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In recent years, the study of marine connectivity has undergone rapid advancements owing to progress in biophysical modelling of early life history stages of marine species (ELHS) and technical developments in our ability to track the movement of juvenile and adult fish (e.g. satellite tags and otolith chemistry).
However, the knowledge gained from these efforts has infrequently been applied towards improving the assessment and management of populations. Indeed, mounting evidence indicates that the spatial and demographic structure of marine populations is often more complex than presently accounted for in assessment and management. This highlights the need to integrate current advances in the study of ELHS and adult connectivity with applied fisheries science.
The session intends to address the assessment and management challenges that we will face in the coming decades, from species-specific and multispecies assessments to the conservation of marine biodiversity and management of ecosystems services. The session is a cross-disciplinary platform including theoretical and mechanistic studies, modelling, and their applied outcomes across nearshore and oceanic scales.
Papers are welcome on the following topics:
- New advances in ELHS ecology or adult movements informative to understand the structural complexity of marine populations: biophysical modelling of dispersal and migration pathways, genetic approaches, otolith microchemistry, survival observations and modelling, or migration tracking
- Life history influence on effective connectivity (e.g. phenotypic-dependent dispersal, behavioural implications in larval transport, trait-mediated interactions in ecological processes related to connectivity) and its ecological and management consequences
- Spatial and temporal scale dependence of connectivity pathways and the ecological and management implications of this dependence
- Population dynamics implications of connectivity: demographic and spatial implications with potential implication in assessment, buffering or strengthening of source-sink dynamics, medium- and long-term population persistence
- Anthropogenic influence altering natural connectivity pathways: ecological and management implications
- Management strategies accounting for connectivity: influence on recovery plans and network designs of MPAs, trade-off between larval import and self-recruitment, complex structured population management, and stock restructuring
