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Credit: Carolyn Lundquist 2020

Spatially-explicit cumulative effects tools

We are incorporating cumulative effects of multiple stressors (from human activities on land and sea) into decision-making tools.

Project LeaderDurationBudget
Carolyn Lundquist (NIWA)June 2020 – June 2023 $1,100,000

Overview

One of the challenges of ecosystem-based management (EBM) is the difficultly of incorporating the cumulative effects of multiple stressors into decision-making. Current marine management practice typically focuses on single stressors, or single sectors, single habitats, or single species. However, the interactions between multiple stressors and where and when a stressor footprint occurs are important considerations when determining effects on ecosystems.

Few tools exist to assess the cumulative effects of multiple stressors in marine ecosystems. This makes effective management difficult and can be a source of uncertainty in management decisions around an ecosystem’s capacity to cope with the effects of new activities.

To address this issue, this project will build the capacity of existing marine spatial management tools to include assessment of cumulative effects.

Specifically, this project will incorporate the findings from the Ecological responses to cumulative effects project (which is looking at the interactions between stressors, and how these stressors act both singularly and in combination) into new decision support tools. These new tools can help decision-makers better understand cumulative effects and develop robust criteria for assessing whether new activities can be accommodated or are likely to trigger an ecological tipping point.

This project is developing 3 models that will be user-tested at the national, regional and local rohe moana levels and include SeaSketch education support tools. These models are:

  1. Stressor interactions
  2. System capacity
  3. Recovery dynamics

 

Research Team

Carolyn Lundquist (NIWA)
Amy Whitehead (NIWA)
Anne-Gaelle Ausseil (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research)
James Whetu (Whetu Consulting)
Hilke Giles (Pisces Consulting Limited)
Tom Brough (NIWA)
Stephanie Watson (University of Waikato)
Shane Geange (DOC)
Hugh Smith (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research)

Related News

Project proposal

566 KB | pdf

Location

This is a national project.

Tools & Resources

This project has produced or contributed to:

Fisheries: Tools, resources and research
Summary
This is a research round-up of our tools, resources and research that support an EBM approach to fisheries management. It is a living document, and more will be added as they develop. Latest update: 2 August 2021
View
Te Au o Te Moana | Special Webinar Series: Healthy Seas
Presentation
This webinar was presented by Conrad Pilditch, Megan Ranapia, Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher, Simon Thrush, Joanne Ellis, and Tom Brough. March 2022 (1hr, 30mins Q&A)
View
Seafood: Tools, resources and research
Summary
This is a research round-up of our tools, resources and research that support an ecosystem-based management (EBM) approach to the seafood industry (July 2022)
View
Hapū and iwi perceptions of cumulative effects: supporting kaitiakitanga
Report
This report presents some of the barriers faced by iwi and hapū across Aotearoa with regards to management of cumulative effects in freshwater, estuarine and marine environments, and potential solutions to overcome these barriers. Hayden M, Lundquist C, & Kainamu A (June 2023)
View
Implications for the conservation of deep-water corals in the face of multiple stressors: a case study from the New Zealand region
Academic publication
Stephenson F, Rowden A, Anderson O, Ellis J, Geange S, Brough T, Behrens E, Hewitt J, Clark M, Tracey D, Goode S, Petersen G & Lundquist C (May 2023)
View
Improving predictions of coastal benthic invertebrate occurrence and density using a multi-scalar approach
Academic publication
Watson S, Stephenson F, Pilditch C & Lundquist C (November 2022)
View
Using the Seafloor Disturbance Model to understand the dynamics of seafloor disturbance and recovery
Summary
This summary showcases the seafloor model of disturbance and recovery dynamics which can be used to explore the implications of changes in the scale and intensity of different stressors for seafloor ecosystems.
View
Developing decision-support tools for cumulative effects management
Report
This report describes a conceptual decision support tool structure, and the associated principles and requirements for decision-support tools for cumulative effects management.
View
Te Ukaipo o Hinemoana
Digital toolModel
Online decision-support tools for informing the management of cumulative effects in the coastal and marine environment.
View
Understanding cumulative effects from a Te Ao Māori perspective
Summary
This summary facilitates translation and communication of concepts of cumulative effects on marine ecosystems, and how they can be managed within a Te Ao Māori world view.
View
Integrating interactive stressors within marine spatial planning using spatial modelling and decision support tools
Summary
This summary details important advances for marine spatial planning and ecosystem-based management (April 2024)
View

Related projects & activities

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Credit: Ōhiwa Harbour, Sustainable Seas
Ecological responses to cumulative effects
This project brings together mātauranga Māori and science to develop new knowledge about cumulative effects
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Tipping points in ecosystem structure, function and services
We investigated how marine ecosystems respond to change, and identified tipping points, risks and ways of managing them.
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Hawke's Bay regional study
This collaboration in Hawke's Bay is mapping environmental stressors, their interactions, and providing guidance for reducing their impacts.
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Communicating risk and uncertainty
Creating guidelines, models and tools that explicitly identify risk and uncertainty, to help make decision-making more inclusive and multi-sectorial.
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Credit: Crispin Middleton NIWA 2018
Spatially-explicit decision support tools
We developed tools to help decision-makers explore how best to use and share marine spaces.
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This project has produced or contributed to