ZMT - Leibniz Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung

Project description

The accelerated loss of biodiversity and deterioration of ecosystem services are distinctive marks of the Anthropocene. REEF FUTURES will quantify five key ecosystem services provided by reef fishes to the world’s coasts. At ZMT we focus on fishes’ inputs to the carbon cycle through the egestion of carbonates that accompanies osmoregulation.

This information will be integrated in models aimed to predict future ecosystem service levels under multiple scenarios of human demography, economic development, and climate change.

Carbonate egestion rates will be quantified for ~70 non-endangered coral reef fish species spanning three tropical biogeographic realms of the world through a network of partner institutions with advanced mesocosm facilities.

Work is planned in five locations across the Western Indian Ocean, Northern Red Sea, North-western Pacific and South Pacific Ocean, and the ZMT’s Marine Experimental Facility (MAREE) in Germany. Ultimately, the predictions of the hierarchical models produced by REEF FUTURES, will be relevant at multiple spatial scales and to multiple stakeholders.

National-scale results will help governments anticipate a plan for changes in resource availability and food security, while local-scale results will help communities and individuals foresee changes in ecosystem services and livelihood opportunities.

REEF FUTURES is therefore directly relevant to the 2014/89/EU directive establishing a framework for Marine Spatial Planning.