Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets

Sequeira, AMM, Rodríguez, JP, Marley, SA, Calich, HJ, Van der Mheen, M, VanCompernolle, M, Humphries, NE, Southall, EJ, Womersley, F and Sims, DW 2025 Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets. Science, 388 (6751). 1086-1097. 10.1126/science.adl0239

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract/Summary

The recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets ambitious goals but no clear pathway for how zero loss of important biodiversity areas and halting human-induced extinction of threatened species will be achieved. We assembled a multi-taxa tracking dataset (11 million geopositions from 15,845 tracked individuals across 121 species) to provide a global assessment of space use of highly mobile marine megafauna, showing that 63% of the area that they cover is used 80% of the time as important migratory corridors or residence areas. The GBF 30% threshold (Target 3) will be insufficient for marine megafauna’s effective conservation, leaving important areas exposed to major anthropogenic threats. Coupling area protection with mitigation strategies (e.g., fishing regulation, wildlife-traffic separation) will be essential to reach international goals and conserve biodiversity

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Additional Keywords:	marine megafauna, Global Biodiversity Framework, telemetry data, migratory corridor
Subjects:	Conservation Ecology and Environment Marine Sciences
Divisions:	Marine Biological Association of the UK > Ocean Biology
Depositing User:	Ms Kristina Hixon
Date made live:	20 Jun 2025 15:13
Last Modified:	20 Jun 2025 15:13
URI:	https://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/10431

Actions (login required)

View Item