Title
Integrating Climate Risk and Refuge Into Conservation Portfolios for Indopacific Coral Reefs.
Author(s)
Darling, Emily; Fortin, Marie Josee; Maina, Joseph; McClanahan, Timothy; Mouillot, David
Published
2017
Abstract
Climate change is an unprecedented threat to global coral reefs. Urgently, innovative solutions are needed to identify portfolios of conservation investments that can be appropriately matched to predictions of climate risk and refuge. Here, we present a collaborative dataset of IndoPacific coral communities to identify data-driven portfolios of conservation actions across gradients of biodiversity and climate exposure. These portfolios identify priority locations for conservation under different scenarios of climate risk and refuge, such as marine reserves that can be prioritized to areas of high biodiversity within climate refuges, or locations that require economic relief and reorganization with low biodiversity and intensifying climate exposure. We also consider the ecological connectivity of these portfolios, and where ‘stepping stone’ investments can strengthen larger networks of conservation actions. Overall, we show that data-driven frameworks to integrate biodiversity, climate exposure and connectivity across multiple scales can provide innovative decision tools for designing climate-smart conservation for coral reefs.

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PUB26904