Multi-habitat seascape restoration: optimising marine restoration for coastal repair and social benefit
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Date
2022
Authors
Mcafee, D.
Reis-Santos, P.
Jones, A.R.
Gillanders, B.M.
Mellin, C.
Nagelkerken, I.
Nursey-Bray, M.J.
Baring, R.
da Silva, G.M.
Tanner, J.E.
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Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022; 9:1-10
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Dominic McAfee, Patrick Reis-Santos, Alice R. Jones, Bronwyn M. Gillanders, Camille Mellin, Ivan Nagelkerken, Melissa J. Nursey-Bray, Ryan Baring, Graziela Miot da Silva, Jason E. Tanner, and Sean D. Connell
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Abstract
Marine ecosystem restoration is fast becoming the primary tool for repairing the socio-ecological functions and economic benefits of coastal ecosystems. Healthy seascapes are characterized by many interacting species and intermingled habitats (e.g., seagrass, kelp, shellfish, sedimentary) that cocreate ecological functions of substantial socio-economic value. These cocreated functions not only build stability and resilience at seascape scales, but synergistically combine to enhance ecological productivity that is greater than the sum of the individual habitats. Yet, restoration practice is dominated by single-habitat approaches underpinned by single-species monocultures, potentially limiting the range of benefits that restoration can provide. We propose that for ecosystem restoration to meet its full potential in delivering socio-ecological benefits that are resilient to environmental change, restoration practices should plan beyond single-species and single-habitats to a multi-habitat seascape. Where multiple habitats are co-restored, their positive interactions mutually benefit each other to stabilize and even accelerate ecosystem recovery; such as co-restored shellfish and kelp forests on constructed reefs, which combine to stabilize sediment for seagrass recovery. As fisheries scientists and managers, food and social scientists, and ecologists and oceanographers, we describe multi-habitat marine restoration activities that are readily achievable and provide a vision for the diverse socio-ecological, economic, and culture benefits that may emerge from future seascape-level repair.
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© 2022 McAfee, Reis-Santos, Jones, Gillanders, Mellin, Nagelkerken, NurseyBray, Baring, da Silva, Tanner and Connell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.