TY - JOUR
T1 - Exposure of marine megafauna to cumulative anthropogenic threats in north-west Australia
AU - Ferreira, Luciana C.
AU - Thums, Michele
AU - Whiting, Scott
AU - Meekan, Mark
AU - Andrews-Goff, Virginia
AU - Attard, Catherine R. M.
AU - Bilgmann, Kerstin
AU - Davenport, Andrew
AU - Double, Mike
AU - Falchi, Fabio
AU - Guinea, Michael
AU - Hickey, Sharyn M.
AU - Jenner, Curt
AU - Jenner, Micheline
AU - Loewenthal, Graham
AU - McFarlane, Glenn
AU - Möller, Luciana M.
AU - Norman, Brad
AU - Peel, Lauren
AU - Pendoley, Kellie
AU - Radford, Ben
AU - Reynolds, Samantha
AU - Rossendell, Jason
AU - Tucker, Anton
AU - Waayers, David
AU - Whittock, Paul
AU - Wilson, Phillipa
AU - Fossette, Sabrina
N1 - Copyright the Author(s) 2023. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - As the use of coastal and offshore environments expands, there is a need to better understand the exposure of marine megafauna to anthropogenic activities that potentially threaten their populations. Individual satellite telemetry studies are often hampered by small sample sizes, providing limited information on spatiotemporal distributions of migratory animals and their relationships to anthropogenic threats. We addressed this issue by synthesising satellite tracking data from 484 individuals of three taxonomic groups and six species; three marine turtle, two whale and one shark. The spatial overlap between taxa distributions and multiple anthropogenic activities was assessed as a proxy for the cumulative exposure of these taxa to anthropogenic threats (coastal modification, vessel strike, underwater noise, oil spill, bycatch, entanglement, and artificial light) across an area totalling 2,205,740 km2 off north-western Australia. Core exposure areas (top 50% of the distribution) encompassed ecologically important sites for all taxa, such as the Ningaloo and Pilbara regions, migratory routes for whales and sharks in offshore waters beyond Ningaloo Reef, and marine turtle nesting beaches at Barrow Island and Cape Lambert. Although areas of high exposure represented <14% of taxa distributions, we showed that no taxa occurred in the absence of threats and that even areas with existing spatial protections are experiencing high levels of exposure. Importantly, we developed a robust approach for documenting the potential exposure of marine species to a range of human activities at appropriate spatial scales to inform conservation management.
AB - As the use of coastal and offshore environments expands, there is a need to better understand the exposure of marine megafauna to anthropogenic activities that potentially threaten their populations. Individual satellite telemetry studies are often hampered by small sample sizes, providing limited information on spatiotemporal distributions of migratory animals and their relationships to anthropogenic threats. We addressed this issue by synthesising satellite tracking data from 484 individuals of three taxonomic groups and six species; three marine turtle, two whale and one shark. The spatial overlap between taxa distributions and multiple anthropogenic activities was assessed as a proxy for the cumulative exposure of these taxa to anthropogenic threats (coastal modification, vessel strike, underwater noise, oil spill, bycatch, entanglement, and artificial light) across an area totalling 2,205,740 km2 off north-western Australia. Core exposure areas (top 50% of the distribution) encompassed ecologically important sites for all taxa, such as the Ningaloo and Pilbara regions, migratory routes for whales and sharks in offshore waters beyond Ningaloo Reef, and marine turtle nesting beaches at Barrow Island and Cape Lambert. Although areas of high exposure represented <14% of taxa distributions, we showed that no taxa occurred in the absence of threats and that even areas with existing spatial protections are experiencing high levels of exposure. Importantly, we developed a robust approach for documenting the potential exposure of marine species to a range of human activities at appropriate spatial scales to inform conservation management.
KW - fishing
KW - marine turtle
KW - oil and gas
KW - shipping
KW - spatial overlap
KW - whale
KW - whale shark
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180704942&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fevo.2023.1229803
DO - 10.3389/fevo.2023.1229803
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85180704942
SN - 2296-701X
VL - 11
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
M1 - 1229803
ER -