Provides regional and global perspectives on the role of Marine Protected Areas in the restoration and conservation of biodiversity.

Introduction; Part I. Threats on Marine Ecosystems and Resources: 1. Transitioning from single-sector management of marine resources to ecosystem-based management: what can marine protected areas offer? Simonetta Fraschetti, Joachim Claudet and Kirsten Grorud-Colvert; Part II. Effects of Marine Protected Areas; 2. Ecological effects of marine protected areas: conservation, restoration and functioning Joachim Claudet, Paolo Guidetti, David Mouillot, Nick T. Shears and Fiorenza Micheli; 3. Effects of marine protected areas on adjacent fisheries: evidence from empirical studies Raquel Goñi, Fabio Badalamenti and Mark H. Tupper; 4. Economically optimal spatial and inter-temporal fishing patterns in a metapopulation James N. Sanchirico; 5. Social dynamics of scaling-up marine protected area declarations and management Patrick Christie and Richard Pollnac; Part III. Assessment of Marine Protected Area Effectiveness: 6. Assessing effects of marine protected areas: confounding in space and possible solutions Craig W. Osenderg, Jeff Shima, Sonja Miller and Adrian C. Stier; 7. Monitoring fisheries effects of marine protected areas: current approaches and the need for integrated assessments Vanessa Stelzenmüller and John Pinnegar; 8. Bioeconomic analysis of marine protected area fisheries effects Jean Boncoeur, Olivier Thébaud and Frédérique Alban; 9. Assessing the impact of marine protected areas on society's well-being: an economic perspective Frédérique Alban, Jean Boncoeur and Nicolas Roncin; 10. Constructing and validating indicators of marine protected area effectiveness Dominique Pelletier; Part IV. Scale-up of Marine Protected Area Systems: 11. The assessment of marine reserve networks: guidelines for ecological evaluation Kirsten Grorud-Colvert, Joachim Claudet, Mark Carr, Jenn Caselle, Jon Day, Alan Friedlander, Sarah Lester, Thierri Lison de Loma, Brian Tissot and Dan Malone; 12. Spacing a network of marine protected areas based on connectivity data Serge Planes; 13. Effectiveness of the global network of marine protected areas Camilo Mora; 14. Conserving the largest habitat on earth: protected areas in the pelagic ocean Alistair Hobday, Edward T. Game, Hedley Grantham and Anthony J. Richardson; Index.