Marine protected areas (MPAs) are territorial management instruments aimed at conserving ecosystem services, natural resources, protecting habitats, recovering degraded areas and safeguarding associated cultural values. Integrating MPAs into networks has been increasingly recognized as a more effective and successful approach to achieve their goals. In this study, we use social network analysis to assess the interaction networks of environmental, social and management aspects of the MPAs in the Atlantic Forest Central Corridor (Brazil), one of the world's most threatened biodiversity hotspots. Two hypotheses were tested: (i) geographically close MPAs are more likely to interact in certain aspects, and (ii) networks consist of densely connected subgroups of federal and state MPAs (managed by institutions with a broader geographic focus), which interact more among themselves and occupy central positions in the network, while municipal MPAs (managed by institutions with a local geographic focus) occupy a more peripheral or isolated positions. The results support the first hypothesis, indicating how central MPAs exert influence on geographically close areas, increasing their interaction capacities. The second hypothesis was partially supported, with municipal MPAs isolated in the environmental and management networks, but active in the social network. The environmental network showed the greatest number of interactions and was characterized by the formation of four groupings between MPAs, while the social network presented the greatest number of social actors, reaching the greatest strength of interaction between the MPA-actors and presented six groupings. The management network exhibited the formation of three groupings of MPAs and presented the greatest isolation between actors from different groups. Network analysis highlights the central role that some MPAs play in marine conservation and suggests that interactions between MPA managers form organically, but are influenced by homophily and historical components.

中文翻译：

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热点地区的环境、社会和管理方面：海洋保护区之间的相互作用网络

海洋保护区（MPA）是领土管理工具，旨在保护生态系统服务、自然资源、保护栖息地、恢复退化地区和保护相关文化价值。人们越来越认识到，将海洋保护区纳入网络是实现其目标的更有效、更成功的方法。在这项研究中，我们使用社交网络分析来评估大西洋森林中央走廊（巴西）海洋保护区的环境、社会和管理方面的相互作用网络，大西洋森林中央走廊是世界上最受威胁的生物多样性热点之一。测试了两个假设：(i) 地理上接近的海洋保护区更有可能在某些方面相互作用，(ii) 网络由紧密相连的联邦和州海洋保护区子组组成（由具有更广泛地理重点的机构管理），这些子组之间的相互作用更多自己并在网络中占据中心位置，而市级海洋保护区（由以当地地理为重点的机构管理）则占据更边缘或孤立的位置。结果支持第一个假设，表明中央海洋保护区如何对地理上接近的区域施加影响，提高它们的互动能力。第二个假设得到部分支持，市政海洋保护区在环境和管理网络中被隔离，但在社交网络中却很活跃。环境网络显示出最多的交互数量，并以 MPA 之间形成四个分组为特征，而社交网络呈现出最多数量的社会参与者，达到了 MPA 参与者之间的最大交互强度，并呈现出六个分组。管理网络展示了MPA的三个分组的形成，并呈现出不同群体的参与者之间最大的隔离。网络分析强调了一些海洋保护区在海洋保护中发挥的核心作用，并表明海洋保护区管理者之间的互动是有机形成的，但受到同质性和历史成分的影响。