Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets
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Abstract
The recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets ambitious goals but no clear pathway for how zero loss of important biodiversity areas and halting human-induced extinction of threatened species will be achieved. We assembled a multi-taxa tracking dataset (11 million geopositions from 15,845 tracked individuals across 121 species) to provide a global assessment of space use of highly mobile marine megafauna, showing that 63% of the area that they cover is used 80% of the time as important migratory corridors or residence areas. The GBF 30% threshold (Target 3) will be insufficient for marine megafauna’s effective conservation, leaving important areas exposed to major anthropogenic threats. Coupling area protection with mitigation strategies (e.g., fishing regulation, wildlife-traffic separation) will be essential to reach international goals and conserve biodiversity.
Suggested Citation
Sequeira, A.M., Rodriguez, J.P., Marley, S., Calich, H.J., van der Mheen, M., VanCompernolle, M., Arrowsmith, L., Peel, L., Queiroz, N., Vedor, M., da Costa, I., Mucientes, G., Couto, A., Humphries, N., Abalo-Morla, S., Abascal, F., Abercrombie, D., Abrantes, K., Abreu-Grobois, F., Afonso, A., Afonso, P., Ahonen, H., Åkesson, S., Alfaro-Shigueto, J., Andrews, R.D., Angelier, F., Antonopoulou, M., Arata, J., Araujo, G., Arauz, R., Arcos, J.M., Arregui, I., Arrizabalaga, H., Auger-Methe, M., Bach, S., Bailleul, F., Baird, R., Balazs, G., Barco, S., Barnett, A., Baverstock, W., Baylis, A.M., Beard, A., Bécares, J., Belda, E.J., Bell, I., Bennison, A., Benson, S., Bernal, D., Berumen, M., Bessudo, S., Bezerra, N., Blaison, A., Blanco, G., Block, B.A., Bolton, M., Bond, M., Bonfil, R., Braun, C., Broderick, A.C., Brooke, M., Brooks, A., Brooks, E., Bruno, I.M., Burns, J.M., Byrne, M.E., Campana, S., Campbell, H., Campbell, R., Carlisle, A., Carmichael, R.H., Carroll, G., Casale, P., Ceia, F.R., Chapman, D., Chapple, T., Charrassin, J., Chiaradia, A., Chisholm, J., Clarke, C., Clay, T., Cleguer, C., Clingham, E., Clua, E., Cochran, J., Constantine, R., Cooper, R., Crochelet, E., Cronin, M., Cuevas, E., DaCosta, K., Dagorn, L., Daly, R., Davis, R.W., de Bruyn, N., Delgado-Trejo, C., Dellinger, T., Derville, S., Diamant, S., DiMatteo, A., Dodge, K., Doherty, P.D., Double, M., Dove, A., Doyle, T., Drew, M., Dubbs, L., Duffy, C., Dutton, P., Edwards, E., Einoder, L., Erdmann, M., Espinoza, E., Esteban, N., Fagundes, A.I., Feare, C., Ferguson, S.H., Ferreira, L.C., Ferretti, F., Filmalter, J., Finucci, B., Fischer, G., Fitzpatrick, R., Fontes, J., Formia, A., Fossette, S., Francis, M., Friedlaender, A., Furtado, M., Gallagher, A.J., Garrigue, C., Gennari, E., Gilchrist, H.G., Godley, B.J., Goldsworthy, S.D., Gollock, M., González Carman, V., Grecian, W.J., Green, J., Guinet, C., Gustafson, J., Guttridge, T., Guzman, H., Hamer, D., Hamer, K.C., Hammerschlag, N., Hammill, M., Harman, L., Harrison, E., Hart, C., Harris, A., Hastie, G., Hazin, F., Heard, M., Hearn, A., Heide-Jorgensen, M.P., Henry, L., Henry, R.W., Hernandez, V., Herrera, A., Hindell, M.A., Holdsworth, J., Holmes, B., Howey, L., Hoyos