Data and outputs from: Achieving full representativity of seafloor biodiversity with minimal expansion: Exploring a strategy for New Zealand marine conservation

The New Zealand Seafloor Community Classification (NZSCC), which was
developed to inform marine spatial planning processes at a national scale,
depicts compositional turnover of 1,716 taxa (demersal fish, reef fish,
benthic invertebrates, and macroalgae) classified in 75 groups
representing seafloor communities. Here, we use the NZSCC and the
conservation planning software Zonation to explore how representativity of
benthic communities could be enhanced across spatial management areas
(including protected areas) in New Zealand’s marine environment. Estimates
of within- and between- NZSCC group similarity/dissimilarity
(incorporating measures of uncertainty) and taxonomic richness,
representing beta and alpha diversity respectively, are used to (1)
identify a baseline spatial management scenario that ignores any existing
spatial management measures; and (2) a scenario that prioritises optimal
expansion of the current network of spatial management areas. Results
indicate that a relatively small increase in spatial protection (1.5 %)
can result in large increases in the representativity of all NZSCC groups
within spatial management areas, including those groups currently not
represented. The use of within- and between-group similarity/dissimilarity
is an improvement on spatial prioritisation processes that consider groups
within benthic classifications to be homogenous. These results provide a
solid base for informing the development of improved future protection
measures within New Zealand that can meaningfully contribute to the
representativity element of the Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3.