Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems in the so... more Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems in the south Florida region. Recent precipitous declines in these populations are believed to be due to severe habitat degradation as well as significant increases in recreational and commercial fishing. The monitoring methodologies described in this document are necessary for understanding how natural and manmade stressors are changing reef fish populations and communities. These stressors will continue to increase, and ...
Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the National Park ... more Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the National Park Service's (NPS) mission to manage park resources "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Park managers are confronted with increasingly complex and challenging issues that require a broad-based understanding of the status and trends of park resources as a basis for making decisions and working with other agencies and the public for the long-term protection of park ecosystems. The National Park Service has initiated a long term ecological monitoring program, known as “Vital Signs Monitoring”, to provide the minimum infrastructure needed to track the overall condition of natural resources in parks and to provide early warning of situations that require intervention (see Figure A). The scientifically sound information obtained through this systems-based monitoring program will have multiple applications for management decision making, park planning, research, edu...
Determining whether a species warrants listing as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endange... more Determining whether a species warrants listing as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act depends on the government's assessment of the species’ extinction risk, usually in response to a petition. Deciding whether data are sufficient to make a listing determination is a challenging part of the process. We examined three case studies involving corals. A petition for deep-sea corals was rejected for full status review of the species, based on insufficient information on population trends and threats. Information on threats for 82 tropical corals was sufficient to propose listing of 66 species. Significant population declines and identified threats resulted in listing two Atlantic Acropora corals as ‘Threatened’. There was no decrease in journal publication rate on the Acropora species after that listing, and no decrease in research permit applications in marine protected areas. However, the effects of listings on research that might help to sustain or recove...
Determining whether a species warrants listing as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endange... more Determining whether a species warrants listing as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act depends on the government's assessment of the species’ extinction risk, usually in response to a petition. Deciding whether data are sufficient to make a listing determination is a challenging part of the process. We examined three case studies involving corals. A petition for deep-sea corals was rejected for full status review of the species, based on insufficient information on population trends and threats. Information on threats for 82 tropical corals was sufficient to propose listing of 66 species. Significant population declines and identified threats resulted in listing two Atlantic Acropora corals as ‘Threatened’. There was no decrease in journal publication rate on the Acropora species after that listing, and no decrease in research permit applications in marine protected areas. However, the effects of listings on research that might help to sustain or recover species remains largely unknown.
Many marine invertebrate species facing potential extinction have uncertain taxonomies and poorly... more Many marine invertebrate species facing potential extinction have uncertain taxonomies and poorly known demographic and ecological traits. Uncertainties are compounded when potential extinction drivers are climate and ocean changes whose effects on even widespread and abundant species are only partially understood. The U.S. Endangered Species Act mandates conservation management decisions founded on the extinction risk to species based on the best available science at the time of consideration—requiring prompt action rather than awaiting better information. We developed an expert-opinion threat-based approach that entails a structured voting system to assess extinction risk from climate and ocean changes and
other threats to 82 coral species for which population status and threat response information was limited. Such methods are urgently needed because constrained budgets and manpower will continue to hinder the availability of desired data for many potentially vulnerable marine species. Significant species-specific information gaps and uncertainties precluded quantitative assessments of habitat loss or population declines and necessitated increased reliance on demographic characteristics and threat vulnerabilities at genus or family levels. Adapting some methods (e.g., a structured voting system) used during other assessments and developing some new approaches (e.g., integrated assessment of threats and demographic characteristics), we rated the importance of threats contributing to coral extinction risk and assessed those threats against population status and trend information to evaluate each species’ extinction risk over the 21st century. This qualitative assessment resulted in a ranking with an uncertainty range for each species according to their estimated likelihood of extinction. We offer guidance on approaches for future biological extinction risk assessments, especially in cases of data-limited species likely to be affected by global-scale threats.
