Spatial and temporal changes in cumulative human impacts on the world's ocean

By B. Halpern, Melanie Frazier, J. Potapenko, K. Casey, Kellee Koenig, C. Longo, Julia S. Lowndes, R. C. Rockwood, E. Selig, K. Selkoe and 1 more. Nature Communications, 2015

1,400 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Human pressures on the ocean are thought to be increasing globally, yet we know little about their patterns of cumulative change, which pressures are most responsible for change, and which places are experiencing the greatest increases. Managers and policymakers require such information to make strategic decisions and monitor progress towards management objectives. Here we calculate and map recent change over 5 years in cumulative impacts to marine ecosystems globally from fishing, climate change, and ocean- and land-based stressors. Nearly 66% of the ocean and 77% of national jurisdictions show increased human impact, driven mostly by climate change pressures. Five percent of the ocean is heavily impacted with increasing pressures, requiring management attention. Ten percent has very low impact with decreasing pressures. Our results provide large-scale guidance about where to prioritize management efforts and affirm the importance of addressing climate change to maintain and improve the condition of marine ecosystems. Human pressure on the ocean is thought to be increasing globally, yet the magnitude and patterns of these changes are largely unknown. Here, the authors produce a global map of change in cumulative human pressures over the past 5 years, and show that ∼66% of the ocean has experienced elevated human impact.

Subfields: Ecology, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a9c3990b248ff5cc1e4605c33ba0d3e8265c28bb

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Citations in the corpus

Habitat modelling of tracking data from multiple marine predators identifies important areas in the Southern Indian Ocean (2018, background): “This is particularly so given the increasing anthropogenic impacts on the oceans (Halpern et al., 2015; Maxwell et al., 2013).”
Fish conservation in freshwater and marine realms: status, threats and management (2016, background): “Aquatic ecosystems present unique and difficult challenges for biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of the goods and services that humans derive from healthy ecosystems (Halpern et al., 2015; Closs et al., 2016).”
When good animals love bad restored habitats: how maladaptive habitat selection can constrain restoration (2017, background): “These stressors are ubiquitous, affecting terrestrial (e.g. Lambin & Meyfroidt 2011), freshwater (e.g. Vorosmarty et al. 2010) and marine (e.g. Halpern et al. 2015) ecosystems.”
Current global risks to marine mammals: Taking stock of the threats (2018, background): “…impacts on ecosystems and species in the form of maps, so-called “risk maps”, allow the identification of risk hotspots and are often used for prioritization of conservation measures or actions (e.g. Halpern et al., 2008, 2015; Schipper et al., 2008; Trebilco et al., 2011; Coll et al., 2012).”
Interactions among ecosystem stressors and their importance in conservation (2016, background): “The pressures of habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation, invasive species and climate change are increasing in reach and intensity around the globe [2,3].”
Are we working towards global research priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles (2016, background): “In addition, cumulative human impacts in marine en - vironments (e.g. climate change, pollution, commercial shipping) have been mapped on a global scale (Halpern et al. 2015).”
Predicting the impacts of anthropogenic disturbances on marine populations (2018, background): “Human impacts on marine ecosystems are increasing globally (Halpern et al., 2015), and fisheries bycatch and anthropogenic noise in particular pose a growing threat to many species (Lewison, Crowder, Read, & Freeman, 2004; Slabbekoorn et al., 2010; Shannon et al., 2016).”
Consequences of global shipping traffic for marine giants (2018, background): “indicate changes in cumulative human impact from 2008 to 2013 (Halpern et al. 2015).”
DNA Sequencing as a Tool to Monitor Marine Ecological Status (2017, background): “In addition, sources of degradation such as elevated CO2 and temperature threaten ecosystem integrity and the capacity for marine ecosystems to remain productive (WHCEQ, 2010; NOC, 2013; Rogers, 2013; Halpern et al., 2015).”