Offset habitat loss from human activity by restoring or creating habitats elsewhere

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 2
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

45%
Certainty

20%
Harms

0%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Habitat restoration and creation interventions can be undertaken at a site as a biodiversity offset strategy to replace the biodiversity lost at an impacted site, with the aim to achieve ‘no net loss’ of overall biodiversity (Ives & Bekessy 2015). Offsetting can be done “in-kind”, where the new habitat is similar to the lost one (for example creating coral reefs to replace lost coral reefs elsewhere), or “out-of-kind”, where the new habitat is different to the lost one (for example creating an artificial reef to replace lost mudflats elsewhere; evidence summarised under “Habitat restoration and creation – Create artificial reefs” and “Create artificial reefs of different 3-D structure and material used”). When offsetting is undertaken in the marine and coastal environment, it can help promote subtidal benthic invertebrate biodiversity (Jones et al. 2007).

_{Ives C.D. & Bekessy S.A. (2015) The ethics of offsetting nature. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 13, 568–573.}

_{Jones D.A., Ealey T., Baca B., Livesey S. & Al-Jamali F. (2007) Gulf desert developments encompassing a marine environment, a compensatory solution to the loss of coastal habitats by infill and reclamation: The case of the Pearl City Al-Khiran, Kuwait. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 10, 268–276.}

Study locations

Key messages

Two studies examined the effects of offsetting habitat loss from human activity by restoring or creating habitats elsewhere on subtidal benthic invertebrate populations. One study was in the Delaware Bay (USA), the other in the Persian Gulf (Kuwait).

COMMUNITY RESPONSE (1 STUDY)

Overall richness/diversity (1 study): One study in the Persian Gulf found that an area of low ecological value restored to offset habitat lost to land reclamation was colonized by over 198 invertebrate species.

POPULATION RESPONSE (0 STUDIES)

OTHER (1 STUDY)

Biological production (1 study): One study in Delaware Bay found that an artificial reef built to offset lost soft-sediment habitat had higher annual secondary production/unit area from sessile invertebrates, but lower total annual secondary production, compared to habitat similar to that lost.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A study in 1990–1994 of an offset site in Delaware Bay, USA (Burton et al. 2002) found that a 0.7 ha artificial reef created to offset 57.4 ha of lost soft-sediment habitat had higher annual secondary production/unit area from sessile invertebrates, but lower total annual secondary production, compared to habitat similar to that lost. Annual secondary production/unit area at the offset artificial reef was 11–67 times higher than at soft-sediment habitat similar to that lost (2,000–12,000 kcal/m²/year vs 177 kcal/m²/year), but total annual secondary production was 1.3–7.6 times lower (13–77 million cal/year vs 100 million cal/year). The authors concluded that the artificial reef improved secondary production, but not enough reef was created to fully offset the lost habitat. An artificial reef was created in 1989 to mitigate the loss of mudflats elsewhere following the creation of a dredged material disposal site. Twice per summer in 1990–1994, sessile invertebrates growing on the artificial reef were identified and their biomass measured (see original paper for methods). As the mudflat habitat had already been lost, data for comparison were collected from similar soft-sediment habitats in 1990–1993 by the US Protection Agency and the Chesapeake Bay Program. For each habitat type, biomass data were used to estimate annual secondary production.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Burton W. (2002) Assessment of out-of-kind mitigation success of an artificial reef deployed in Delaware Bay, USA. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 59, S106-S110.
A study in 2004–2005 of three sites in one area of soft seabed in the Persian Gulf, Kuwait (Jones et al. 2007) found that restoring a 30 km² area of low ecological value to offset 20 km² of habitat lost to land reclamation led to the creation of 1.27 km² of subtidal channels that were colonized by over 198 benthic invertebrate species within a year. Al-Khiran Pearl Sea City was constructed following a biodiversity offsetting approach by creating waterways, beaches and planted areas (mangrove, seagrass, saltmarsh). One waterway was opened to the sea in 2004. In 2005, invertebrates at three sites within the waterway were surveyed using a variety of methods (see original paper) including a 0.15 m³ sediment grab and a 50 m² dredge. Invertebrates (>0.5 mm) were identified.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Jones D.A., Ealey T., Baca B., Livesey S. & Al-Jamali F. (2007) Gulf desert developments encompassing a marine environment, a compensatory solution to the loss of coastal habitats by infill and reclamation: the case of the Pearl City Al-Khiran, Kuwait. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management , 10, 268-276.

Please cite as:

Lemasson, A.J., Pettit, L.R., Smith, R.K. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Subtidal Benthic Invertebrate Conservation. Pages 635-732 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Subtidal Benthic Invertebrate Conservation

Related Actions

Actions	Effectiveness	Studies	Category
Pay monetary compensation for habitat damage remediation Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	0	Synopsis Link
Remove and relocate habitat-forming (biogenic) species before onset of impactful activities Action Link	Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)	1	Synopsis Link
Offset habitat loss from human activity by restoring or creating habitats elsewhere Action Link	Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)	2	Synopsis Link