Defining and mapping functional groups for fishes and invertebrates in the Scotian Shelf bioregion / by A. Bundy ... [et al.].: Fs97-6/3186E-PDF

“The Government of Canada has committed to creating a national network of marine protected areas (MPAs) that will protect at least 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2020. The Scotian Shelf Bioregion is one of five bioregions in Canada currently developing an MPA network. An important design principle in the development of an MPA network is “ecological representation”, i.e., including areas with relatively intact, naturally functioning examples of a broad variety of habitat types and species. One way to explore ecological representation is by using functional groups as a key representation component. Functional groups are considered to be a collection of species that perform a similar ecological function, regardless of taxonomy. DFO is taking into account various spatial and temporal patterns of species, including functional groups, in the design of the Scotian Shelf Bioregion MPA network. The purpose of this report is to categorize and map fish and invertebrate functional groups in the Scotian Shelf Bioregion for use in the design of this MPA network and other oceans planning and management applications. Here, fish and invertebrate species recorded during DFO's Maritime Region Summer Ecosystem survey were described and categorized into fifteen main groups based on size, habitat, and feeding guild. Spatiotemporal patterns of each of these groups are mapped and can be used to identify priority conservation areas for MPA network planning and design”--Abstract, p. iii.

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