Ahmed Basheer - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ahmed Basheer
The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do n... more The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), USAID (United States Agency for International Development), Project REGENERATE or the Government of Maldives concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN, USAID, Project REGENERATE or the Government of Maldives. This publication has been made possible in part by generous funding from USAID. The facilitation required for the research has been made possible by the Ministry of Environment (MoEnv), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI).
We would like to thank Ministry of Environment (MoEnv), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and... more We would like to thank Ministry of Environment (MoEnv), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI) for their guidance in developing the questionnaires used during the social surveys and the focus group discussions. We are extremely grateful to Dr Anthony Rouphael for providing important inputs on the survey questionnaire and the general scope of this work. Sincere gratitude to Abdulla Fisam, former Marine Conservation Officer for project REGENERATE, who contributed to developing the fisheries section of the questionnaire and assisted in survey administrations as well as in data compilation. We are grateful to Najfa Shaheem Razee, IUCN for reviewing the report and providing detailed feedback. We would also like to thank Mohamed Shafee for preparing the maps and conducting the spatial analysis of the survey. Special thanks are due to EPA staff
The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do n... more The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), USAID (United States Agency for International Development), Project Regenerate or the Government of Maldives concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN, USAID, Project Regenerate or the Government of Maldives. This publication has been made possible in part by funding from USAID. The facilitation required for the research has been made possible by the Ministry of Environmemt, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Marine Research Centre and the Maldives Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture.
This report represents the most comprehensive effort to monitor coral bleaching in the Maldives t... more This report represents the most comprehensive effort to monitor coral bleaching in the Maldives to date, using a combination of citizen science and expert scientist (governmental, academic and non-governmental) data sets.
Diversity and Distributions, 2017
Aim: There is global consensus that Marine Protected Areas offer a plethora of benefits to the bi... more Aim: There is global consensus that Marine Protected Areas offer a plethora of benefits to the biodiversity within and around them. Nevertheless, many organisms threatened by human impacts also find shelter in unexpected or informally protected places. For coral reef organisms, refuges can be tourist resorts implementing local environment-friendly bottom-up management strategies. We used the coral reef ecosystem as a model to test whether such practices have positive effects on the biodiversity associated with de facto protected areas. Location: North Ari Atoll, Maldives. Methods: We modelled the effects of the environment and three human management regimes (tourist resorts, uninhabited and local community islands) on the abundance and diversity of echinoderms and commercially important fish species, the percent cover of reef benthic organisms (corals, calcareous coralline algae, turf, and macroalgae), and the proportion of coral disease. We used multivariate techniques to assess the differences between reef components among the management regimes. Results: Reefs varied between the management regimes. A positive 'resort effect' was found on sessile benthic organisms, with good coral cover and significantly less algae at resort islands. Corals were larger and had fewer diseases in uninhabited islands. Minor 'resort effect' was detected on motile species represented by commercial fish and echinoderms. Main conclusions: In countries where natural biodiversity strongly sustains the tourist sector and where local populations rely on natural resources, a balance between tourism development, local extraction practices, and biodiversity conservation is necessary. The presence of eco-friendly managed resorts, which practices would need to be certified on the long term, is beneficial to protect certain organisms. House reefs around resorts could therefore provide areas adding to 4 existing marine protected areas, while marine protection efforts in local community islands should focus on improving fishing management.
Coral Reefs, 2016
Extreme white colouration of frogfish Antennarius maculatus due to coral bleaching event An indiv... more Extreme white colouration of frogfish Antennarius maculatus due to coral bleaching event An individual of the warty frogfish species Antennarius maculatus was observed camouflaging itself against fully bleached corals at 10 m depth at the Velidhoo Island resort reef (4°11¢41.35 †N,
Baseline assessment of coral reefs of North Ari is the first study to investigate spatial variati... more Baseline assessment of coral reefs of North Ari is the first study to investigate spatial variation in reef condition within the context of different human pressures in one atoll in the Maldives. Specifically, this study aimed to investigate whether and how coral reef condition (fish biomass, structural complexity, coral composition and live cover, and foraminiferal assemblages) vary spatially among reefs with different population levels and/or under different management regimes within North Ari atoll.
There is global consensus that marine protected areas offer a plethora of benefits to the biodive... more There is global consensus that marine protected areas offer a plethora of benefits to the biodiversity within and around them. Nevertheless, many organisms threatened by human impacts also find shelter in unexpected or informally protected places. For coral reef organisms, refuges can be tourist resorts implementing local environmentfriendly bottom-up management strategies. We used the coral reef ecosystem as a model to test whether such practices have positive effects on the biodiversity associated with de facto protected areas.
