Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas on Mitigating Coral Disease

Abstract

*First Co-Authors 

The health and survival of global coral reef ecosystems are threatened by anthropogenic stressors including climate change, coastal pollution, dredging, overfishing, tourism, and disease. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a management strategy used to protect coral reefs through varied limitations on human use; however, some research indicates that MPAs are not effective in mitigating the proliferation of coral disease. To determine whether MPAs are an effective coral reef protection tool with regard to disease, we performed a meta-analysis using published data to compare coral disease prevalence inside and outside MPAs. We extracted 33 total papers from 8 databases, and analyzed 3 studies after applying selection criteria. Preliminary forest plot results show that there is a positive mean difference between disease prevalence inside versus outside MPAs. The data show that MPAs may be slightly effective at protecting corals from disease, however other management strategies addressing the root causes of coral disease outbreaks, such as water pollution and climate change, which are not addressed directly by most MPAs, may be more effective.