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A Conceptual Approach to Inform Restoration Prioritization: Characterizing Ecological Suitability for Multiple Species in GOM Estuaries
Citation:
McCarthy, E., L. Smith, J. Bousquin, L. Harwell, J. Harvey, AND Kevin Summers. A Conceptual Approach to Inform Restoration Prioritization: Characterizing Ecological Suitability for Multiple Species in GOM Estuaries. 2022 Ocean Sciences Meeting - ASLO, Honolulu, HI, February 27 - March 05, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
A combination of ecological and socio-economic outcome indicators is essential for understanding and assessing the effectiveness of coastal habitat restoration as it relates to ecosystem functionality and community benefits. In this presentation, we propose an approach to characterize ecological suitability incorporating attributes that support ecosystem structural diversity, ecosystem functionality, stakeholder values and perceptions, and the benefits derived from ecosystem goods and services. The conceptual application presented considers restoration effectiveness based on habitat suitability and food web characterizations in combination with the provisioning of ecosystem services and desired social benefits. Characterizing ecological suitability is a novel way to incorporate ecological and social information for communicating potential restoration outcomes to both ecosystem managers and stakeholders and could be a valuable approach to help prioritize areas for habitat restoration in coastal ecosystems.
Description:
Successfully assessing restoration effectiveness in coastal ecosystems requires the integration of both ecological and societal measures. Existing coastal monitoring data and stakeholder values can be used for socio-ecological assessments to inform adaptive management actions aimed at maintaining and improving ecological functions and accommodating human use. Prioritizing estuarine restoration sites should incorporate the potential ability of sites to maintain ecological processes for species, support viable native populations, and provide societal benefits. We present a conceptual approach that leverages monitoring data to provide spatial assessments needed to prioritize restoration and evaluate restoration effectiveness in estuarine resources. The approach focuses on habitat suitability characterizations for locally and ecologically important estuarine species in the Gulf of Mexico region, with focus on an example foundational species (eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica). A composite measure of ecological suitability is proposed based on a set of identified habitat suitability thresholds, trophic relationships and social relevance. These species-specific composite measures can be combined to evaluate the influence of estuarine restoration at different spatial scales to inform prioritization and maximize ecological and social outcomes. Baseline information provided by these assessments could be used by natural resource managers to track improvements in estuarine habitat condition for evaluating restoration effectiveness over time.
