Exploration of MARXAN for utility in marine protected area zoning
Date
2006-05-01T22:07:24Z
Authors
Loos, Sarah Amber
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Abstract
There is a lack of tools for zoning marine protected areas (MPAs). MARXAN is a popular tool for MPA siting, and this thesis explores its use for zoning. MPA managers and zoning practitioners were interviewed in order to determine the requirements of zoning. This, combined with a literature review, informed the testing of several MARXAN settings. This testing was necessary due to poor existing documentation and the uncertainty associated with many settings. Finally, different methods for creating and combining zones were also developed.
Due to the complexity of MARXAN it is not possible to develop specific guidelines for many of the settings tested in this research. However, general trends for several settings were determined, and applied within the context of MPA zoning. Preliminary zones were developed and combined using MARXAN’s summed solution output, the results of which are ready for zone refinement with stakeholders and MPA planners.
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GIS, Zoning, Marine Protected Areas, MARXAN