Abstract

The ecoregional scenario of the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic Coastal Biogeographic Province (or wider Caribbean) is changing with the development of new scientific information on biological connectivity in the Caribbean Sea. Recently, research data on ocean currents and biophysical modeling of larval dispersal suggest that large-scale biological connectivity is less common than previously thought in the Caribbean. Although larvae have the potential for long-distance dispersal, evidence is mounting that local retention is a more common pattern in the region as ecological significant numbers for settlers are in the scale if 50 to 100 km for most species. With this information increases each nation’s (or group of neighboring nations) responsibility for sustainably managing marine resources, and reduces de possibility of “outsourcing” it to upstream countries and ecoregions (or blame them for their own failures). This information is also useful for the creation of effective networks of marine protected areas and, in particular, for the designation of the world heritage sites, a promising policy tool for attracting national and international attention and resources. However, in order to document the outstanding universal value, it is required to compare the proposed marine site with existing similar ones in other parts of the world. This paper shows how is possible to use the new research data on biological connectivity to document the ecoregional significance of a nominated site as a sufficient proof of its outstanding universal value

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