Determining location and estimating size for marine protected areas to preserve species richness

Locations and sizes of Marine Protected Areas were estimated for epibenthic macroinvertebrates and demersal fish, collected during 1999--2002 on the Scotian Shelf and the Bay of Fundy. Four epibenthic macroinvertebrate assemblages were identified (Analysis of Similarities: R = 0.77, 0.42, 0.74, 0.71 in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 respectively) that displayed strong associations with bottom salinity, latitude, longitude, (Spearman's rank coefficient: R = 0.51, 0.42, 0.59, 0.59 in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 respectively) and water masses (less than 5°C and greater than 5°C). Size of MPAs was estimated using species-area relationships; demersal fish yielded an area (56.29 km2), and the epibenthic macroinvertebrates (34.41 km2). Epibenthic macroinvertebrate assemblages displayed a clear pattern of increasing area with increasing species diversity (R2 = 0.96, p< 0.02) whereas demersal fish assemblages did not (R2 = 0.08, p< 0.72). I conclude that the size of MPAs should vary according a regions' species diversity.