The role of dispersal and demography in determining the efficacy of marine reserves

Marine reserves are rapidly becoming an important tool for protection and recovery of depleted marine populations. However, the relative value of reserves to particular species is strongly dependent on its life history and behavior. We present a general conceptual framework for considering dispersal in simple demographic models. This framework includes transition matrices that consist of two age-structured models connected by transition probabilities for general migration, ontogenetic shifts, and recruitment in both a reserve and an unprotected area. We show that life history characteristics and perturbation analysis can be used to predict changes in growth rate due to a decrease in adult mortality resulting from a marine reserve for different levels and types of dispersal. Reserves enhanced growth rate for all species irrespective of net dispersal between the reserve and surrounding matrix habitat, but the efficacy of reserves relative to catch reduction depended significantly on the magnitude and sign of net dispersal across the reserve boundary. Patterns of reserve efficacy across different dispersal types were strongly species specific. Given the paucity of spatially explicit data for many marine systems and species, this simple approach represents a first step in applying life history information to advance current theory and provide practical considerations for marine reserve management. Resume : Les reserves marines sont vite en train de devenir des outils importants pour la protection et la recuperation des populations marines decimees. Cependant, la valeur relative des reserves pour une espece en particulier depend de son cycle biologique et de son comportement. Nous presentons un cadre conceptuel general pour examiner la disper- sion dans des modeles demographiques simples. Ce cadre comprend des matrices de transition qui consistent en deux modeles structures d'apres l'âge relies par des probabilites de transition pour la migration generale, les changements ontogeniques et le recrutement dans une zone de reserve et dans une zone sans protection. Nous montrons que les caracteristiques demographiques et l'analyse de perturbation peuvent servir a predire les changements du taux de crois- sance causes par un declin de la mortalite des adultes associe a la presence d'une reserve marine pour divers degres et types de dispersion. Les reserves font augmenter le taux de croissance chez toutes les especes, quelle que soit la dis- persion nette entre la reserve et la matrice d'habitats avoisinants; cependant, l'efficacite de la reserve, par comparaison a une reduction des captures, depend de facon significative de l'importance et du signe de la dispersion nette a travers les frontieres de la reserve. Les patrons d'efficacite des reserves en fonction des types de dispersion varient fortement selon les especes. Etant donne le peu de donnees spatiales specifiques sur de nombreux systemes marins et especes de mer, cette approche simple represente un premier pas vers l'application des donnees demographiques pour ameliorer la theorie actuelle et pour fournir des informations pratiques pour la gestion des reserves marines. (Traduit par la Redaction) Gerber et al. 871

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