The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do n... more The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), USAID (United States Agency for International Development), Project REGENERATE or the Government of Maldives concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN, USAID, Project REGENERATE or the Government of Maldives. This publication has been made possible in part by generous funding from USAID. The facilitation required for the research has been made possible by the Ministry of Environment (MoEnv), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI).
We would like to thank Ministry of Environment (MoEnv), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and... more We would like to thank Ministry of Environment (MoEnv), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI) for their guidance in developing the questionnaires used during the social surveys and the focus group discussions. We are extremely grateful to Dr Anthony Rouphael for providing important inputs on the survey questionnaire and the general scope of this work. Sincere gratitude to Abdulla Fisam, former Marine Conservation Officer for project REGENERATE, who contributed to developing the fisheries section of the questionnaire and assisted in survey administrations as well as in data compilation. We are grateful to Najfa Shaheem Razee, IUCN for reviewing the report and providing detailed feedback. We would also like to thank Mohamed Shafee for preparing the maps and conducting the spatial analysis of the survey. Special thanks are due to EPA staff
The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do n... more The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), USAID (United States Agency for International Development), Project Regenerate or the Government of Maldives concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN, USAID, Project Regenerate or the Government of Maldives. This publication has been made possible in part by funding from USAID. The facilitation required for the research has been made possible by the Ministry of Environmemt, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Marine Research Centre and the Maldives Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture.
This report represents the most comprehensive effort to monitor coral bleaching in the Maldives t... more This report represents the most comprehensive effort to monitor coral bleaching in the Maldives to date, using a combination of citizen science and expert scientist (governmental, academic and non-governmental) data sets.
Diversity and Distributions, 2017
Aim: There is global consensus that Marine Protected Areas offer a plethora of benefits to the bi... more Aim: There is global consensus that Marine Protected Areas offer a plethora of benefits to the biodiversity within and around them. Nevertheless, many organisms threatened by human impacts also find shelter in unexpected or informally protected places. For coral reef organisms, refuges can be tourist resorts implementing local environment-friendly bottom-up management strategies. We used the coral reef ecosystem as a model to test whether such practices have positive effects on the biodiversity associated with de facto protected areas. Location: North Ari Atoll, Maldives. Methods: We modelled the effects of the environment and three human management regimes (tourist resorts, uninhabited and local community islands) on the abundance and diversity of echinoderms and commercially important fish species, the percent cover of reef benthic organisms (corals, calcareous coralline algae, turf, and macroalgae), and the proportion of coral disease. We used multivariate techniques to assess the differences between reef components among the management regimes. Results: Reefs varied between the management regimes. A positive 'resort effect' was found on sessile benthic organisms, with good coral cover and significantly less algae at resort islands. Corals were larger and had fewer diseases in uninhabited islands. Minor 'resort effect' was detected on motile species represented by commercial fish and echinoderms. Main conclusions: In countries where natural biodiversity strongly sustains the tourist sector and where local populations rely on natural resources, a balance between tourism development, local extraction practices, and biodiversity conservation is necessary. The presence of eco-friendly managed resorts, which practices would need to be certified on the long term, is beneficial to protect certain organisms. House reefs around resorts could therefore provide areas adding to 4 existing marine protected areas, while marine protection efforts in local community islands should focus on improving fishing management.
Coral Reefs, 2016
Extreme white colouration of frogfish Antennarius maculatus due to coral bleaching event An indiv... more Extreme white colouration of frogfish Antennarius maculatus due to coral bleaching event An individual of the warty frogfish species Antennarius maculatus was observed camouflaging itself against fully bleached corals at 10 m depth at the Velidhoo Island resort reef (4°11¢41.35 †N,
Baseline assessment of coral reefs of North Ari is the first study to investigate spatial variati... more Baseline assessment of coral reefs of North Ari is the first study to investigate spatial variation in reef condition within the context of different human pressures in one atoll in the Maldives. Specifically, this study aimed to investigate whether and how coral reef condition (fish biomass, structural complexity, coral composition and live cover, and foraminiferal assemblages) vary spatially among reefs with different population levels and/or under different management regimes within North Ari atoll.
There is global consensus that marine protected areas offer a plethora of benefits to the biodive... more There is global consensus that marine protected areas offer a plethora of benefits to the biodiversity within and around them. Nevertheless, many organisms threatened by human impacts also find shelter in unexpected or informally protected places. For coral reef organisms, refuges can be tourist resorts implementing local environmentfriendly bottom-up management strategies. We used the coral reef ecosystem as a model to test whether such practices have positive effects on the biodiversity associated with de facto protected areas.