Implications of spatial connectivity and climate change for the design and application of MPAs
Channel: OCTO (Open Communications for the Ocean)
Date: 2017-03-09

This webinar originally aired on 9 March 2017.

The US Marine Protected Area (MPA) Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) has a Connectivity Subcommittee charged with understanding how knowledge about ecological spatial connectivity and climate climate change can be incorporated into the design, use, and management of effective MPAs and MPA networks. The committee has summarized the current scientific understanding of: 1) different types and scales of connectivity and their ecological implications, 2) how connectivity processes create ecological linkages among marine areas, populations, communities, and ecosystems, and 3) how connectivity impacts conservation outcomes in MPAs. This webinar will summarize the work of the FAC on the implications of spatial ecological connectivity for the design and application of MPAs in a changing ocean. This work forms the basis of the FAC's recommendations to the US Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior for future US MPA management and policy.

This webinar was presented by Mark Carr of University of California at Santa Cruz and Sarah Robinson of Critical Inquiries Research. Webinar co-sponsored by the NOAA National MPA Center, MPA News, and the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by NatureServe and OpenChannels.org).