A Global Systematic Literature Review of Ecosystem Services in Reef Environments.

Ecosystem services (ES) embrace contributions of nature to human livelihood and well-being. Reef environments provide a range of ES with direct and indirect contributions to people. However, the health of reef environments is declining globally due to local and large-scale threats, affecting ES delivery in different ways. Mapping scientific knowledge and identifying research gaps on reefs' ES is critical to guide their management and conservation. We conducted a systematic assessment of peer-reviewed articles published between 2007 and 2022 to build an overview of ES research on reef environments. We analyzed the geographical distribution, reef types, approaches used to assess ES, and the potential drivers of change in ES delivery reported across these studies. Based on 115 articles, our results revealed that coral and oyster reefs are the most studied reef ecosystems. Cultural ES (e.g., subcategories recreation and tourism) was the most studied ES in high-income countries, while regulating and maintenance ES (e.g., subcategory life cycle maintenance) prevailed in low and middle-income countries. Research efforts on reef ES are biased toward the Global North, mainly North America and Oceania. Studies predominantly used observational approaches to assess ES, with a marked increase in the number of studies using statistical modeling during 2021 and 2022. The scale of studies was mostly local and regional, and the studies addressed mainly one or two subcategories of reefs' ES. Overexploitation, reef degradation, and pollution were the most commonly cited drivers affecting the delivery of provisioning, regulating and maintenance, and cultural ES. With increasing threats to reef environments, the growing demand for assessing the contributions to humans provided by reefs will benefit the projections on how these ES will be impacted by anthropogenic pressures. The incorporation of multiple and synergistic ecosystem mechanisms is paramount to providing a comprehensive ES assessment, and improving the understanding of functions, services, and benefits.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on SCUBA diving experience in marine protected areas.

Faced with the need for isolation of most people to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, a great concern for the well-being of the population has resurfaced. Considering the numerous benefits of outdoor activities to human health and well-being, we assessed whether the quality of the experience of recreational divers in a marine protected area (MPA) was impacted during the pandemic. We applied a semi-structured questionnaire to divers, collected their socioeconomic profile, preferences, motivations, experiences, and compared the results with those obtained in the previous season. We found that the quality of the recreational diver's experience remained high even during one of the world's biggest health crises. This suggests that the combination of contact with a preserved environment and the adaptation of regulations in favor of visitor safety was enough to stimulate positive experiences. Therefore, we highlight the importance of investing in adaptive management so that MPAs continue to promote ecosystem services such as human health and subjective well-being. Management implications: •Quality of experience for recreational divers remained high and was unaffected after the first major wave of COVID-19 cases.•Through adaptive tourism management, MPAs can promote positive experiences even in challenging contexts.•High impact of environmental attributes on the quality of divers' experience reinforces that threats to ecosystems are social impacts.•Socially unequal access to benefits generated by MPAs may negatively influence population's support for these areas.•Efforts are needed to strengthen the equity of distribution of positive social impacts in MPAs.•Potential to provide positive experiences for users must be seen beyond economic value, but as an investment in the population's subjective well-being.

Telling the same story: Fishers and landing data reveal changes in fisheries on the Southeastern Brazilian Coast.

An understanding of the effects of fishing on marine ecosystems relies on information about the conserved state of these environments. Non-conventional approaches such as the use of historical data and local ecological knowledge can provide information and help adjust our references of changes in the environment. Also, the combination of different types of data can indicate a fisheries trend that would be undetectable when evaluated separately. Here we investigated changes in fisher's perceptions regarding overexploited and new target species in artisanal fisheries in a secular fishing village of the subtropical, southeastern Brazilian coast. We identified temporal changes in landings and in the mean trophic level (MTL) of high trophic level species (≥ 3.5 and >4) over 16 years. Fishers' knowledge revealed shifts in perception associated with years of fishing practice. More experienced fishers recognized a greater number of overexploited and new target species than fishers in the beginning of their careers. Landing data has revealed declining trends of 72% for five mesopredators species. Due to the overfishing of mesopredators, there was a shift in target species, towards fish that were previously discarded. Temporal changes in landings and in the MTL metric are concordant with previous reports on the overexploitation of species caught by local fishers. Our work reveals that multiple sources of information can be combined to establish historical baselines and improve the detection of change in marine ecosystems.

Contrasting feeding and agonistic behaviour of two blenny species on a small and remote island in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean.

