User:Tscottan/sandbox

Article Evaluation
 * Article seems to have very basic information
 * Coral reef section doesn't seem all that necessary but provides an example of how marine conservation comes into play.
 * Human impact section limited and focuses on human impact on coral reefs as opposed to human impacts on a wider scale in the marine environment (minus the one sentence about oil spills)
 * Techniques section touches briefly on the use of MPAs which I feel are an important part of marine conservation so maybe talking about what MPAs actually do to. I thought good that this section brought up the importance of policy change as well as the importance of education in conservation success.
 * I believe that the laws and treaties section could be more inclusive of cooperative regional/international efforts.
 * The article is filled with references and links to topics that are related to the topic of marine conservation which provides additional/supporting information for the article
 * There articles to reference the information in the organizations and education section which would be beneficial for example a paper detailing information about PERSGA.

 EDITS 

Techniques section:
 * These protected areas may be established for a variety of reasons and aim to limit the impact of human activity. These protected areas operate differently which includes ares that have seasonal closures and/or permanent closures as well as multiple levels of zoning that allow people to carryout different activities in separate areas; including, speed, no take and multi-use zones  (Edgar, G. J., Russ, G. R., & Babcock, R. C. (2007). Marine protected areas. Marine ecology, 27, 533-555).

Lead Section:

Marine conservation refers to the study of conserving physical and biological marine resources and ecosystem functions. It is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas through planned management in order to prevent the exploitation of these resources. Marine conservation is driven by the manifested negative effects being seen in our environment such as species loss, habitat degradation and changes in ecosystem functions, and focuses on limiting human-caused damage to marine ecosystems, restoring damaged marine ecosystems, and preserving vulnerable species and ecosystems of the marine life. Marine conservation is a relatively discipline which has developed has a response to biological issues such as extinction and marine habitats change.

Marine conservationists rely on a combination of scientific principles derived from marine biology, oceanography, and fisheries science, as well as on human factors such as, demand for marine resources and marine law, economics and policy, in order to determine how to best protect and conserve marine species and ecosystems. Marine conservation may be described as a sub-discipline of conservation biology.

Human Impact

Increasing human populations have in resulted in increased human impact on our ecosystems. Human activities has resulted in an increased extinction rate of species which has caused a major decrease in biological diversity of plants and animals in our environment. These impacts include increased pressure from fisheries including reef degradation and overfishing as well as pressure from the tourism industry which has increased over the past few years Pressure from fisheries and tourism has had a particularly negative impact on coral reefs. The deterioration of coral reefs is mainly linked to human activities – 88% of reefs are threatened through various reasons as listed above, including excessive amounts of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. Oceans absorb approximately 1/3 of the CO2 produced by humans, which has detrimental effects on the marine environment. The increasing levels of CO2 in oceans change the seawater chemistry by decreasing the pH, which is known as ocean acidification.

Oil spills also impact marine environments, contributing to marine pollution as a result of human activity. The effects of oil on marine fish have been studied following major spills in the United States.

Agardy, M. T. (1994). Advances in marine conservation: the role of marine protected areas. Trends in ecology & evolution, 9(7), 267-270.