Publications by category
Journal articles
Duarte CM, Agusti S, Barbier E, Britten GL, Castilla JC, Gattuso J-P, Fulweiler RW, Hughes TP, Knowlton N, Lovelock CE, et al (2020). Rebuilding marine life. Nature, 580(7801), 39-51.
Burns P, Hawkins J, Roberts C (2020). Reconstructing the history of ocean wildlife around Ascension Island.
AQUATIC CONSERVATION-MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS,
30(6), 1220-1237.
Author URL.
Sala E, Lubchenco J, Grorud-Colvert K, Novelli C, Roberts C, Sumaila UR (2018). Assessing real progress towards effective ocean protection. Marine Policy, 91, 11-13.
Roberts CM, O'Leary BC, McCauley DJ, Cury PM, Duarte CM, Lubchenco J, Pauly D, Sáenz-Arroyo A, Sumaila UR, Wilson RW, et al (2017). Marine reserves can mitigate and promote adaptation to climate change.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A,
114(24), 6167-6175.
Abstract:
Marine reserves can mitigate and promote adaptation to climate change.
Strong decreases in greenhouse gas emissions are required to meet the reduction trajectory resolved within the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, even these decreases will not avert serious stress and damage to life on Earth, and additional steps are needed to boost the resilience of ecosystems, safeguard their wildlife, and protect their capacity to supply vital goods and services. We discuss how well-managed marine reserves may help marine ecosystems and people adapt to five prominent impacts of climate change: acidification, sea-level rise, intensification of storms, shifts in species distribution, and decreased productivity and oxygen availability, as well as their cumulative effects. We explore the role of managed ecosystems in mitigating climate change by promoting carbon sequestration and storage and by buffering against uncertainty in management, environmental fluctuations, directional change, and extreme events. We highlight both strengths and limitations and conclude that marine reserves are a viable low-tech, cost-effective adaptation strategy that would yield multiple cobenefits from local to global scales, improving the outlook for the environment and people into the future.
Abstract.
Author URL.
O'Leary BC, Winther-Janson M, Bainbridge JM, Aitken J, Hawkins JP, Roberts CM (2016). Effective Coverage Targets for Ocean Protection.
Conservation Letters,
9(6), 398-404.
Abstract:
Effective Coverage Targets for Ocean Protection
The UN's globally adopted Convention on Biological Diversity coverage target for marine protected areas (MPAs) is ≥10% by 2020. In 2014, the World Parks Congress recommended increasing this to ≥30%. We reviewed 144 studies to assess whether the UN target is adequate to achieve, maximize, or optimize six environmental and/or socioeconomic objectives. Results consistently indicate that protecting several tens-of-percent of the sea is required to meet goals (average 37%, median 35%, modal group 21–30%), greatly exceeding the 2.18% currently protected and the 10% target. The objectives we examined were met in 3% of studies with ≤10% MPA coverage, 44% with ≤30% coverage, and 81% with more than half the sea protected. The UN's 10% target appears insufficient to protect biodiversity, preserve ecosystem services, and achieve socioeconomic priorities. As MPA coverages generated from theoretical studies inherently depend on scenario(s) considered, our findings do not represent explicit recommendations but rather provide perspective on policy goals.
Abstract.
Sumaila UR, Lam VWY, Miller DD, Teh L, Watson RA, Zeller D, Cheung WWL, Côté IM, Rogers AD, Roberts C, et al (2015). Winners and losers in a world where the high seas is closed to fishing. Scientific Reports, 5(1).
Pimm SL, Jenkins CN, Abell R, Brooks TM, Gittleman JL, Joppa LN, Raven PH, Roberts CM, Sexton JO (2014). The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection. Science, 344(6187).
Thurstan RH, Brockington S, Roberts CM (2010). The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries.
Nature communications,
1Abstract:
The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries.
In 2009, the European Commission estimated that 88% of monitored marine fish stocks were overfished, on the basis of data that go back 20 to 40 years and depending on the species investigated. However, commercial sea fishing goes back centuries, calling into question the validity of management conclusions drawn from recent data. We compiled statistics of annual demersal fish landings from bottom trawl catches landing in England and Wales dating back to 1889, using previously neglected UK Government data. We then corrected the figures for increases in fishing power over time and a recent shift in the proportion of fish landed abroad to estimate the change in landings per unit of fishing power (LPUP), a measure of the commercial productivity of fisheries. LPUP reduced by 94%-17-fold--over the past 118 years. This implies an extraordinary decline in the availability of bottom-living fish and a profound reorganization of seabed ecosystems since the nineteenth century industrialization of fishing.
Abstract.
