In order to achieve the effective desingation and management of area-based mangement tools (ABMTs) and ecologically coherent networks of those, the functional roles of species, communities and the whole ecosystem functioning should be included in decision-making processes addressing the conservation of the ecological status of marine areas. Ecological functions and ecosystem functioning, however, have so far not been fully incorporated into maangement or policy, aminly due to data constraints. This report provided an analysis of the existing scientific literature addressing this issue and suggesting relevant criteria and methods for the inclusion of ecological functioning and related dimensions into the design and management of area-based protection measures. The information obtained was used to provide a list of criteria focusing on functional aspects and attributes across different levels of biological organization (from individuals to ecosystem). The integration with existing conservation criteria (focusing mainly on structual aspects of ecosystems) will boost the effectiveness of marine conservation. Biological traits, functional diversity, trophic ecology, food web functioning and connectivity were broad categories of criteria that were proposed or already considered in the literature for the prioritization, designation and management of ABMT's and their networks. In this deliverabe, based on the best knowledge gained from the systematic literature review, the potential applicability of functional criteria, associated methods and metrics to evaluate them, and data availability are analyzed and discussed. A portfolio of improved ecological criteria is provided to be integrated into the ecological module (ESE 1) which will be part of the wider Ecological-Socio-Economic management (ESE) framework. The aim of this portfolio of improved criteria is to effectively catalyze (throughout the integration into the ESE model) actions for systematic biodiverity protection and effective conservation and restoration of the ecological status of marine ecosystems, generally addressing European seas, but with a particular focus on the application in the test sites of the MSP4BIO project.
Bongiorni et al. (Tue,) studied this question.