Tools for Marine Connectivity
Sperm Whale breeding (dark yellow), feeding (yellow), migrating (light green), and calving (dark green) sites along a migration corridor in the Mediterranean Sea (MiCO System)
Connectivity conservation is recognized as vital to the health and resilience of environments and is expressed in national and international policy as an instrument for protection, conservation, and restoration. There is a growing body of guidance for incorporating connectivity conservation into marine planning, such as the Marine Connectivity Conservation ‘Rules of Thumb’ for MPA and MPA Network Design. However, there is also a clear need for reliable and accessible tools for measuring and tracking marine and coastal ecological connectivity of species and environments, including projected climate change impacts. The resources gathered here offer a starting point for MPA managers and planners to begin to understand the tools and methods that are currently available and can be used for planning and measuring marine ecological connectivity.
Ocean currents and eddies projected over the Northern Atlantic Ocean, supplying warm waters north and connecting systems across seas (NASA Scientific Studio)
Titles preceded by an ‘*’ indicate that the tool explicitly includes connectivity or species movement.
| Tool | Category | Main Uses | Summary | Geographic Focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) System | Species Movement | Can be used to track the critical habitats which marine species depend on throughout their life cycles, and the pathways swam between them over time. | The mapper system displays abundance and movement of marine migratory species globally. Spatial data is partitioned into nodes (areas of non-migratory behavior such as breeding, feeding, observation, spawning, and wintering), and corridors (areas used by migrating individuals). Nodes and corridors highlight species movements throughout the migratory cycle, connecting national and international waters, and demonstrating the amount of time and area used for each. In addition to data viewing, additional analytic tools are available in the toolbar. Each species' data are also analyzed into a results bar that includes summary, activity, sex, and age over time in nodes & metasites. | Global |
| *Animal Telemetry Network (ATN) DAC DATA Portal | Species Movement | Can be used to assess marine animal habitat use, detect changes in their migratory routes in relation to stressors like oil & gas activities and climate variability, monitor changing movement patterns, and improve abundance/population estimates. | The tool tracks marine animal movement and behavior. Spatial data for marine species is customizable according to multiple factors including time scale, dataset, hexes vs. dotted movement paths, among others. Species data can also be added as multiple layers on the mapping tool and once the map is complete, users can create a unique URL that allows anyone to visit this specific map visualization, and then explore and add data with all the same tools. Data collected remotely via acoustic and satellite telemetry techniques is updated every 12-18 months. | Global |
| *The MegaMove data portal | Species Movement | Can be used to identify marine megafauna corridors, overlaps with threats, and areas with ecological significance for single and multiple species. | A global dataset and mapping tool with tracked movements of highly migratory marine vertebrates with focus on identifying migratory corridors, areas of ecological significance, and threat index. MAPPING TOOL COMING SOON. | Global |
| *E-bird migration pathways | Species Movement | Can be used to identify flight path density and timing of migratory avian species movement. | eBird Status and Trends abundance animations reveal migratory pathways and when and where species occur. The tool visualizes the changes in abundance at weekly intervals shedding light on continental-scale patterns for more than 1,000 species. | Global |
| *Coral Triangle Atlas | Species Movement and Habitat Types | Can be used to assess habitat representation and protection levels alongside presence of endangered species and within defined ecoregions and seascapes. | The Atlas provides spatial data for the Coral Triangle marine region. The viewer is customizable by distinctive seascapes, marine ecoregions, habitat types, MPA area and protection categories, threatened species presence and movement paths, and threats like coral bleaching and disease. | Coral Triangle Region |
| Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) Mapper | Species Movement and Habitat Types | Can be used to assess the distribution and abundance of living species in the global ocean over time. | The mapper allows users to visualize and inspect subsets of OBIS data, which are species occurrence records from thousands of datasets. The datasets are integrated, so viewers can search and map them all seamlessly by species name, higher taxonomic level, geographic area, depth, time and environmental parameters, downloadable as summary and point data. | Global |
| Ocean Data Viewer | Habitat Type and Distribution | Can be used to retrieve global distribution of various datasets, including coral reefs, mangroves, seagrasses, saltmarshes, and more. | The data viewer offers users the opportunity to view and download a range of spatial marine datasets. Data mainly includes marine habitat distribution data on a global scale, with dataset publication year indicated. | Global |
| Allen Coral Atlas | Habitat Type and Distribution | Can be used to assess habitat protection representation and coastal habitat vulnerability for coral reefs. | The Atlas utilizes high-resolution satellite imagery and advanced analytics to map and monitor the world’s coral reefs in detail. Data includes mainly benthic habitats and geomorphic mapping with benthic layer including areas <10m in depth and the geomorphic layer including areas <15m in depth. Satellite imagery is customizable by year with records spanning back to 2018. Viewers can also select the coral reef watch mapper and customize viewing bleaching alert levels, hot spots, as well as sea surface temperatures by date. | Tropical regions |
