Itinerant Exhibition of Ilhas do Rio - Brazil

This Itinerant Exhibition is wonderful! Click on the link bellow and enjoy!

Exposição Itinerante Projeto Ilhas do Rio

Initiatives to Climate Changes

Great Barrier - Austrália
Photo by Simone Marques

Worries about environmental global changes have been increase in last years and many research projects and studies have been done to understand their mean causes as well. Recently many non governmental international institutions are making hard works to create and execute actions not only to understand the causes of climate change but also to apply methods to keep save our oceans and their essencial resources for goods and services to humanity in these actual conditions.

To know more about some examples of great initiatives about projects and funds of climate changes to coastal ecosystems in Coral Triangle region click on the links bellow and enjoy!

http://www.ecoadapt.org

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/coraltriangle/

Effectiveness of marine protected area management

Marine Protected Area APA Costa dos Corais, Pernambuco, Brazil
Photo by Simone Marques

Do you know how Marine Protected Area (MPA) have been handling of form it accomplishes?

It's so important to know how the governments and environmental institutions made great and systematic  evaluations about effectiveness of management to make better the system of MPAs in the present and in the near future.

To know more about effectiveness of MPAs management, methods more used and the problems identified in their management click on the link bellow published by Leverington et al. (2010) and enjoy.

A Global Analysis of Protected Area Management Effectiveness

Relevance of herbivores fish in coral reefs

Parrotfish Sparisoma axillare from coast of Brazil - a herbivore fish
Photo by Simone Marques

Reef fishes use their habitats not only as refuge but mainly to find their preferential foods. Understand how they shift to foraging their food is essential for their connectivity between reefs and for the management actions for conservation as well. Recently a great article was written by Welsh & Bellwood to tell us how this feeding strategy works. Click in the link bellow to know more and enjoy!

Herbivorous fishes, ecosystem function and mobile links on coralreefs 

Effectiveness of Marine Protected Area (MPAs) by connectivity

Image by Google Images

Can you imagine how MPAs may effective to fishes communities? Many studies have showed that design of MPA and the connectivity are essential to define the effectiveness of MPA to reef fishes. Although the MPAs created in our oceans is not enough to protect the marine ecosystem to the human pressure the studies realized in this areas have presented an effectiveness in the connectivity for reef fishes species in a mosaic of MPA adjacents.
 Click on the video bellow to know more about the effectiveness of MPAs and the benefits to connect fish populations.

Reefs at risk by climate change

After post about global warming i found two interesting videos showing how climate change can lead the coral reefs at risk. The previsions of what's gone happy in the near future and after 50 years. Can you imagine our oceans without coral reefs and marine life? Click in the links bellow, enjoy and think about.

Diagram representing the stressors in coral reefs ecosystems - Photo extracted by google images

Coral Reefs & Climate Change

Photo extracted by google images

Resilience of Coral Reefs in Fiji

Marine Protected Area is a great tool to protect marine species

Coral Reefs in MPA Costa dos Corais - Brazil
Photo by Simone Marques

Since the huge advance of protected area around the world in last 20 years ago, scientists have studied how protected area have restored and keep save threatened species. In marine ecosystems most of marine protected areas (MPAs) are proposed to restored target species in fisheries and also most of them are classified as sustainable use. Although many studies show that MPAs of integral protection restored fished species (eg. fishes, invertebrates) some researchers who study the cycle life said this tool is not enough. Beyond the implementation of MPA is necessary selected essencial habitat for juvenile phase (nurseries) and adult phase (shallow to deep habitat) because many species needs estuaries, mangroves, shallow reefs, sea gram in their early life and deep reef or rock reef in adult phase. This two kinds of essencial habitat is also called connectivity. Actually the MPAs may design this essential habitat to protect all life cycle of species tho preserve and restore the connectivity of species. This new concept have been discuss in last years to better design the effectiveness of any kind of MPA. Now we don't thinking only to protect target and threatened species but their life cycle and essential habitat that they need.

Recent studies of MPAs have analyzed how MPAs have effective for marine species in the 2 main kinds of Protected Area (PA): sustainable use and integral protection. Click in two links bellow and read the recent papers related with MPAs of Brazil. Enjoy!

Analysis of Progress Towards a ComprehensiveSystem of Marine Protected Areas in Brazil 

Marine Protected Areas in Brazil: An ecological approach regarding the largemarine ecosystems