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Systematic conservation planning in the eastern English Channel: comparing the Marxan and Zonation decision-support tools

Delavenne, Juliette, Metcalfe, Kristian, Smith, Robert J., Vaz, Sandrine, Martin, Corinne S., Dupuis, Ludovic, Coppin, Franck, Carpentier, Andre (2012) Systematic conservation planning in the eastern English Channel: comparing the Marxan and Zonation decision-support tools. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69 (1). pp. 75-83. ISSN 1054-3139. (doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsr180) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:28728)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsr180

Abstract

The systematic conservation approach is now commonly used for the design of efficient marine protected area (MPA) networks, and identifying these priority areas often involves using specific conservation-planning software. Several such software programmes have been developed in recent years, each differing in the underlying algorithms used. Here, an investigation is made into whether the choice of software influences the location of priority areas by comparing outputs from Marxan and Zonation, two widely used conservation-planning, decision-support tools. Using biological and socio-economic data from the eastern English Channel, outputs are compared and it is shown that the two software packages identified similar sets of priority areas, although the relatively wide distribution of habitat types and species considered offered much flexibility. Moreover, the similarity increased with increasing spatial constraint, especially when using real-world cost data, suggesting that the choice of cost metric has a greater influence on conservation-planning analyses than the choice of software. However, Marxan generally produced more efficient results and Zonation produced results with greater connectivity, so the most appropriate software package will depend on the overall goals of the MPA planning process.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1093/icesjms/fsr180
Uncontrolled keywords: eastern English Channel; marine conservation planning; Marxan; spatial conservation prioritization; Zonation
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH75 Conservation (Biology)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Depositing User: Bob Smith
Date Deposited: 14 Feb 2012 13:58 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:07 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/28728 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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