too, are increasingly threatened, and marine restoration efforts are escalating. But the methods and motivations for marine restoration are varied, so the extent to which they involve conservation-motivated translocations is unclear. Because translocations involve considerable risks, building on previous experience to establish and implement best practice guidelines for policy application is imperative. We conducted a global literature review to determine what marine conservation translocation experience exists. Our review indicates marine conservation translocations are widespread and increasingly common. Reinforcements and reintroductions predominate, but precedent for assisted colonizations and ecological replacements also exists. In 39 years, 487 translocation projects were conducted to conserve over 242 marine species or their ecosystems. Most projects involved coastal invertebrates (44%) or plants (30%). Few species were of conservation concern according to the IUCN Red List, likely reflecting the leading objective for most (60%) marine conservation translocations, which was ecosystem rather than species recovery. With currently no standard metrics for evaluating translocation success or ecosystem function, we recommend future projects follow the relevant IUCN guidelines and identify specific targets to measure the efficacy of translocations.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000381025700001

Bibliographic citation

Swan, K.D.; McPherson, J.M.; Seddon, J.P.; Moehrenschlager, A. (2016). Managing marine biodiversity: the rising diversity and prevalence of marine conservation translocations. Conserv. Lett. 9(4): 239-251. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/conl.12217

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true

Access rights

open access

Is accessible for free

true