| Ocean + Habitats | Habitat Type and Distribution | Can be used to screen for areas of biodiversity importance, to prioritize conservation based on habitat type representation within protected zones, and to prioritize conservation and corridor needs based on projected habitat extent change. | The mapper provides insight about the health, distribution and change of marine habitats around the world. Data includes marine habitat types, proportion protected, change in habitats, species composition, and importance to wellbeing. | Global |
| *TNC Resilient and Connected Landscapes | Coastal zones | Can be used to identify resilience over a landscape and critical between-site linkages that both connect essential features and corresponded to areas of concentrated flow in terrestrial environments. | This map includes climate-resilient sites, confirmed biodiversity locations, and species movement areas (zones and corridors) across Eastern North America. The approach differs from similar corridor and climate projections in that they did not first identify sites and then try to connect them, instead they started with natural flow patterns as the spatial template and then prioritized resilient and diverse sites that were aligned with the flow patterns. | Eastern United States |
| *Global Safety Net | Coastal zones | Can be used to assess terrestrial zone biodiversity, climate stabilization areas, and potential wildlife corridors (with the caveat that the corridor layer does not account for anthropogenic barriers). | This initial map version of the Global Safety Net (GSN1) includes 11 spatial layers that, when combined, address expanded biodiversity protection and climate stabilization for the terrestrial realm. Geospatial layers include species rarity sites, high biodiversity areas, large mammal landscapes, intact wilderness, and climate stabilization areas. It also scopes out a preliminary system of wildlife and climate corridors to identify the approximate amount of land that would be required to connect protected areas and intact landscapes. With 1 Km resolution, the map presents the extent of each of these land classifications by country and ecoregion. | Global |
| OceanReports | Coastal zones and Fragmenting Threats | Can be used to create a spatially explicit analysis of social, environmental, structural, and industrial information within the U.S.'s EEZ. | The interactive tool allows mapping and planning in the U.S. exclusive economic zone, providing users an easily specialized “ocean neighborhood analysis” package. By selecting an area of interest within the EEZ, viewers can see and download an analysis of the general geomorphic, social, and jurisdictional information, energy and mineral extractive uses and opportunities, endangered and migratory species and essential and endangered habitats, important and protected areas, oceanic and biophysical information, information on transportation and infrastructure, and economic value of ocean commerce. Each analysis can be downloaded or printed. | United States |
| *Aquatic Barrier Prioritization Tool | Fragmenting Threats | Can be used to identify connectedness of aquatic and fluvial habitats and to prioritize removal of fragmenting elements for maximum impact. | The aquatic barrier inventory provides essential information about the location, status, and characteristics of potential aquatic barriers. It is the foundation for identifying and prioritizing aquatic connectivity projects with partners in the American South. Aquatic barriers are also prioritized based on their contribution to the aquatic network if removed, with quantitative metrics providing actionable information to assist barrier removal projects. | Southern United States |
| Global Fishing Watch Map | Fragmenting Threats | Can be used to assess human activity, particularly fishing, at sea over time globally or in a specific local. | The map shows an interactive heat map of human activity at sea in near real-time, based on global automatic identification system (AIS) and vessel monitoring system (VMS) data, displayed in a global heat map customizable by time scale with options to overlay MPAs, EEZs, RFMOs, and High Seas Pockets. Data is updated daily. | Global |
| Marine Traffic | Fragmenting Threats | Can be used to assess number and spread of marine traffic within a defined area, and within a defined time scale. | The mapper displays a live visualization of marine vessels globally. Viewing customization includes options for vessel types, names, and projected courses, among many others. On a playback feature, you can select a vessel or group of vessels and track it movement over time. A global density map is also provided. With membership, additional information, such as vessel speed, is available. | Global |
| Earth NullSchool Ocean Currents Map | Ocean Processes | Can be used to broadly gauge global ocean conditions, including current direction and strength. | This map is a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers, customizable according to date and various display options, including currents, wind, waves, surface temperatures, and pollution, among others. Data updated daily. | Global |
| Marine Protection Atlas | Management | Can be used to assess and track extent and level of protection present and planned in MPAs and MPA networks. | The Atlas displays global marine protection levels based on assessments of MPA Guide protection levels, Regulation-Based Classification System (RBCS) protection, or confirmation of no-take status. Protected areas are also categorized by size and by phaze of designation, including proposed/committed and designated and unimplemented. Level and extent of protection is also assessed for each country with an exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Current marine protected area (MPA) campaign efforts and pending new/expanded MPA sites can be viewed using the interactive Marine Conservation Campaign Tracker. | Global |