m@rble ELectronic conference on MARine Biodiversity in Europe

Introduction to theme 2

implementation and application of biodiversity research in management, conservation and science

Chair Prof. Dr Mark J. Costello, Huntsman Marine Science Centre, St Andrews NB, Canada.

Environmental managers' expertise lies in administration, implementing and developing regulations, managing organizations and people, and critically interpreting existing information to control human impacts on the environment. Nature conservation managers may have ecological training but their experienced is usually limited to endangered species. The working definition of biodiversity used by environmental and nature conservation managers is thus that defined in regulations, typically living resources and protected species.

The importance of ecology, ecosystems and biodiversity is increasingly considered in some areas of management (e.g. EU Habitats and Water Framework Directives), but is conceptually and practically difficult for management to deal with. This is where marine scientists can provide management with facts and opinions in a clear and constructive way. This opinion will include interpretation of facts and predictions of change (often due to human activity) based on past observations and current thinking (theory). It may include conceptual or mathematical modeling. Nature conservation and scientific research is also based on facts (data) and theory. Thus environmental management, nature conservation, and science have a common need for:

1. Data - collected in places over time
2. Theory - to assist predictions based on past observations and experiments (e.g. island biogeographic theory)
3. Communication - between scientists, managers and the public

Communication will including publications and discussions, and can also be considered to include education of students and the public. The Rio Convention of Biological Diversity requires signatory nations to provide education in biodiversity but at present this is haphazard and piecemeal. A key question is how can the science of marine biodiversity be most effectively communicated so environmental managers can do their job optimally?

Given these needs at a European scale, what are the

1. priorities for data
   1. capture,
   2. management, and
   3. dissemination?
2. priorities for the development of a science of marine biodiversity, both theoretical and methodological?