53 Results Found

Benthic habitat monitoring is essential for many applications involving biodiversity, marine resource management, and the estimation of variations over temporal and spatial scales. Nevertheless, both automatic and semi-automatic analytical methods fo...

Recovery of coral reefs after physical damage sustained from storm events can be affected by various factors. Here, we examined the initial recovery of a coral reef at the southern end of uninhabited Lalo Atoll of Papahānaumokuākea Marine N...

Quantifying the three-dimensional (3D) habitat structure of coral reefs is an important aspect of coral reef monitoring, as habitat architecture affects the abundance and diversity of reef organisms. Here, we used photogrammetric techniques to genera...

The architectural complexity of coral-reef habitat plays an important role in determining the assemblage structure of reef fish. We investigated associations between the reef habitats and fish assemblages in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) u...

Coral reefs are biologically diverse and economically important ecosystems that are on the decline worldwide in response to direct human impacts and climate change. Ocean color remote sensing has proven to be an important tool in coral reef research...

Coral reefs are experiencing increasing disturbance regimes. The influence these disturbances have on coral reef health is traditionally captured through field-based monitoring, representing a very small reef area (<1%). Satellite-based observatio...

Subtropical coral reefs such as the lagoonal reefs of Norfolk Island in the remote South Pacific are vastly understudied, with many benthic species unrecorded in the scientific literature. Here we report on ascidian populations from 2021 to 2023 at N...

Coral reef ecosystems are under stress due to human-driven climate change and coastal activities. Satellite-based monitoring approaches offer an alternative to traditional field sampling measurements for detecting coral reef composition changes, espe...

Coastal macroalgae worldwide provide multiple ecological functions and support vital ecosystem services. Thereby, it is important to monitor changes in the extent of benthic macroalgal cover. However, as in situ sampling is costly and time-consuming,...

Adequately sampling benthic cover in marine ecosystems is a challenge with most methods encompassing only a small portion of the area for which cover is estimated. Recent advances in photogrammetric techniques are providing opportunity to map expansi...

Ciguatera poisoning (CP) poses a significant threat to ecosystem services and fishery resources in coastal communities. The CP-causative ciguatoxins (CTXs) are produced by benthic dinoflagellates including Gambierdiscus and Fukuyoa spp., and enter re...

Shallow coastal ecosystems are the interface between the terrestrial and marine environment. The physical and biological composition and distribution of benthic habitats within these ecosystems determines their contribution to ecosystem services and...

Effective management to conserve marine environments requires up-to-date information on the location, distribution, and extent of major benthic habitats. Remote sensing is a key tool for such assessments, enabling consistent, repeated measurements ov...

Mapping and monitoring coral reef benthic composition using remotely sensed imagery provides a large-scale inference of spatial and temporal dynamics. These maps have become essential components in marine science and management, with their utility be...

Coastal habitats form a critical source of livelihood for a large number of inhabitants in Fiji. The absence of historical and baseline information creates a significant challenge in effectively designing suitable management plans. This study aimed a...

Habitat complexity plays a critical role in coral reef ecosystems by enhancing habitat availability, increasing ecological resilience, and offering coastal protection. Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry has become a standard approach for quan...

Mediterranean subtidal reefs host ecologically significant habitats, including forests of Cystoseira spp., which form complex benthic communities within the photic zone. These habitats are increasingly degraded due to climate change, invasive species...

Imagery from unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) is useful for mapping floating and emerged primary producers, as well as single taxa of submerged primary producers in shallow, clear lakes and streams. However, there is little research on the effective...

The complexity of tropical reef habitats affects the occurrence and diversity of the organisms residing in these ecosystems. Quantifying this complexity is important to better understand and monitor reef community assemblages and their roles in provi...

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a globally unique and precious national resource; however, the geomorphic and benthic composition and the extent of coral habitat per reef are greatly understudied. However, this is critical to understand the s...

Suitable colonization materials are a pursued target in marine restoration programs. Known for making nutrients available while reducing pollutants and the risk of pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems, Biochar and Bioferment materials of organic origi...

Although more than 600 marine caves have been recorded so far along the Greek coasts of the Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean), only a few have been systematically studied for their biodiversity. In this study, the benthic communities of six marine c...

Blue Haslea species are marine benthic pennate diatoms able to synthesize a blue-green water-soluble pigment, like marennine produced by H. ostrearia Simonsen. New species of Haslea synthetizing blue pigments were recently described (H. karadagensis,...

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) require efficient monitoring tools to assess habitats and biodiversity, particularly in remote or understudied regions. This study demonstrates the utility of the towed video-diver technique combined with high-resolution...

We examine decision-making, shared authority, and pluralism as key characteristics for the effective co-management of natural resources. Drawing on the concept of network governance, we complement this approach by studying localized practices of gove...

The use of marine cabled video observatories with multiparametric environmental data collection capability is becoming relevant for ecological monitoring strategies. Their ecosystem surveying can be enforced in real time, remotely, and continuously,...

