Sequeira, Ana MM;
Rodríguez, Jorge P;
Marley, Sarah A;
Calich, Hannah J;
van der Mheen, Mirjam;
VanCompernolle, Michelle;
Arrowsmith, Lucy M;
... Eguíluz, Víctor M; + view all
(2025)
Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets.
Science
, 388
(6751)
pp. 1086-1097.
10.1126/science.adl0239.
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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.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1126/science.adl0239 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl0239 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Animals, Animal Migration, Aquatic Organisms, Biodiversity, Conservation of Natural Resources, Endangered Species, Extinction, Biological |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10211645 |
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