Five Ways Seascape Ecology Can Help to Achieve Marine Restoration Goal
The 5Cs of seascape ecology—Context, Configuration, Connectivity, Consideration of scale, and Culture—can help inform restoration ecology and enhance the design of other nature-based solutions
Photo credit: Pixabay / Serpae
Seascape ecology is the study of marine spatial patterns and their ecological consequences. Seascape ecology tools and perspectives are increasingly applied to marine conservation and management efforts by considering the connectivity and interdependence among different species, habitats, and coastal communities. There is now a pressing need for science to support the scaling up of restoration efforts to regenerate healthy seascapes.
Photo credit: Simon Pittman
In a recent paper published in a Special Collection of the journal Landscape Ecology, we have outlined how the 5Cs of seascape ecology can directly inform marine restoration. Although defined separately, the 5Cs in nature are interdependent and operate synergistically across scales.
Context - The geographic, spatial-temporal, ecological, cultural, and socio-economic conditions and events surrounding a focal site, including past, present, and future spatial patterns and dynamics.
Configuration - The spatial arrangement of physical structure, including seafloor habitat, topography, pelagic biological patchiness, and hydrodynamic features that influence ecological processes.
Connectivity - The way that the seascape facilitates or impedes the movements of matter, energy, genes, and species between locations. Seascape connectivity results from complex interactions between marine biogeophysical structure and the attributes of the organisms, materials, or disturbances moving through it.
Consideration of scale - The understanding that seascape patterns and processes operate across multiple scales in space and time, necessitating a multi-scale or cross-scale approach.
Culture - The diverse ways humans relate to seascape patterns and processes that influence beliefs, values, emotions, behaviors, stories, use, and sense of place.
To learn more about the 5Cs of seascape ecology and their applications to restoration and conservation, visit an interactive StoryMap created by PhD student Courtney Stuart.
5Cs StoryMap. Interactive map under the section ‘Consideration of Scale’ demonstrating how we can consider different spatial and temporal scales during seascape restoration.
The Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab has also been applying these theoretical concepts in practice. The lab has been co-developing the latest seascape restoration science and practice with partners in the field through an Oxford Policy Engagement Fellowship. Dr Wedding and colleagues have been partnering with Parc naturel marin du Bassin d'Arcachon, The Seagrass Consortium, and other policy actors to identify barriers and opportunities for adopting an integrated multi-habitat restoration approach. This Fellowship has aimed at supporting the host organisation’s capacity to create a blueprint for a future seascape recovery plan, ensuring lasting benefits for the region’s coastal ecosystems and communities.
