Management and conservation: definitions
J .C. Castilla J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 250 2000 3 –21
5
In the past 40 years, EME has peaked to the level of a solid scientific discipline and intertidal and nearshore hard substrata systems have provided the basis for classic
experiments to test hypotheses about competition, predation, succession, niche, facilita- tion, perturbation, resilience, environmental heterogeneity and species richness. A large
array of vertebrates, invertebrates and algae has been used in these endeavors and this represents one of the important contributions of modern EME. Furthermore, during the
last 40 years, major ecological paradigms, such as the concept of the key-stone species, community resilience and or ecologically alternative states and the influence of
carnivores and hervibores on patterns of biomass in aquatic systems species and community trophic cascades and on species biodiversity have evolved, linked to marine
systems Paine, 1966; Sutherland, 1974; Bond, 1993; Mills et al., 1993; Castilla et al., 1994; Power et al., 1996; Polis, 1999. Nevertheless, during the past century, little
scientific progress has been made using experimental approaches to study marine detrital webs and the role of pathogens.
An area that shows little progress, particularly in cold and marine temperate systems tropical ecosystems are not addressed here, is the cross-linkage between EME and
resource management. This has most probably been due to limitations in the design of fishery experiments Underwood, 1990; McAllister and Peterman, 1992 and issues of
large temporal and spatial scales. Nevertheless, there are stronger connections between EME and conservation issues i.e. Mills et al., 1993; Heywood, 1999 than have been
highlighted to date.
In this paper, I analyze EME studies to link them to conservation and management. I suggest that, EME, marine conservation and management should be approached through
the use of long-term monitoring schemes, taking into account the relevant spatial and temporal scales, adaptive strategies and, whenever possible, the use of experimental
protocols. Otherwise these activities will continue to be dissociated. Furthermore, I stress the need for the explicit incorporation of humans in EME protocols and urge scientists to
bridge communication barriers between ecology, conservation, management and social sciences.