Improving conservation planning for subtidal estuarine biodiversity

In marine systems conservation planning is often based on limited information. There is, therefore, a clear need for improved methods for gathering and classifying subtidal marine biodiversity data and for setting targets in conservation planning. Here, methods for collecting data for subtidal estuarine habitats and fish and mollusc assemblages were developed and techniques for modelling surrogacy relationships between biological assemblages and abiotic variables were examined. The resulting data were used to assess the relative efficiency of different target-setting approaches in conservation planning, highlighting the benefits that accrue when conservation planning takes underlying biological diversity into consideration.