Scripps expedition provides new baseline for coral reef conservation

A PLoS Biology essay authored by Nancy Knowlton, adjunct professor at Scripps Oceanography and currently with the Smithsonian Institution, and Jeremy Jackson, professor, Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Oceanography, analyzes the importance of establishing baselines for understanding reef ecology in the face of global threats.

From left, Line Islands Expedition researchers Olga Pantos, Rob Edwards, and Jim Maragos count coral along transect lines in virtually pristine conditions at Kingman Reef. Click here for more information.

They argue that so-called “shifting baselines,” when ecosystems degrade and baselines are downgraded from one generation to the next, is at the root of understanding the factors driving coral reef decline and what, if anything, can be done to stop it.

In the essay, titled “Shifting Baselines, Local Impacts and Global Change on Coral Reefs,” they write: “How to manage coral reefs locally in a globally changing world so that they retain or regain the critical ecosystem attributes of uninhabited reefs and still meet human needs is the central challenge facing reef conservation today.”

“In a world of doom and gloom, it is important to know that reefs with exuberant coral growth and abundant fish populations still exist,” said Knowlton. “These remote healthy reefs clearly show that local protection can make reefs resilient to the impacts of global change. The challenge is to translate the lessons of these reefs to management, so that reefs near people can also thrive.”

(the essay is available at: http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=getdocument&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0060054.)

• “Baselines and Degradation of Coral Reefs in the Northern Line Islands” is authored by: Sandin, Jennifer Smith, Edward DeMartini, Dinsdale, Simon Donner, Alan Friedlander, Talina Konotchick, Machel Malay, James Maragos, David Obura, Olga Pantos, Gustav Paulay, Morgan Richie, Rohwer, Robert Schroeder, Sheila Walsh, Jackson, Knowlton and Sala. (available at: http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0001548.)