Global tracking of marine megafauna space use reveals how to achieve conservation targets
Ana M. M. Sequeira, Jorge Rodríguez, Sarah A. Marley, Hannah J. Calich, Mirjam van der Mheen, Michelle VanCompernolle, Lucy M. Arrowsmith, Lauren R. Peel, Nuno Queiroz, Marisa Vedor, Ivo da Costa, Gonzalo Mucientes, Ana Couto, Nicolas E. Humphries, Sara Abalo‐Morla, Francisco J. Abascal, Debra L. Abercrombie, Kátya G. Abrantes, F. Alberto Abreu‐Grobois, André S. Afonso, Pedro Afonso, Heidi Ahonen, Susanne Åkesson, Joanna Alfaro‐Shigueto, Russel D. Andrews, Frédéric Angelier, Marina Antonopoulou, Javier A. Arata, Gonzalo Araújo, Rándall Arauz, José Manuel Arcos, Igor Arregui, Haritz Arrizabalaga, Marie Auger‐Méthé, Steffen Bach, Frédéric Bailleul, Robin W. Baird, George H. Balazs, Susan G. Barco, Adam Barnett, Warren Baverstock, Alastair M. M. Baylis, Annalea Beard, Juan Bécares, Eduardo J. Belda, Ian Bell, Ashley Bennison, Scott R. Benson, Diego Bernal, Michael L. Berumen, Sandra Bessudo, Natalia Priscila Alves Bezerra, Antonin V. Blaison, Gabriela S. Blanco, Barbara A. Block, Mark Bolton, Mark E. Bond, Ramón Bonfil, Camrin D. Braun, Annette C. Broderick, M. de L. Brooke, Annabelle Brooks, Edward J. Brooks, Ignacio Bruno, Jennifer M. Burns, Michael E. Byrne, Steven E. Campana, Hamish A. Campbell, Richard A. Campbell, Aaron B. Carlisle, Ruth H. Carmichael, Gemma Carroll, Paolo Casale, Filipe R. Ceia, Demian D. Chapman, Taylor K. Chapple, Jean‐Benoît Charrassin, André Chiaradia, John Chisholm, Christopher R. Clarke, Thomas A. Clay, Christophe Cleguer, Elizabeth Clingham, Éric Clua, Jesse E. M. Cochran, Rochelle Constantine, Robert W. Cooper, Estelle Crochelet, Michelle Cronin, Eduardo Cuevas, Kayla P. DaCosta, Laurent Dagorn, Ryan Daly, Randall W. Davis, P J Nico de Bruyn, Carlos Delgado-Trejo, Thomas Dellinger, Solène Derville, Stella Diamant, Andrew DiMatteo
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.