Prioritizing urban marine habitats for conservation |
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Authors: | Richard A McKinney |
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Institution: | (1) US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, 27 Tarzwell Drive, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA |
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Abstract: | Urban coastal wetlands and adjoining coves and embayments can provide habitat for significant numbers of waterbirds, despite
being subject to high levels of stressors from human activities. Yet to date little emphasis has been placed on identifying
these areas and prioritizing them for conservation. In this study I outline a three-step process to identify and prioritize
local sites for conservation using waterbird abundance and diversity and an index of the risk to a site from marine development,
and apply it to a series of urban coastal sites in two North Atlantic estuaries located in the northeast US. By combining
waterbird abundance and species richness with the risk from marine development I generated a ranked list of sites with the
highest listed sites having high bird diversity and low risk from development. From this list individual sites can be prioritized
for conservation, and various protection scenarios can be evaluated and compared. For example, 7 of the top 10 ranked sites
in Boston Harbor, combined with sites already protected under local, state, or federal statutes, represented over half of
the total bird diversity in the Harbor. Similarly, in Narragansett Bay 6 of the top 10 sites when combined with sites already
protected represent 48.8% of the Bay’s bird diversity. Formally protecting these sites, all of which are at relatively low
risk from marine development, could result in the conservation of considerable waterbird habitat at low economic cost (i.e.,
from loss of development potential). Other ranking scenarios (by bird diversity alone, or by risk from marine development)
were also evaluated and compared to the combined ranking. Identification of sites with high bird diversity and low risk from
development could provide important information for local land acquisition groups and planning boards when considering options
for the conservation of urban coastal habitats. |
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Keywords: | Urban coastal habitats Waterbirds Coastal zone management Marine development Marine spatial planning |
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