Benthic habitat modelling and mapping as a conservation tool for marine protected areas: A seamount in the western Mediterranean

Abstract

1. An ecologically representative, well-connected, and effectively managed system of marine protected areas (MPAs) has positive ecological and environmental effects as well as social and economic benefits. Although progress in expanding the coverage of MPAs has been made, the application of management tools has not yet been implemented in most of these areas.2. In this work, distribution models were applied to nine benthic habitats on a Mediterranean seamount within an MPA for conservation purposes. Benthic habitat occurrences were identified from 55 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) transects, at depths from 76 to 700 m, and data derived from multibeam bathymetry. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were applied to link the presence of each benthic habitat to local environmental proxies (depth, slope, backscatter, aspect, and bathymetric position index, BPI).3. The main environmental drivers of habitat distribution were depth, slope, and BPI.Based on this result, five different geomorphological areas were distinguished. A full coverage map indicating the potential benthic habitat distribution on the seamount was obtained to inform spatial management. The distribution of those habitats identified as vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs)was used to make recommendations on zonation for developing the management plan of the MPA. This process reveals itself as an appropriate methodological approach that can be developed in other areas of the Natura 2000 marine network.

Evaluating the distribution of priority benthic habitats through a remotely operated vehicle to support conservation measures off Linosa Island (Sicily Channel, Mediterranean Sea)

“…V. flagellum and Eunicella spp. on plateau regions, black corals on bench terraces), and was consistent with other surveys in the Mediterranean Sea (Bo et al, 2014b; Bo et al, 2015; Fourt et al, 2017; Giusti et al, 2017; de la Torriente et al, 2019). Furthermore, it is noteworthy how the presence of a heterogeneous sea floor, which in turn supports diversified deep‐sea assemblages, is frequently associated to volcanic sea floor (Ingrassia et al, 2019; de la Torriente et al, 2019).…”

“…Coralligenous on bedrock, the most abundant priority habitat observed in this study, hosted diverse benthic assemblages, over a bathymetric range comparable to that reported in other Italian seas (Ingrosso et al, 2018). At shallower depths, dense assemblages of suspension feeders formed a marine animal forest (sensu Rossi et al, 2017) (Bo et al, 2014b;Bo et al, 2015;Fourt et al, 2017;Giusti et al, 2017;de la Torriente et al, 2019).…”

“…Furthermore, it is noteworthy how the presence of a heterogeneous sea floor, which in turn supports diversified deep-sea assemblages, is frequently associated to volcanic sea floor (Ingrassia et al, 2019;de la Torriente et al, 2019).…”

Regional estimates of a range‐extending ecosystem engineer using stereo‐imagery from ROV transects collected with an efficient, spatially balanced design

“…We considered any model with an accuracy (explained deviance) of 0.4-0.6 as moderately sufficient (Maravelias et al, 2012) and models with an explained deviance of >0.6 to have relatively high explanatory power (Castella et al, 2001), whereas we considered CV values <0.3 as adequately precise (Peel et al, 2013). Previous studies have reported similar ranges in accuracy for other marine biota, including fish (0.14-0.55; Galaiduk et al, 2017), sessile invertebrates (0.04-0.68; Monk et al, 2018) and physical habitat structures (0.30-0.88; Torriente et al, 2019). That being said the accuracy and precision of most models in our study could be improved and would benefit from incorporating additional biotic variables, such as the extent of macroalgae canopy cover and occurrence of lobster, which have been linked to urchin density and barren formation (Johnson et al, 2005;Ling, 2008;Ling et al, 2009).…”

First description of deep benthic habitats and communities of oceanic islands and seamounts of the Nazca Desventuradas Marine Park, Chile

“…The presence of multiple distinct morphologies of the deep seabed, such as, scars, channels, mud, rocks and sand, together with habitat-forming species (e.g., sponge, anemones and stylasterids corals) provide an environment that is home to numerous species, resulting in increases in diversity 16 , 60 . Besides, habitat-forming species are known to promote local complexity and heterogeneity of the seafloor at small (microhabitat) to large (macrohabitat) scales and to provide suitable refuge and nursery zone for smaller mobile benthic organisms 2 , 24 , 60 , 61 . Consistent with this pattern, it appears that OTU richness may be higher where habitat-forming species, such as sea pens ( Protoptilum and Scleroptilum ), anemones ( Hormathia sp.…”