A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems
Abstract
The management and conservation of the world's oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. We developed an ecosystem-specific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine ecosystems. Our analysis indicates that no area is unaffected by human influence and that a large fraction (41%) is strongly affected by multiple drivers. However, large areas of relatively little human impact remain, particularly near the poles. The analytical process and resulting maps provide flexible tools for regional and global efforts to allocate conservation resources; to implement ecosystem-based management; and to inform marine spatial planning, education, and basic research.
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This work was funded by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and supported by the National Science Foundation and a grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to NCEAS to evaluate ecosystem-based management in coastal oceans. Thanks to J. Hutton at U.N. Environmental Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre for sharing coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass ecosystem data, J. Guinotte and the Marine Conservation Biology Institute for providing ocean acidification data, E. Sanderson for comments on earlier drafts, and support from the Pew Charitable Trusts to the Sea Around Us Project for development of mapped fisheries data. R. Myers participated in this project but passed away before it was completed; we are grateful for his contributions.
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Published In
Science
Volume 319 | Issue 5865
15 February 2008
15 February 2008
Copyright
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 16 August 2007
Accepted: 11 December 2007
Published in print: 15 February 2008
Notes
Supporting Online Material
www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/319/5865/948/DC1
Materials and Methods
Figs. S1 to S6
Tables S1 to S6
References
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