Padilla, E., Huckstadt, L., Hueter, R., Lara, P., Hussey, N.E., Huveneers, C., Hyland, K., Irion, D., Jacoby, D., Jaeger, A., Jaidah, M., Jessopp, M., Jewell, O., Johnson, R., Jones, C.G., Jonsen, I., Jordan, L., Jorgensen, S., Kato, A., Ketchum, J., Kitaysky, A., Klimley, A.P., Kock, A., Koen, P., Ladino Archila, F., Lana, F., Lane, J., Le Corre, M., Lea, M., Leat, E., Lee, O., Levenson, J., Ley-Quiñonez, C., Llewellyn, F., Lockhart, G., Lopez, G., Lopez Mendilaharsu, M., Lowther, A., Luschi, P., Lutcavage, M., Lyon, W., Macena, B., Mackay, A., Madden Hof, C., Mallory, M.L., Mangel, J.C., Manning, M., Mansfield, K., March, D., Marco, A., Marcoux, M., Acuña-Marrero, D., Marsh, H., Marshall, H., Mate, B., McAllister, J., McGuire, R.L., McKenzie, J., McLeay, L., McMahon, C., Modest, M., Morris, J.T., Muelbert, M., Namboothri, N., Nichols, W.J., Nicoll, M.A., Norman, B., Norris, K., Olsen, E., Oppel, S., Orlowski, S., Pagano, A.M., Page, B., Paiva, V.H., Palacios, D., Papastamatiou, Y., Parker, D., Pattiaratchi, C.B., Peckham, H., Peñaherrera-Palma, C., Pepperell, J., Phillips, R.A., Pierce, S., Pikesley, S., Pilcher, N.J., Pinet, P., Pinkerton, M., Pirotta, E., Plot, V., Powell, A., Powers, K., Prebble, C., Preston, T., Prieto, R., Prosdocimi, L., Quinn, J.L., Quintero, L., Raclot, T., Ramirez, I., Ramírez-Macías, D., Ramos, J.A., Read, A., Ream, R., Rees, A., Reina, R.D., Reisinger, R., Revuelta, O., Reynolds, S., Richardson, A.J., Riekkola, L., Riet-Sapriza, F., Robinson, D., Robinson, P.W., Rocha, C., Rogers, T., Rohner, C., Ropert-Coudert, Y., Ross, M., Rowat, D., Ruhomaun, K., Sagar, P., Samoilys, M., Sanchez, S., Sandoval-Lugo, A., dos Santos, E., Santos, A., Scales, K., Schofield, G., Semmens, J., Setyawan, E., Shaffer, S.A., Shanker, K., Sheaves, M., Shillinger, G., Shivji, M., Sianipar, A., Silk, J., Silva, M., Sim, J., Simpson, S., Skomal, G.B., Slip, D., Smale, M., Soler, G., Soria, M., Sousa, L., Southall, E., Stahl, J., Stehfest, K., Sterling, J., Stevens, J., Stevens, G., Stewart, J., Swaminathan, A., Takahashi, A., Tatayah, V., Thiebot, J., Thompson, P.M., Thorrold, S., Thums, M., Tomas, J., Torres, L., Towner, A., Trathan, P., Tyminski, J., van Buiten, R., van Dam, R.P., Vandeperre, F., Varo-Cruz, N., Vaudo, J., Vely, M., Villegas-Amtmann, S., Vincent, C., Waayers, D., Wanless, S., Watanabe, Y., Watt, C., Weber, S., Weber, N., Weise, M.J., Welch, L., Wells, R.S., Werry, J., Wetherbee, B., White, T., Whiting, S., Whiting, A., Wiebkin, A., Wienecke, B., Wildermann, N.E., Wiley, D., Will, A., Williams, S., Windstein, M., Wischnewski, S., Witt, M.J., Womersley, F., Wood, A., Wright, L., Xavier, J., Yamamoto, T., Yurkowski, D.J., Zarate, P., Zavala-Norzagaray, A., Zerbini, A., Costa, D.P., Harcourt, R., Meekan, M.G., Hays, G.C., Sims, D.W., Duarte, C.M., Eguíluz, V., 2025, Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets: Science, v. 388, no. 6751, p. 1086-1097, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl0239.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets |
| Series title | Science |
| DOI | 10.1126/science.adl0239 |
| Volume | 388 |
| Issue | 6751 |
| Publication Date | June 05, 2025 |
| Year Published | 2025 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| Contributing office(s) | Alaska Science Center Ecosystems |
| Description | 12 p. |
| First page | 1086 |
| Last page | 1097 |