Review Integrating connectivity and climate change into marine conservation planning Rafael A. Magris a,⇑ , Robert L. Pressey a , Rebecca Weeks a , Natalie C. Ban a,b a Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia b School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC V8W 3R4, Canada article info Article history: Received 10 August 2013 Received in revised form 2 December 2013 Accepted 21 December 2013 Keywords: Biodiversity conservation Marine reserve design Marine protected area Marine reserve Global warming Dispersal abstract Most applications of systematic conservation planning have not effectively incorporated biological pro- cesses or dynamic threats. We investigated the extent to which connectivity and climate change have been considered in an ecologically meaningful way in marine conservation planning, as an attempt to help formulate conservation objectives for population persistence, over and above representation. Our review of the literature identified 115 marine planning studies that addressed connectivity and 47 that addressed the effects of climate change. Of the statements identified that related to goals and objectives, few were quantitative and justified by ecological evidence for either connectivity (13%) or climate change (8.9%). Most studies addressing connectivity focused on spatial design (e.g. size and spacing) of marine protected areas (MPAs) or clustering of planning units. Climate change recommendations were primarily based on features related to MPA placement (e.g. preferences for areas relatively resilient and resistant to climate change impacts). Quantitative methods to identify spatial or temporal dynamics of features related to connectivity and/or climate change (e.g. functionally well-connected or thermal refugia areas) were rare, and these accounted for the majority of ecologically justified statements. Given these short- comings in the literature, we outline a framework for setting marine conservation planning objectives that describes six key approaches to more effectively integrate connectivity and climate change into con- servation plans, aligning opportunities and minimizing trade-offs between both issues. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 208 2. Methods ............................................................................................................ 209 2.1. Database of conservation planning studies ........................................................................... 209 2.2. Data analysis ................................................................................................... 210 3. Results.............................................................................................................. 210 3.1. Overview of studies.............................................................................................. 210 3.2. Connectivity .................................................................................................... 211 3.3. Climate change ................................................................................................. 213 3.4. Opportunities and trade-offs ...................................................................................... 214 4. Discussion ........................................................................................................... 214 4.1. Qualitative vs. quantitative objectives ............................................................................... 214 4.2. A framework for setting objectives for processes related to connectivity and climate change .................................. 215 4.3. Future prospects ................................................................................................ 218 5. Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 219 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 219 Appendix A. Supplementary material ....................................................................................... 219 References .......................................................................................................... 219 0006-3207/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.12.032 ⇑ Corresponding author. Present address: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Room 108, Building 32 (Sir George Fisher Building), James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia. Tel.: +61 07 4781 6063; fax: +61 07 4781 6722. E-mail address: rafael.magris@my.jcu.edu.au (R.A. Magris). Biological Conservation 170 (2014) 207–221 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon