Building a coordinated framework for research and monitoring in large-scale international marine protected areas: The Ross Sea region as a model system

To fulfill their conservation potential, marine protected areas (MPAs) need coordinated research and monitoring through effective evaluation of ecosystem dynamics. However, coordination is challenging, often due to knowledge gaps caused by inadequate access to data and resources, compounded by insufficient communication between scientists and managers. This background paper includes an article in press with Conservation Letters “Building a coordinated framework for research and monitoring in large-scale international marine protected areas: The Ross Sea region as a model system” which proposes to use the world’s largest MPA in the Ross Sea, Antarctica as a model system to create an international, interdisciplinary network supporting policy-relevant research and monitoring that could be implemented in other remote, large-scale international MPAs. The article describes a framework for building a “Research Coordination Network” consisting of three key components: (i) policy engagement, (ii) community partner engagement, and (iii) integrated science comprising three themes: data science and cyberinfrastructure, biophysical modeling, and observations that include monitoring and process studies. We envision the Research Coordination Network as an example of how to bring together diverse interdisciplinary participants towards an effective, integrated science-policy collaboration.