Article,
The application of remote sensing for marine protected area management
Ecological Indicators, 36 (0): 169 - 177 (2014)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.07.003
Abstract
Abstract Marine protected areas (MPAs) are important tools for the conservation of marine biodiversity but their designation and effective monitoring require frequent, comprehensive, reliable data. We aim to show that remote sensing (RS), as demonstrated for terrestrial protected areas, has the potential to provide key information to support \MPA\ management. We review existing literature on the use of \RS\ to monitor biodiversity surrogates, e.g. ecological (e.g., primary productivity) and oceanographic (e.g., Sea Surface Temperature) parameters that have been shown to structure marine biodiversity. We then highlight the potential for \RS\ to inform marine habitat mapping and monitoring, and discuss how \RS\ can be used to track anthropogenic activities and its impacts on biodiversity in MPAs. Reasons for low integration of \RS\ in \MPA\ management and current limitations are also presented. This work concludes that \RS\ shows great promise to support wildlife managers in their efforts to protect marine biodiversity around the world, in particular when such information is used in conjunction with data from field surveys.
