RT Journal Article
T1 Understanding socioecological interaction networks in Marine Protected Areas to inform management
A1 Juan, Silvia de
A1 Ospina Álvarez, Andrés
A1 Castro, Antonio J.
A1 Fernández, Emilio
A1 Méndez Martínez, Gonzalo
A1 Molina, Jone
A1 Pita Orduna, Pablo
A1 Ruiz Frau, Ana
A1 Abreu, Gabriela de
A1 Villasante Larramendi, Carlos Sebastián
K1 Coastal habitats
K1 Ecosystem functions
K1 Ecosystems services
K1 Social actors
K1 Coastal management
AB The concept of ecosystem services has become increasingly important in understanding the interactions between humans and nature and the associated implications in terms of human well-being. Despite growing interest in ecosystem services research, knowledge of their ecological underpinnings and their integration with socioeconomic and management components remains limited. In this study, we propose a multi-layered network approach to assess the connection between ecological components, ecosystem functions and societal uses and benefits, management actions, and global change impacts in four Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Spain. An interaction matrix between all relevant components in the MPAs was built based on scientific knowledge, published records, and validated in stakeholder workshops. Then, we applied network analysis to explore the emergent properties of the network of connected elements in the MPAs. For example, habitat foundation species, such as kelp or seagrasses, were central to the networks and concentrated most connections with other ecological, social, and management components. The positive-negative index showed that human activities often had negative indices, ecological components had positive indices, and management, mitigation action, and infrastructure had variable effects across MPAs. Betweenness identified the foundation species or the scientific community as playing a key role in facilitating connections across the network in MPAs. This research provides valuable insights into the complex interactions between ecosystems, human activities, ecosystem functions and services, and management opportunities for coastal MPAs, with important consequences for the local management of the areas.
PB Elsevier
SN 0964-5691
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42241
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42241
LA eng
NO de Juan, S., Ospina-Alvarez, A., Castro, A. J., Fernández, E., Méndez-Martínez, G., Molina, J., ... & Villasante, S. (2023). Understanding socioecological interaction networks in Marine Protected Areas to inform management. Ocean & Coastal Management, 245, 106854.https://doi.org/10.1016/J.OCECOAMAN.2023.106854
NO The authors also knowledge the financial support from the Fundación Biodiversidad through the ECOSER 2.0 project. During the time of the study SdJ was supported by a Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral grant funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Plan Estatal I + D + I, 2017–2020; grant no. RyC -029062-I), AO was supported by “Juan de la Cierva Incorporación ” (IJC -044266-I) fellowship funded by MCIN/AEI and the European Union ”NextGeneration EU/PRTR, and ARF were funded by through a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Spanish Government (IJC2019-040836-I/AEI).
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026