A trait‐based framework for assessing the vulnerability of marine species to human impacts
Nathalie Butt,
Benjamin S. Halpern,
Casey C. O'Hara,
A. Louise Allcock,
Beth Polidoro,
Samantha Sherman,
Maria Byrne,
Charles Birkeland,
Ross G. Dwyer,
Melanie Frazier,
Bradley K. Woodworth,
Claudia P. Arango,
Michael J. Kingsford,
Vinay Udyawer,
Pat Hutchings,
Elliot Scanes,
Emily Jane McClaren,
Sara M. Maxwell,
Guillermo Diaz‐Pulido,
Emma Dugan,
Blake Alexander Simmons,
Amelia S. Wenger,
Christi Linardich,
Carissa J. Klein
Affiliations
Nathalie Butt
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of Queensland St. Lucia Queensland Australia
Benjamin S. Halpern
Bren School of Environmental Science and Management University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara California USA
Casey C. O'Hara
Bren School of Environmental Science and Management University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara California USA
A. Louise Allcock
Department of Zoology National University of Ireland Galway Galway Ireland
Beth Polidoro
School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Arizona State University Glendale Arizona USA
Samantha Sherman
Department of Biological Sciences, Earth to Oceans Research Group Simon Fraser University Burnaby British Columbia Canada
Maria Byrne
School of Life and Environmental Sciences The University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
Charles Birkeland
Department of Biology University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu Hawaii USA
Ross G. Dwyer
School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland St. Lucia Queensland Australia
Melanie Frazier
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara California USA
Bradley K. Woodworth
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science The University of Queensland St. Lucia Queensland Australia
Claudia P. Arango
Office for Research Griffith University Nathan Queensland Australia
Michael J. Kingsford
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Marine Biology and Aquaculture College of Science and Engineering, JCU Townsville Queensland Australia
Vinay Udyawer
Arafura Timor Research Facility Australian Institute of Marine Science—Darwin Brinkin Northern Territory Australia
Pat Hutchings
Department of Marine Invertebrates Australian Museum Research Institute Sydney New South Wales Australia
Elliot Scanes
Climate Change Cluster, Faculty of Science University of Technology Sydney Ultimo New South Wales Australia
Emily Jane McClaren
School of Life and Environmental Sciences The University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales Australia
Sara M. Maxwell
School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University of Washington, Bothell Campus Bothell Washington USA
Guillermo Diaz‐Pulido
School of Environment & Science Griffith University, Nathan Campus Brisbane Queensland Australia
Emma Dugan
College of Letters & Science University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara California USA
Blake Alexander Simmons
Global Development Policy Center Boston University Boston Massachusetts USA
Amelia S. Wenger
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of Queensland St. Lucia Queensland Australia
Christi Linardich
International Union for Conservation of Nature Marine Biodiversity Unit, Department of Biological Sciences Old Dominion University Norfolk Virginia USA
Carissa J. Klein
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of Queensland St. Lucia Queensland Australia
Abstract Marine species and ecosystems are widely affected by anthropogenic stressors, ranging from pollution and fishing to climate change. Comprehensive assessments of how species and ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenic stressors are critical for guiding conservation and management investments. Previous global risk or vulnerability assessments have focused on marine habitats, or on limited taxa or specific regions. However, information about the susceptibility of marine species across a range of taxa to different stressors everywhere is required to predict how marine biodiversity will respond to human pressures. We present a novel framework that uses life‐history traits to assess species' vulnerability to a stressor, which we compare across more than 44,000 species from 12 taxonomic groups (classes). Using expert elicitation and literature review, we assessed every combination of each of 42 traits and 22 anthropogenic stressors to calculate each species' or representative species group's sensitivity and adaptive capacity to stressors, and then used these assessments to derive their overall relative vulnerability. The stressors with the greatest potential impact were related to biomass removal (e.g., fisheries), pollution, and climate change. The taxa with the highest vulnerabilities across the range of stressors were mollusks, corals, and echinoderms, while elasmobranchs had the highest vulnerability to fishing‐related stressors. Traits likely to confer vulnerability to climate change stressors were related to the presence of calcium carbonate structures, and whether a species exists across the interface of marine, terrestrial, and atmospheric realms. Traits likely to confer vulnerability to pollution stressors were related to planktonic state, organism size, and respiration. Such a replicable, broadly applicable method is useful for informing ocean conservation and management decisions at a range of scales, and the framework is amenable to further testing and improvement. Our framework for assessing the vulnerability of marine species is the first critical step toward generating cumulative human impact maps based on comprehensive assessments of species, rather than habitats.