Publications by year
2020
Duarte CM, Agusti S, Barbier E, Britten GL, Castilla JC, Gattuso J-P, Fulweiler RW, Hughes TP, Knowlton N, Lovelock CE, et al (2020). Rebuilding marine life. Nature, 580(7801), 39-51.
Burns P, Hawkins J, Roberts C (2020). Reconstructing the history of ocean wildlife around Ascension Island.
AQUATIC CONSERVATION-MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS,
30(6), 1220-1237.
Author URL.
2018
Sala E, Lubchenco J, Grorud-Colvert K, Novelli C, Roberts C, Sumaila UR (2018). Assessing real progress towards effective ocean protection. Marine Policy, 91, 11-13.
2017
Roberts CM, O'Leary BC, McCauley DJ, Cury PM, Duarte CM, Lubchenco J, Pauly D, Sáenz-Arroyo A, Sumaila UR, Wilson RW, et al (2017). Marine reserves can mitigate and promote adaptation to climate change.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A,
114(24), 6167-6175.
Abstract:
Marine reserves can mitigate and promote adaptation to climate change.
Strong decreases in greenhouse gas emissions are required to meet the reduction trajectory resolved within the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, even these decreases will not avert serious stress and damage to life on Earth, and additional steps are needed to boost the resilience of ecosystems, safeguard their wildlife, and protect their capacity to supply vital goods and services. We discuss how well-managed marine reserves may help marine ecosystems and people adapt to five prominent impacts of climate change: acidification, sea-level rise, intensification of storms, shifts in species distribution, and decreased productivity and oxygen availability, as well as their cumulative effects. We explore the role of managed ecosystems in mitigating climate change by promoting carbon sequestration and storage and by buffering against uncertainty in management, environmental fluctuations, directional change, and extreme events. We highlight both strengths and limitations and conclude that marine reserves are a viable low-tech, cost-effective adaptation strategy that would yield multiple cobenefits from local to global scales, improving the outlook for the environment and people into the future.
Abstract.
Author URL.
2016
O'Leary BC, Winther-Janson M, Bainbridge JM, Aitken J, Hawkins JP, Roberts CM (2016). Effective Coverage Targets for Ocean Protection.
Conservation Letters,
9(6), 398-404.
Abstract:
Effective Coverage Targets for Ocean Protection
The UN's globally adopted Convention on Biological Diversity coverage target for marine protected areas (MPAs) is ≥10% by 2020. In 2014, the World Parks Congress recommended increasing this to ≥30%. We reviewed 144 studies to assess whether the UN target is adequate to achieve, maximize, or optimize six environmental and/or socioeconomic objectives. Results consistently indicate that protecting several tens-of-percent of the sea is required to meet goals (average 37%, median 35%, modal group 21–30%), greatly exceeding the 2.18% currently protected and the 10% target. The objectives we examined were met in 3% of studies with ≤10% MPA coverage, 44% with ≤30% coverage, and 81% with more than half the sea protected. The UN's 10% target appears insufficient to protect biodiversity, preserve ecosystem services, and achieve socioeconomic priorities. As MPA coverages generated from theoretical studies inherently depend on scenario(s) considered, our findings do not represent explicit recommendations but rather provide perspective on policy goals.
Abstract.
2015
Sumaila UR, Lam VWY, Miller DD, Teh L, Watson RA, Zeller D, Cheung WWL, Côté IM, Rogers AD, Roberts C, et al (2015). Winners and losers in a world where the high seas is closed to fishing. Scientific Reports, 5(1).
2014
Pimm SL, Jenkins CN, Abell R, Brooks TM, Gittleman JL, Joppa LN, Raven PH, Roberts CM, Sexton JO (2014). The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection. Science, 344(6187).
2010
Thurstan RH, Brockington S, Roberts CM (2010). The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries.
Nature communications,
1Abstract:
The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries.
In 2009, the European Commission estimated that 88% of monitored marine fish stocks were overfished, on the basis of data that go back 20 to 40 years and depending on the species investigated. However, commercial sea fishing goes back centuries, calling into question the validity of management conclusions drawn from recent data. We compiled statistics of annual demersal fish landings from bottom trawl catches landing in England and Wales dating back to 1889, using previously neglected UK Government data. We then corrected the figures for increases in fishing power over time and a recent shift in the proportion of fish landed abroad to estimate the change in landings per unit of fishing power (LPUP), a measure of the commercial productivity of fisheries. LPUP reduced by 94%-17-fold--over the past 118 years. This implies an extraordinary decline in the availability of bottom-living fish and a profound reorganization of seabed ecosystems since the nineteenth century industrialization of fishing.
Abstract.
