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.

2. Management and conservation: definitions

Management and conservation are human, goal-driven issues and humans have a major impact on populations, communities, ecosystems and the biota Margalef, 1997; Castilla, 1999; Polis, 1999. Conservation and management have different meanings to different people or agencies. They can be interpreted as complementary or antagonistic concepts. The process of management is or should be a scientific and socio-political activity referring to large-scale human perturbations. It is defined as an administrative tool aimed at the long-term sustainable use of a resource, a group of resources or an ecosystem. Marine management usually includes regulations about the distribution of the resource among users, access to resources, quotas and territorial or resource property rights. So far, socio-political economic forces have dominated policies to manage resources, to the detriment of population, community or ecosystem ecological knowl- edge Hilborn and Walters, 1992. 6 J .C. Castilla J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 250 2000 3 –21 Conservation is a term that has evolved in the past 150 years reviewed by Meffe and Carroll, 1994; Heywood and Watson, 1995. In its widest sense it refers to the protection, use and sharing of benefits of the biosphere in a sustainable way IUCN UNEP WWF, 1980. In its narrowest sense, as used in the Convention of Biological Diversity, it embraces only ’preservation’ or the maintenance of some or all components of biological diversity. Furthermore, definitions of conservation vary between countries and agencies. For example, the Chilean legislation defines conservation as the ’adminis- tration management of the biosphere by the human being so that the greatest and sustainable benefits for the present and future generations are achieved’ Castilla, 1996. On the other hand, conservation i.e. wildlife rehabilitation; Estes, 1998 may also be perceived as ’a public demand’ and be interpreted as a major confrontation with the continued use of the resources.

3. Management and experimental marine ecology