Protecting Connectivity Promotes Successful Biodiversity and Fisheries Conservation

The global decline of coral reefs had led to calls for strategies that reconcile biodiversity conservation and fisheries benefits. Still considerable gaps in our understanding of the spatial ecology of ecosystem services remain. We combined spatial information on larval dispersal networks and estimated of human pressure to test the importance of connectivity for ecosystem service provision. We found that reefs receiving larvae from highly connected dispersal corridors were associated with high fish species richness.

Status of the coral reef ecosystems of Guam

This report is an assessment of the status of coral reef ecosystems in Guam from 2002 to 2004. Data on coral reef ecosystems were synthesized from assessments and monitoring programs conducted by local and federal organizations. Included in the report are assessments of the environmental and anthropogenic stressors affecting coral reefs, information on data gathering activities and the condition of coral reef ecosystem resources, a description of current conservation management activities, and overall conclusions and recom-