On October 20, 2009, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the National Marine Fisheries... more On October 20, 2009, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to list 83 coral species as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The petition was based on a predicted decline in available habitat for the species, citing anthropogenic climate change and ocean acidification as the lead factors among the various stressors responsible for the potential decline. The NMFS identified 82 of the corals as candidate species, finding that the petition provided substantive information for a potential listing of these species. The NMFS established a Biological Review Team (BRT) to prepare this Status Review Report that examines the status of these 82 candidate coral species and evaluates extinction risk for each of them. This document makes no recommendations for listing, as that is a separate evaluation to be conducted by the NMFS. The BRT considered two major factors in conducting this review. The first factor was the ...
Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems, but moni... more Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems, but monitoring strategies have historically varied across agencies in their objectives and designs. An unprecedented multi-agency reef fish monitoring effort involving NOAA Fisheries, the University of Miami, the National Park Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was initiated across the Florida coral reef ecosystem in 2008. This collaboration builds directly upon a large-scale fisheries-independent survey ...
Kimberly Woody, Andrea Atkinson, Randy Clark, Chris Jeffrey, Ian Lundgren, Jeff Miller, Mark Mona... more Kimberly Woody, Andrea Atkinson, Randy Clark, Chris Jeffrey, Ian Lundgren, Jeff Miller, Mark Monaco, Erinn Muller, Matt Patterson, Caroline Rogers, Tyler Smith, Tony Spitzak, Rob Waara, Kevin Whelan, Brian Witcher and Alexandra Wright
Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems in the so... more Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems in the south Florida region. Recent precipitous declines in these populations are believed to be due to severe habitat degradation as well as significant increases in recreational and commercial fishing. The monitoring methodologies described in this document are necessary for understanding how natural and manmade stressors are changing reef fish populations and communities. These stressors will continue to increase, and ...
Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the National Park ... more Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the National Park Service's (NPS) mission to manage park resources "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Park managers are confronted with increasingly complex and challenging issues that require a broad-based understanding of the status and trends of park resources as a basis for making decisions and working with other agencies and the public for the long-term protection of park ecosystems. The National Park Service has initiated a long term ecological monitoring program, known as “Vital Signs Monitoring”, to provide the minimum infrastructure needed to track the overall condition of natural resources in parks and to provide early warning of situations that require intervention (see Figure A). The scientifically sound information obtained through this systems-based monitoring program will have multiple applications for management decision making, park planning, research, edu...
Determining whether a species warrants listing as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endange... more Determining whether a species warrants listing as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act depends on the government's assessment of the species’ extinction risk, usually in response to a petition. Deciding whether data are sufficient to make a listing determination is a challenging part of the process. We examined three case studies involving corals. A petition for deep-sea corals was rejected for full status review of the species, based on insufficient information on population trends and threats. Information on threats for 82 tropical corals was sufficient to propose listing of 66 species. Significant population declines and identified threats resulted in listing two Atlantic Acropora corals as ‘Threatened’. There was no decrease in journal publication rate on the Acropora species after that listing, and no decrease in research permit applications in marine protected areas. However, the effects of listings on research that might help to sustain or recove...
Determining whether a species warrants listing as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endange... more Determining whether a species warrants listing as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act depends on the government's assessment of the species’ extinction risk, usually in response to a petition. Deciding whether data are sufficient to make a listing determination is a challenging part of the process. We examined three case studies involving corals. A petition for deep-sea corals was rejected for full status review of the species, based on insufficient information on population trends and threats. Information on threats for 82 tropical corals was sufficient to propose listing of 66 species. Significant population declines and identified threats resulted in listing two Atlantic Acropora corals as ‘Threatened’. There was no decrease in journal publication rate on the Acropora species after that listing, and no decrease in research permit applications in marine protected areas. However, the effects of listings on research that might help to sustain or recover species remains largely unknown.
