Benjamin Best

Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment, Graduate Student

Followers

Following

Co-authors

Public Views

Interests

Uploads

Papers by Benjamin Best

tbeptools: An R package for synthesizing estuarine data for environmental research

Journal of Open Source Software, 2021

Many environmental programs report on the status and trends of natural resources to inform manage... more Many environmental programs report on the status and trends of natural resources to inform management decisions for protecting or restoring environmental condition. The National Estuary Program (NEP) in the United States is one example of a resource management institution focused on "estuaries of national significance" that provides place-based solutions to managing coastal resources. There are 28 NEPs in the United States, each with similar but location-specific programmatic goals to address environmental challenges related to water quality, alteration of hydrologic flows, invasive species, climate change, declines in fish and wildlife populations, pathogens and other contaminants, and stormwater management. A critical need of each NEP is the synthesis of data from disparate sources that can inform management response to address these environmental challenges.

Download

Patterns and Drivers of Reef Fish Biodiversity in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary from 1999 - 2016

Download

Continued Development of the SEAMAP Data Archive

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per res... more Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports,

format_quotePhoto-ID datasets drive insights into marine mammal behavior and migration, offering a distinct method compared to traditional surveys.format_quote

Download

Our path to better science in less time using open data science tools

Nature ecology & evolution, Jan 23, 2017

Reproducibility has long been a tenet of science but has been challenging to achieve-we learned t... more Reproducibility has long been a tenet of science but has been challenging to achieve-we learned this the hard way when our old approaches proved inadequate to efficiently reproduce our own work. Here we describe how several free software tools have fundamentally upgraded our approach to collaborative research, making our entire workflow more transparent and streamlined. By describing specific tools and how we incrementally began using them for the Ocean Health Index project, we hope to encourage others in the scientific community to do the same-so we can all produce better science in less time.

Download

Habitat-based cetacean density models for the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico

Scientific reports, Jan 3, 2016

Cetaceans are protected worldwide but vulnerable to incidental harm from an expanding array of hu... more Cetaceans are protected worldwide but vulnerable to incidental harm from an expanding array of human activities at sea. Managing potential hazards to these highly-mobile populations increasingly requires a detailed understanding of their seasonal distributions and habitats. Pursuant to the urgent need for this knowledge for the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, we integrated 23 years of aerial and shipboard cetacean surveys, linked them to environmental covariates obtained from remote sensing and ocean models, and built habitat-based density models for 26 species and 3 multi-species guilds using distance sampling methodology. In the Atlantic, for 11 well-known species, model predictions resembled seasonal movement patterns previously suggested in the literature. For these we produced monthly mean density maps. For lesser-known taxa, and in the Gulf of Mexico, where seasonal movements were less well described, we produced year-round mean density maps. The results revealed high region...

format_quoteModeling density from 1.1 million km of surveys predicts cetacean distributions for 29 species in U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.format_quote

Download

Best practices for assessing ocean health in multiple contexts using tailorable frameworks

PeerJ, 2015

Marine policy is increasingly calling for maintaining or restoring healthy oceans while human act... more Marine policy is increasingly calling for maintaining or restoring healthy oceans while human activities continue to intensify. Thus, successful prioritization and management of competing objectives requires a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the ocean. Unfortunately, assessment frameworks to define and quantify current ocean state are often site-specific, limited to a few ocean components, and difficult to reproduce in different geographies or even through time, limiting spatial or temporal comparisons as well as the potential for shared learning. Ideally, frameworks should be tailorable to accommodate use in disparate locations and contexts, removing the need to develop frameworksde novoand allowing efforts to focus on the assessments themselves to advise action. Here, we present some of our experiences using the Ocean Health Index (OHI) framework, a tailorable and repeatable approach that measures health of coupled human-ocean ecosystems in different contexts by a...

Download

Dynamic habitat models: using telemetry data to project fisheries bycatch

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2011

Fisheries bycatch is a recognized threat to marine megafauna. Addressing bycatch of pelagic speci... more Fisheries bycatch is a recognized threat to marine megafauna. Addressing bycatch of pelagic species however is challenging owing to the dynamic nature of marine environments and vagility of these organisms. In order to assess the potential for species to overlap with fisheries, we propose applying dynamic habitat models to determine relative probabilities of species occurrence for specific oceanographic conditions. We demonstrate this approach by modelling habitats for Laysan ( Phoebastria immutabilis ) and black-footed albatrosses ( Phoebastria nigripes ) using telemetry data and relating their occurrence probabilities to observations of Hawaii-based longline fisheries in 1997–2000. We found that modelled habitat preference probabilities of black-footed albatrosses were high within some areas of the fishing range of the Hawaiian fleet and such preferences were important in explaining bycatch occurrence. Conversely, modelled habitats of Laysan albatrosses overlapped little with Hawa...

Download

A Regional-Scale Ocean Health Index for Brazil

PLoS ONE, 2014

Brazil has one of the largest and fastest growing economies and one of the largest coastlines in ... more Brazil has one of the largest and fastest growing economies and one of the largest coastlines in the world, making human use and enjoyment of coastal and marine resources of fundamental importance to the country. Integrated assessments of ocean health are needed to understand the condition of a range of benefits that humans derive from marine systems and to evaluate where attention should be focused to improve the health of these systems. Here we describe the first such assessment for Brazil at both national and state levels. We applied the Ocean Health Index framework, which evaluates ten public goals for healthy oceans. Despite refinements of input data and model formulations, the national score of 60 (out of 100) was highly congruent with the previous global assessment for Brazil of 62. Variability in scores among coastal states was most striking for goals related to mariculture, protected areas, tourism, and clean waters. Extractive goals, including Food Provision, received low scores relative to habitat-related goals, such as Biodiversity. This study demonstrates the applicability of the Ocean Health Index at a regional scale, and its usefulness in highlighting existing data and knowledge gaps and identifying key policy and management recommendations. To improve Brazil's ocean health, this study suggests that future actions should focus on: enhancing fisheries management, expanding marine protected areas, and monitoring coastal habitats.

