Delavenne, Juliette, Metcalfe, Kristian, Smith, Robert J., Vaz, Sandrine, Martin, Corinne S., Dupuis, Ludovic, Coppin, Franck and 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 (Print), 1095-9289 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsr180)

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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
Additional Information:	[1] The ICES Journal of Marine Science is published on behalf of ICES/CIEM International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	eastern English Channel, marine conservation planning, Marxan, spatial conservation prioritization, Zonation
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2016 09:18
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/7303

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