Freshwater ecosystems have been severely damaged worldwide by a multitude of human pressures, such as pollution, nutrient enrichment, damming or overexploitation, and this has been more intense over the past five decades. It is therefore important th...

Sustainable and ecosystem-based marine spatial planning is a priority of Pacific Island countries basing their economy on marine resources. The urgency of management coral reef systems and associated coastal environments, threatened by the effects of...

In 2020 marine heatwaves elicited severe bleaching on many of Earth’s coral reefs. We compared coral reef benthic community composition before (April 2020), during (September 2020), and after (December 2020–September 2021) this event at f...

This study compiled a wide range of modern and historic geospatial datasets to examine ecological and geomorphic change at Diego Garcia Atoll across a 38-year period (1967–2005). This remarkable collection of spatially referenced information offered...

Improved development of remote sensing approaches to deliver timely and accurate measurements for environmental monitoring, particularly with respect to marine and estuarine environments is a priority. We describe a machine learning, cloud processing...

Anthropogenic activities, such as land use and land cover modifications in riparian areas, can alter the degree of fragmentation of riparian vegetation, lead to the degradation of stream habitats, and affect biological communities in the streams. The...

The Ningaloo Reef, Australia’s longest fringing reef, is uniquely positioned in the NW region of the continent, with clear, oligotrophic waters, relatively low human impacts, and a high level of protection through the World Heritage Site and it...

Coral reefs are in decline worldwide and monitoring activities are important for assessing the impact of disturbance on reefs and tracking subsequent recovery or decline. Monitoring by field surveys provides accurate data but at highly localised scal...

Fucales (Phaeophyceae) are ecosystem engineers and forest-forming macroalgae whose populations are declining dramatically. In the Mediterranean Sea, Cystoseira sensu lato (s.l.)—encompassing the genera Cystoseira sensu stricto, Ericaria, and Go...

Migratory shorebirds are notable consumers of benthic invertebrates on intertidal sediments. The distribution and abundance of shorebirds will strongly depend on their prey and on landscape and sediment features such as mud and surface water content,...

Gorgonians play a fundamental role in the deep sea (below 200 m depth), composing three-dimensional habitats that are characterized by a high associated biodiversity and playing an important part in biogeochemical cycles. Here we describe the use of...

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a keystone component of inter- and sub-tidal ecosystems. However, anthropogenic pressures have caused its populations to decline worldwide. Delineation and continuous monitoring of eelgrass distribution is an integral par...

Costs to permit Marine Energy projects are poorly understood. In this paper we examine environmental compliance and permitting costs for 19 projects in the U.S., covering the last 2 decades. Guided discussions were conducted with developers over a 3-...

Mangrove cover is increasing in estuaries and harbours in many areas on North Island, New Zealand. The expansion of mangroves has been attributed to anthropogenic land-use change, including urbanisation and conversion of land to agriculture. Rapid ex...

Coastal areas support seagrass meadows, which offer crucial ecosystem services, including erosion control and carbon sequestration. However, these areas are increasingly impacted by human activities, leading to habitat fragmentation and seagrass decl...

All marine communities in Greenland are experiencing rapid environmental change, and to understand the effects on those structured by seaweeds, baseline records are vital. The kelp and coralline algae habitats along Greenland’s coastlines are r...

Karimunjawa National Park is one of Indonesia’s oldest established marine parks. Coral reefs across the park are being impacted by fishing, tourism and declining water quality (local stressors), as well as climate change (global pressures). In...

Corals in the Galápagos present diverse reef configurations from biogenic coral reefs to coral communities growing on rocks and sand. These corals have experienced decades of disturbances including recurring El Niño and mass bleaching e...

Bathymetric data are crucial for benthic monitoring in coastal areas but are traditionally obtained through costly and geographically limited acoustic methods. This study uses satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) in the Eastern Mediterranean, focusing...

In the Mediterranean Sea, crustose coralline algae form endemic algal reefs known as Coralligenous (C) build-ups. The high degree of complexity that C can reach through time creates notable environmental heterogeneity making C a major hotspot of biod...

With the recent acceleration in urbanisation and industrialisation, industrial pollution has severely impacted inland water bodies and ecosystem services globally, causing significant restrains to freshwater availability and myriad damages to benthic...

The Earth’s freshwater ecosystems are currently under threat, particularly in developing countries. In Mexico, intensive land use and inadequate monitoring policies have resulted in the severe degradation of the country’s freshwater ecosy...

Ice shelves cover ~1.6 million km2 of the Antarctic continental shelf and are sensitive indicators of climate change. With ice-shelf retreat, aphotic marine environments transform into new open-water spaces of photo-induced primary production and ass...

Overall health of a stream is one of the powerful indicators for planning mitigation strategies. Currently, available methods to estimate stream health do not look at all the different components of stream health. Based on the statistical parameters...