Effects of management strategies on the landscape ecology of a Marine Protected Area

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are important tools for the conservation of coral reefs and associated habitats. We utilized a Geographic Information System (GIS) to evaluate the effect of marine park management in one of Mexico's most important MPAs by comparing benthic habitat structure between the MPA and an adjacent unmanaged region. Characters compared included measure of habitat β-diversity, total area and fragmentation of 15 different habitat classes, and size distributions of the patches of each of those classes. Habitat fragmentation distribution was similar between regions, but significantly higher β-diversity was seen in the managed area, and differences also occurred in the area and fragmentation of several substrate classes. The results suggest that management strategies which limit physical impact on benthic habitats are having a positive effect on the integrity of several important habitats in the MPA.