A Synthesis of Marine Monitoring Methods With the Potential to Enhance the Status Assessment of the Baltic Sea

Mack, Leoni; Attila, Jenni; Aylagas, Eva; Beermann, Arne J.; Borja, Ángel; Hering, Daniel; Kahlert, Maria; Leese, Florian; Lenz, Robin; Lehtiniemi, Maiju; Liess, Antonia; Lips, Urmas; Mattila, Olli Pekka; Meissner, Kristian; Pyhälahti, Timo; Setälä, Outi; Strehse, Jennifer S.; Uusitalo, Laura; Wranne, Anna Willstrand; Birk, Sebastian

doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.552047

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…12). In extreme cases, the estimates could differ up to 2 times (from <1 to >2 mmol O2 m -2 h -1 ) that makes using single profiles rather unreliable and should encourage to increase the monitoring frequency and the use of profilers (Mack et al, 2020). (Conley et al, 1997), respectively, and closer to but slightly lower than the estimates based on the direct measurements in the Gulf of Riga by Aigars et al (2015) on average 2.3 mmol O2 m -2 h -1 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Causes of the extensive hypoxia in the Gulf of Riga in 2018

Stoicescu

Laanemets

Liblik

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. The Gulf of Riga is a relatively shallow bay connected to the deeper central Baltic Sea (Baltic Proper) via straits with sills. The decrease in the near-bottom oxygen levels from spring to autumn is a common feature in the gulf, but in 2018, hypoxia was exceptional. We analyzed temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrient data collected in 2018 and historical data available from environmental databases. Forcing data from the study year were compared with their long-term means and variability. The year 2018 was exceptional due to occasionally dominating north-easterly winds supporting the inflow of saltier waters from the Baltic Proper and meteorological conditions causing fast development of thermal stratification in spring. Existing stratification hindered vertical transport between the near-bottom layer (NBL) and the water layers above it. The estimated oxygen consumption rate at the sediment surface in spring-summer 2018 was about 1.7 mmol O2 m−2 h−1 that exceeded the oxygen input to the NBL due to advection and mixing. We suggest that the observed pronounced oxygen depletion was magnified by the prolonged stratified season and haline stratification in the deep layer that maintained a decreased water volume between the seabed and the pycnocline. The observed increase in phosphate concentrations in the NBL in summer 2018 suggests a significant sediment phosphorus release in hypoxic conditions counteracting the mitigation measures to combat eutrophication. We conclude, if similar meteorological conditions as in 2018 could occur more frequently in the future, such extensive hypoxia would be more common in the Gulf of Riga and other coastal basins with similar morphology and human-induced elevated input of nutrients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Causes of the extensive hypoxia in the Gulf of Riga in 2018

Stoicescu

Laanemets

Liblik

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Such analyses may calculate data products for biological state variables on regional or even global level, so-called Essential Biodiversity Variables or EBVs ( Pereira et al 2013 , Hardisty et al 2019 ). A recent study by Kissling et al (2018) suggests that image-based sensor networks are promising candidates for EBVs, while many other studies highlight the potential of these methods for marine monitoring programmes ( Mack et al 2020 , Lopez-Vazquez et al 2020 ). Our case study provides empirical support that these methods are ready for implementation in national monitoring programmes and that useful data products can be derived from image-based sensors, especially in marine environments which are particularly difficult to access and survey.…”

Section: Project Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An open-source, citizen science and machine learning approach to analyse subsea movies

Anton¹,

Germishuys²,

Bergström³

et al. 2021

BDJ

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The increasing access to autonomously-operated technologies offer vast opportunities to sample large volumes of biological data. However, these technologies also impose novel demands on ecologists who need to apply tools for data management and processing that are efficient, publicly available and easy to use. Such tools are starting to be developed for a wider community and here we present an approach to combine essential analytical functions for analysing large volumes of image data in marine ecological research. This paper describes the Koster Seafloor Observatory, an open-source approach to analysing large amounts of subsea movie data for marine ecological research. The approach incorporates three distinct modules to: manage and archive the subsea movies, involve citizen scientists to accurately classify the footage and, finally, train and test machine learning algorithms for detection of biological objects. This modular approach is based on open-source code and allows researchers to customise and further develop the presented functionalities to various types of data and questions related to analysis of marine imagery. We tested our approach for monitoring cold water corals in a Marine Protected Area in Sweden using videos from remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs). Our study resulted in a machine learning model with an adequate performance, which was entirely trained with classifications provided by citizen scientists. We illustrate the application of machine learning models for automated inventories and monitoring of cold water corals. Our approach shows how citizen science can be used to effectively extract occurrence and abundance data for key ecological species and habitats from underwater footage. We conclude that the combination of open-source tools, citizen science systems, machine learning and high performance computational resources are key to successfully analyse large amounts of underwater imagery in the future.

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“…In challenging environments such as those suitable for marine energy projects, traditional sampling and surveying technologies may prove to be inappropriate and lead to sampling bias and inaccuracies, analogous to issues highlighted when monitoring fish around artificial aggregating devices (e.g., [35]). Innovative methods and technologies may sometimes be required, however, the consistency of the data and results and the affordability of new technologies remain to be assessed [36,37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What’s in My Toolkit? A Review of Technologies for Assessing Changes in Habitats Caused by Marine Energy Development

Hemery

Mackereth

Tugade

2022

JMSE

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Marine energy devices are installed in highly dynamic environments and have the potential to affect the benthic and pelagic habitats around them. Regulatory bodies often require baseline characterization and/or post-installation monitoring to determine whether changes in these habitats are being observed. However, a great diversity of technologies is available for surveying and sampling marine habitats, and selecting the most suitable instrument to identify and measure changes in habitats at marine energy sites can become a daunting task. We conducted a thorough review of journal articles, survey reports, and grey literature to extract information about the technologies used, the data collection and processing methods, and the performance and effectiveness of these instruments. We examined documents related to marine energy development, offshore wind farms, oil and gas offshore sites, and other marine industries around the world over the last 20 years. A total of 120 different technologies were identified across six main habitat categories: seafloor, sediment, infauna, epifauna, pelagic, and biofouling. The technologies were organized into 12 broad technology classes: acoustic, corer, dredge, grab, hook and line, net and trawl, plate, remote sensing, scrape samples, trap, visual, and others. Visual was the most common and the most diverse technology class, with applications across all six habitat categories. Technologies and sampling methods that are designed for working efficiently in energetic environments have greater success at marine energy sites. In addition, sampling designs and statistical analyses should be carefully thought through to identify differences in faunal assemblages and spatiotemporal changes in habitats.

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A Synthesis of Marine Monitoring Methods With the Potential to Enhance the Status Assessment of the Baltic Sea

Cited by 19 publications

References 75 publications

Causes of the extensive hypoxia in the Gulf of Riga in 2018

Causes of the extensive hypoxia in the Gulf of Riga in 2018

An open-source, citizen science and machine learning approach to analyse subsea movies

What’s in My Toolkit? A Review of Technologies for Assessing Changes in Habitats Caused by Marine Energy Development

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