Many marine invertebrate species facing potential extinction have uncertain taxonomies and poorly... more Many marine invertebrate species facing potential extinction have uncertain taxonomies and poorly known demographic and ecological traits. Uncertainties are compounded when potential extinction drivers are climate and ocean changes whose effects on even widespread and abundant species are only partially understood. The U.S. Endangered Species Act mandates conservation management decisions founded on the extinction risk to species based on the best available science at the time of consideration—requiring prompt action rather than awaiting better information. We developed an expert-opinion threat-based approach that entails a structured voting system to assess extinction risk from climate and ocean changes and
other threats to 82 coral species for which population status and threat response information was limited. Such methods are urgently needed because constrained budgets and manpower will continue to hinder the availability of desired data for many potentially vulnerable marine species. Significant species-specific information gaps and uncertainties precluded quantitative assessments of habitat loss or population declines and necessitated increased reliance on demographic characteristics and threat vulnerabilities at genus or family levels. Adapting some methods (e.g., a structured voting system) used during other assessments and developing some new approaches (e.g., integrated assessment of threats and demographic characteristics), we rated the importance of threats contributing to coral extinction risk and assessed those threats against population status and trend information to evaluate each species’ extinction risk over the 21st century. This qualitative assessment resulted in a ranking with an uncertainty range for each species according to their estimated likelihood of extinction. We offer guidance on approaches for future biological extinction risk assessments, especially in cases of data-limited species likely to be affected by global-scale threats.
On October 20, 2009, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the National Marine Fisheries... more On October 20, 2009, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to list 83 coral species as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The petition was based on a predicted decline in available habitat for the species, citing anthropogenic climate change and ocean acidification as the lead factors among the various stressors responsible for the potential decline. The NMFS identified 82 of the corals as candidate species, finding that the petition provided substantive information for a potential listing of these species. The NMFS established a Biological Review Team (BRT) to prepare this Status Review Report that examines the status of these 82 candidate coral species and evaluates extinction risk for each of them. This document makes no recommendations for listing, as that is a separate evaluation to be conducted by the NMFS. The BRT considered two major factors in conducting this review. The first factor was the ...
Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems, but moni... more Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems, but monitoring strategies have historically varied across agencies in their objectives and designs. An unprecedented multi-agency reef fish monitoring effort involving NOAA Fisheries, the University of Miami, the National Park Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was initiated across the Florida coral reef ecosystem in 2008. This collaboration builds directly upon a large-scale fisheries-independent survey ...
Kimberly Woody, Andrea Atkinson, Randy Clark, Chris Jeffrey, Ian Lundgren, Jeff Miller, Mark Mona... more Kimberly Woody, Andrea Atkinson, Randy Clark, Chris Jeffrey, Ian Lundgren, Jeff Miller, Mark Monaco, Erinn Muller, Matt Patterson, Caroline Rogers, Tyler Smith, Tony Spitzak, Rob Waara, Kevin Whelan, Brian Witcher and Alexandra Wright
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other threats to 82 coral species for which population status and threat response information was limited. Such methods are urgently needed because constrained budgets and manpower will continue to hinder the availability of desired data for many potentially vulnerable marine species. Significant species-specific information gaps and uncertainties precluded quantitative assessments of habitat loss or population declines and necessitated increased reliance on demographic characteristics and threat vulnerabilities at genus or family levels. Adapting some methods (e.g., a structured voting system) used during other assessments and developing some new approaches (e.g., integrated assessment of threats and demographic characteristics), we rated the importance of threats contributing to coral extinction risk and assessed those threats against population status and trend information to evaluate each species’ extinction risk over the 21st century. This qualitative assessment resulted in a ranking with an uncertainty range for each species according to their estimated likelihood of extinction. We offer guidance on approaches for future biological extinction risk assessments, especially in cases of data-limited species likely to be affected by global-scale threats.
other threats to 82 coral species for which population status and threat response information was limited. Such methods are urgently needed because constrained budgets and manpower will continue to hinder the availability of desired data for many potentially vulnerable marine species. Significant species-specific information gaps and uncertainties precluded quantitative assessments of habitat loss or population declines and necessitated increased reliance on demographic characteristics and threat vulnerabilities at genus or family levels. Adapting some methods (e.g., a structured voting system) used during other assessments and developing some new approaches (e.g., integrated assessment of threats and demographic characteristics), we rated the importance of threats contributing to coral extinction risk and assessed those threats against population status and trend information to evaluate each species’ extinction risk over the 21st century. This qualitative assessment resulted in a ranking with an uncertainty range for each species according to their estimated likelihood of extinction. We offer guidance on approaches for future biological extinction risk assessments, especially in cases of data-limited species likely to be affected by global-scale threats.