We investigated the feeding rates, agonistic behaviour and diet of two blenny species, Entomacrodus vomerinus and Ophioblennius trinitatis, by direct observation and gut content analysis. Both species coexist in small and shallow tide pools in the St Peter and St Paul's Archipelago, equatorial North Atlantic Ocean. The feeding rate of O. trinitatis was c. 55% higher than E. vomerinus. On the other hand, agonistic rate of O. trinitatis was negatively related to body size, whereas in E. vomerinus was positively related. Both species showed a high diet overlap, in which detritus was the most important food item (86% in O. trinitatis and 80% in E. vomerinus). Feeding activity was more intense during the morning for O. trinitatis but afternoon for E. vomerinus. These behavioural observations support the importance of temporal feeding partitioning as the main strategy allowing species co-existence in tide pools.

Ecological impacts and management strategies for recreational diving: A review.

Recreational diving is an expanding branch of ecotourism that when poorly managed, may cause considerable impacts to benthic organisms. Such impacts become a matter of concern in popular diving destinations. A systematic literature review was used to verify the characteristics of divers who cause damage to reefs, the effects on benthic organisms, and the range of management interventions available. We describe the knowledge gaps, addressed challenges and propose solutions hoping to reach successful management of diving tourism industry. We identified three main challenges on recreational diving management frameworks and discussed actions to overcome such challenges. The challenges are related to (1) the lack of baseline data and long-term monitoring; (2) integration of scientific research and management; and (3) adaptive management strategies and stakeholder involvement.

Recreational Diver Behavior and Contacts with Benthic Organisms in the Abrolhos National Marine Park, Brazil.

In the last two decades, coral reefs have become popular among recreational divers, especially inside marine protected areas. However, the impact caused by divers on benthic organisms may be contributing to the degradation of coral reefs. We analyzed the behavior of 142 scuba divers in the Abrolhos National Marine Park, Brazil. We tested the effect of diver profile, reef type, use of additional equipment, timing, and group size on diver behavior and their contacts with benthic organisms. Eighty-eight percent of divers contacted benthic organism at least once, with an average of eight touches and one damage per dive. No significant differences in contacts were verified among gender, group size, or experience level. Artificial reef received a higher rate of contact than pinnacle and fringe reefs. Specialist photographers and sidemount users had the highest rates, while non-users of additional equipment and mini camera users had the lowest contact rates. The majority of contacts were incidental and the highest rates occurred in the beginning of a dive. Our findings highlight the need of management actions, such as the provision of pre-dive briefing including ecological aspects of corals and beginning dives over sand bottoms or places with low coral abundance. Gathering data on diver behavior provides managers with information that can be used for tourism management.

Fishers' ecological knowledge of smalleye hammerhead, Sphyrna tudes, in a tropical estuary

Coastal hammerheads have suffered from overexploitation and environmental degradation. We interviewed 79 artisanal fishers to verify fishery aspects, temporal changes in catches and biological aspects of the smalleye hammerhead, Sphyrna tudes , in a marine protected area on Abrolhos Bank, Brazil. Data were compared between three generations of fishers: young, middle-aged and old. Fishers' age varied between 17 and 88 years. We verified significant reductions in the weight of individuals caught by younger fishers. The main types of fishing gear used to catch S. tudes were gill nets and longlines. Overfishing through gill nets and trawl fisheries were mentioned as the cause of S. tudes population collapse in the region. The shark's diet as reported by fishers consisted of fish, crab and shrimp; austral summer was the reproductive season. A strong similarity was verified between fishers' knowledge and biological data. We suggest as plausible strategies to conserve the local population of S. tudes the reduction of net fisheries impact through zoning and establishment of no take areas. These steps can help to initiate the recovery of this depleted species.

Tubarões martelo costeiros têm sofrido com a sobrepesca e degradação ambiental. Foram entrevistados 79 pescadores artesanais para verificar aspectos da pesca, mudanças temporais nas capturas e aspectos biológicos de Sphyrna tudes em uma área marinha protegida no Banco dos Abrolhos, Brasil. Os dados foram comparados entre três gerações de pescadores: novos, meia idade e mais velhos. A idade dos pescadores variou entre 17 e 88 anos. Verificaram-se reduções significativas no peso dos indivíduos capturados pelos pescadores mais jovens. Os principais petrechos usados para captura de S. tudes foram redes de emalhe e espinhel. Pescadores mencionaram que o colapso da população local de S. tudes foi decorrente do excessivo uso de redes de emalhe e pelas pescarias de arrasto. A dieta reportada foi peixes, caranguejos e camarões e a época de reprodução foi o verão. Uma forte similaridade foi verificada entre o conhecimento dos pescadores e dados biológicos. São sugeridas como estratégias plausíveis para conservar a população local de S. tudes a redução do esforço das pescas com rede através de zoneamento e estabelecimento de áreas de exclusão de pesca. Esses passos podem ajudar a iniciar a recuperação de espécies depletadas.