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- track2KBA: An R package for identifying important sites for biodiversity from tracking dataPublication . Beal, Martin; Oppel, Steffen; Handley, Jonathan; Pearmain, Elizabeth J.; Pujol, Virginia Morera; Carneiro, Ana P. B.; Davies, Tammy; Phillips, Richard A.; Taylor, Philip R.; Miller, Mark G. R.; Franco, Aldina; Catry, Inês; Patrício, Ana Rita; Regalla De Barros, Aissa; Staniland, Iain; Boyd, Charlotte; Catry, Paulo; Dias, Maria P.Abstract 1. Identifying important sites for biodiversity is vital for conservation and management. However, there is a lack of accessible, easily applied tools that enable practitioners to delineate important sites for highly mobile species using established criteria. 2. We introduce the R package ‘track2KBA’, a tool to identify important sites at the population level using tracking data from individual animals based on three key steps: (a) identifying individual core areas, (b) assessing population-level representativeness of the sample and (c) quantifying spatial overlap among individuals and scaling up to the population. 3. We describe package functionality and exemplify its application using tracking data from three taxa in contrasting environments: a seal, a marine turtle and a migratory land bird. 4. This tool facilitates the delineation of sites of ecological relevance for diverse taxa and provides output useful for assessing their importance to a population or species, as in the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Standard. As such, ‘track2KBA’ can contribute directly to conservation planning at global and regional levels.
- Tracking data and the conservation of the high seas: Opportunities and challengesPublication . Davies, Tammy; Campos, Bruna; Hazin, Carolina; Dunn, Daniel; Gjerde, Kristina M.; Johnson, David E.; Dias, Maria P.1. Biologging technology is rapidly advancing—scientists are obtaining data on movement and behaviour for a range of species, more accurately than ever before. With this information, it is possible to understand more about important areas and their connections across the open ocean including the high seas, beyond national jurisdictions. But an absence of a global governance framework has so far hindered a coordinated approach to conservation action on the high seas. 2. We showcase a candidate high seas MPA in the Northeast Atlantic identified primarily from seabird tracking data and being taken forward under a regional process: the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Seamount (NACES) MPA, under the OSPAR Commission. It provides a unique case study to learn about the intricacies of implementation when applying tracking information for conservation. From this, we identify the facilitating conditions and challenges faced from identification to designation and highlight actionable opportunities for future area-based management of the high seas that will be made possible under a new agreement. 3. Policy implications. The North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Seamount (NACES) MPA demonstrates the power of translating tracking data into usable geospatial knowledge to inform conservation and policy and provides an exemplar for a data-driven approach to high seas conservation that can become a reality under the forthcoming governance framework (under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (known as the BBNJ Agreement)). This new agreement presents a unique conservation opportunity both for the application of tracking data to conservation outcomes and for the protection of migratory species.