format_quoteBrazil's overall Ocean Health Index score is 60/100, with state scores ranging from 47 to 71; highest scores relate to habitat condition.format_quote

Download

Assessing Global Marine Biodiversity Status within a Coupled Socio-Ecological Perspective

PLoS ONE, 2013

Online cetacean habitat modeling system for the US east coast and Gulf of Mexico

Endangered Species Research, 2012

We describe the development of a comprehensive set of marine mammal habitat models for the US eas... more We describe the development of a comprehensive set of marine mammal habitat models for the US east coast and Gulf of Mexico and their delivery through an online mapping portal. Drawing from datasets in the online OBIS-SEAMAP geo-database, we integrated surveys conducted by ship (n = 36) and aircraft (n = 16), weighting a generalized additive model (GAM) by minutes surveyed within space−time grid cells to harmonize effort between the 2 survey platforms. For each of 16 cetacean species guilds, we predicted the probability of occurrence from static environmental variables (water depth, distance to shore, distance to continental shelf break) and time-varying conditions (monthly sea surface temperature). To generate maps of presence versus absence, receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were used to define the optimal threshold that minimizes false positive and false negative error rates. We integrated model outputs, including tables (species in guilds, input surveys) and plots (fit of environmental variables, ROC curve), into an online spatial decision support system (SDSS), allowing for easy navigation of models by taxon, region, season, and data provider. Users can define regions of interest and extract statistical summaries of the model for that region. The SDSS also displays density models from other providers and regions (e.g. Pacific Ocean). This versatile, easy-to-use online system enables the application of these habitat models to real-world conservation and management issues. Finally, we discuss the ecological relevance of these model outputs and identify key data gaps across species, regions, and seasons. KEY WORDS: Species distribution model • Habitat • Cetacea • Generalized additive model • Spatial decision support system • Atlantic Ocean • Gulf of Mexico Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Contribution to the Theme Section 'Beyond marine mammal habitat modeling'

format_quoteOur models achieved a maximum deviance explained of 62.3% for humpback whales and 6.6% for Kogia spp., showing variable predictive accuracy across species.format_quote

Download

Habitat-specific larval dispersal and marine connectivity: implications for spatial conservation planning

Ecosphere, 2013

Connectivity via larval dispersal is an important ingredient in setting effective marine reserve ... more Connectivity via larval dispersal is an important ingredient in setting effective marine reserve networks. Simple guidance for establishing spacing between individual protected sites can provide reliable rules of thumb to help ensure connectivity. Spacing rules for protected network design are relatively new to marine spatial planning, though so far they have been generically and indiscriminately applied to all types of habitats based on a single range of distance values. Here we address the extent to which such rules capture subtleties associated with dispersal distances varying among species in different regions and habitats. We applied a 50-100 km global spacing rule (SR glob), also recently applied in the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process and based on available global larval dispersal data, to a previously assessed network in the Gulf of California. Using larval dispersal data for species within this region (SR reg), we associated each species with eight unique habitats (SR hab*) and we evaluated connectivity by means of different spacing rules (SR glob , SR reg and SR hab*) using graph-theory. The existing spacing rule employed by the MLPA process (SR glob) was found to be robust and conservative when applied to the Gulf of California or to its different habitats (i.e., the lower limit for dispersal distance includes the distance for all species in the Gulf). We found that species in different habitats exhibit statistically distinct dispersal profiles. Therefore, some habitats could be evaluated with more relaxed spacing rules (i.e., larger distances), than those proposed by the rules of thumb. Our work identifies a conservation planning trade-off when implementing spacing rules: already proposed rules are robust but at the cost of efficiency. Habitat-specific spacing rules should be considered for more efficient marine conservation planning solutions.

Download

Near-bottom current direction inferred from comatulid crinoid feeding postures on the Terre Adélie and George V shelf, East Antarctica

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 2011

... d Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, Lab 5, Rm 3b, Duke University Marine Laboratory, 135 ... more

Assessing the health of the U.S. west coast with a regional-scale application of the Ocean Health Index

PloS one, 2014

Management of marine ecosystems increasingly demands comprehensive and quantitative assessments o... more Management of marine ecosystems increasingly demands comprehensive and quantitative assessments of ocean health, but lacks a tool to do so. We applied the recently developed Ocean Health Index to assess ocean health in the relatively data-rich US west coast region. The overall region scored 71 out of 100, with sub-regions scoring from 65 (Washington) to 74 (Oregon). Highest scoring goals included tourism and recreation (99) and clean waters (87), while the lowest scoring goals were sense of place (48) and artisanal fishing opportunities (57). Surprisingly, even in this well-studied area data limitations precluded robust assessments of past trends in overall ocean health. Nonetheless, retrospective calculation of current status showed that many goals have declined, by up to 20%. In contrast, near-term future scores were on average 6% greater than current status across all goals and sub-regions. Application of hypothetical but realistic management scenarios illustrate how the Index ca...

Download

Patterns and Emerging Trends in Global Ocean Health

by Benjamin Best, Benjamin S. Halpern, and Melanie Frazier

PLOS ONE, 2015

Download

A regional-scale ocean health index for Brazil

by Benjamin Halpern, Benjamin Best, and Guilherme Dutra

PLoS ONE

format_quoteApplying the Ocean Health Index in Brazil demonstrated challenges related to data quality and adaptability to regional contexts.format_quote

Download