It is predicted that in 30 years we will have lost 70% of our coral reefs. The loss of our coral reefs affects our fisheries, tourism, medicine, and many other aspects of our lives. Coral reefs are the ecosystem of the ocean, without it the ocean slowly dies. Thus, we need to protect our reefs. There has been a lot of debate on paper about what is the best way to protect our marine life from dying, but there has not been much applying those theories discussed to real coral reefs. In this article, “Designing marine protected area networks to address the impacts of climate change,” discusses the pros of the already established marine protected area (MPA) networks to help future designers figure out what aspects of the established MPA’s would be best for theirs. This article is interesting because the researchers focus of these designs is how these areas will make the reefs more adaptable or resilient to climate change. A designer can do everything else perfectly but if their main goal isn’t resiliency, those reefs will die with the quickly rising water temperatures. Resilience equals “reefs ecosystem’s ability to recover from a disturbance, to maintain the dominance of hard corals, and/or to maintain morphological diversity as opposed to shifting to an algal-dominated state or a single coral morphology (McLeod, Salm, Green, and Almany, 2009, pg. 363).” The requirements for a well established MPA network are size (10-20 km), shape (square or rectangle), risk spreading, critical areas, connectivity, ecosystem function, and ecosystem management. The size of the area should be at least 10 to 20 km, and the shape should be a basic one like a square or rectangle. Risk spreading means at least three coral species need to be protected and their larvae can spread out easily. The critical areas that need to be protected are nurseries and spawning areas because those corals will have a better chance of surviving and they are the future. While the other three categories focus on protecting the ecosystems that can connect well with others and will be able to maintain ecosystem function under duress. The reefs that are going to be protected need to be resilient or MPA are not worth the effort because climate change will kill off all the reefs.

McLeod, E., Salm, R., Green, A, and Almany, J. (2009). Designing marine protected area networks to address the impacts of climate change. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7(7): 362-370.