Tracking of marine predators to protect Southern Ocean ecosystems

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Hindell, Mark A., Reisinger, Ryan R., Ropert‐Coudert, Yan, Huckstädt, Luis A., Trathan, Philip N., Bornemann, Horst, Charrassin, Jean-Benoît, Chown, Steven, Costa, Daniel P., Danis, Bruno, Lea, Mary-Anne, Thompson, David, Torres, Leigh G., Van De Putte, Anton, Alderman, Rachael, Andrews-Goff, Virginia, Arthur, Ben, Ballard, Grant, Bengtson, John, Bester, Marthán N., Blix, Arnoldus Schytte, Boehme, Lars, Bost, Charles-André, Boveng, Peter, Cleeland, Jaimie, Constantine, Rochelle, Corney, Stuart, Crawford, Robert J. M., Dalla Rosa, Luciano, de Bruyn, P. J. Nico, Delord, Karine, Descamps, Sébastien, Double, Mike, Emmerson, Louise, Fedak, Michael A., Friedlaender, Ari, Gales, Nick, Goebel, Michael, Goetz, Kimberly T., Guinet, Christophe, Goldsworthy, Simon D., Harcourt, Robert G., Hinke, Jefferson T., Jerosch, Kerstin, Kato, Akiko, Kerry, Knowles R., Kirkwood, Roger, Kooyman, Gerald L., Kovacs, Kit M., Lawton, Kieran
• Other Authors: Antarctic Wildlife Research Unit, University of Tasmania Hobart, Australia (UTAS), Processus et interactions de fine échelle océanique (PROTEO), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU), CESAB-FRB France, Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (University of California Santa Cruz), University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), University of California-University of California, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Santa Cruz, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI), School of Biological Sciences Victoria, Australia (Monash University), Monash University Victoria, Australia, Marine Biology Laboratory, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies Horbat (IMAS), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Wellington (NIWA), Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University (OSU), BEDIC, OD Nature Brussels, Belgium, Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences Belgium, Department of Primary Industries Australia, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy, PRBO Conservation Science, Department of Zoology and Entomology Pretoria, University of Pretoria South Africa, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews Scotland, School of Biological Sciences Auckland, New Zealand, University of Auckland Auckland, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE-CRC), Department of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries South Africa (Oceans and Coasts), Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação da Megafauna Marinha Rio Grande, Brazil, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Norvegian Polar Research Institute (NPRI), Norwegian Polar Institute, Institute of Marine Sciences, Long Marine Laboratory, South Australian Research and Development Institute Australia, Department of Biological Sciences North Ryde, Macquarie University, Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Indian; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02520188; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2126-y

International audience Southern Ocean ecosystems are under pressure from resource exploitation and climate change1,2. Mitigation requires the identification and protection of Areas of Ecological Significance (AESs), which have so far not been determined at the ocean-basin scale. Here, using assemblage-level tracking of marine predators, we identify AESs for this globally important region and assess current threats and protection levels. Integration of more than 4,000 tracks from 17 bird and mammal species reveals AESs around sub-Antarctic islands in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and over the Antarctic continental shelf. Fishing pressure is disproportionately concentrated inside AESs, and climate change over the next century is predicted to impose pressure on these areas, particularly around the Antarctic continent. At present, 7.1% of the ocean south of 40°S is under formal protection, including 29% of the total AESs. The establishment and regular revision of networks of protection that encompass AESs are needed to provide long-term mitigation of growing pressures on Southern Ocean ecosystems.