Incorporating early life stages of fishes into estuarine spatial conservation planning

1. Many species of fish depend on estuaries to complete their development. Most of them have a planktonic early life stage, and adults of the same species often live in a different habitat. 2. The aim was to assess the importance of incorporating data on fish eggs and larvae in systematic conservation planning at the Patos Lagoon estuary, Brazil. 3. Different scenarios, where fish larvae and eggs were or were not included in the systematic conservation planning process, were investigated. 4. An estimate of artisanal fishing revenue was used as an opportunity cost and compared with a spatially homogeneous cost. Cluster analysis was performed to assess the impact of incorporating ichthyoplankton data on the outcomes of estuarine systematic conservation planning. 5. Regardless of the opportunity cost, the spatial plans fell into two clusters - those with and without fish egg and larvae data. This shows that egg and larvae data have a large impact on priorities for conservation actions in space. 6. This approach is the first to combine artisanal fishery economic spatial data with a conservation plan that incorporates early life stages of fishes. 7. In the case of the Patos Lagoon estuary, shallow areas were particularly important for reaching conservation targets in all scenarios. Considering the dynamic nature of these ecosystems, much work needs to be done to devise better methods of spatial planning in estuaries. Copyright (C) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.