Ranking and mapping the impact of human activities on global ocean ecosystems

• Main Authors: NCEAS 9400 : Halpern: Putting ocean wilderness on the map, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Ben Halpern
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity 2007
• Subjects: ocean; global; marine; marine threat; threat modeling; bathymetry; bottom type; seamounts; pelagic; mangroves; coral; seagrass; depth classification; ocean acidification; terrestrial marine inputs; terrestrial fertilizer impact; terrestrial pesticide impact; terrestrial runnoff impact; commercial fishing; ocean fishing; impervious surface; lights at night; coastal population pressure; sst; sea surface temperature; uv; ports; marine pollution; oil rig; commercial shipping; marine impacts; plume modeling; invasive species; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5063/AA/nceas.334.2

Conservation prioritization and spatially explicit management of the oceans require high-resolution maps of where human impacts to marine ecosystems occur, yet few such maps exist. Here we synthesize global data on 17 threats and 14 marine ecosystems to produce a global, 1km2 resolution map of human impacts specific to each marine ecosystem. We found that none of the ocean is unaffected by humans but that a relatively small fraction is heavily impacted, and that results vary greatly by region and ecosystem type. This research is the first such global assessment, providing important guidelines for where conservation action and threat mitigation is most critical to meet global management and conservation goals.