We provide a review of the environmental threats and gaps in monitoring programmes in European coastal waters based on previous studies, an online questionnaire, and an in-depth assessment of observation scales. Our findings underpin the JERICO-NEXT 1 monitoring strategy for the development and integration of coastal observatories in Europe and support JERICO-RI 2 in providing high-value physical, chemical, and biological datasets for addressing key challenges at a European level. This study highlights the need for improved monitoring of environmental threats in European coastal environments. Participants in the online questionnaire provided new insights into gaps between environmental threats and monitoring of impacts. In total, 36 national representatives, scientists, and monitoring authorities from 12 European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK) completed the questionnaire, and 38 monitoring programmes were reported. The main policy drivers of monitoring were identified as the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Regional Seas Conventions (e.g. OSPAR), and local drivers. Although policy drivers change over time, their overall purposes remain similar. The most commonly identified threats to the marine environment were marine litter, shipping, contaminants, organic enrichment, and fishing. Regime change was identified as a pressure by 67 % of respondents. The main impacts of these pressures or threats were identified by the majority of respondents (> 70 %) to be habitat loss or destruction, underwater noise, and contamination, with 60 % identifying undesirable disturbance (e.g. oxygen depletion), changes in sediment and/or substrate composition, changes in community composition, harmful microorganisms, and invasive species as impacts. Most respondents considered current monitoring of threats to be partially adequate or not adequate. The majority of responses were related to the spatial and/or temporal scales at which monitoring takes place and inadequate monitoring of particular parameters. Suggestions for improved monitoring programmes included improved design, increased monitoring effort, and better linkages with research and new technologies. Improved monitoring programmes should be fit for purpose, underpin longer-term scientific objectives which cut across policy and other drivers, and consider cumulative effects of multiple pressures. JERICO-RI aims to fill some of the observation gaps in monitoring programmes through the development of new technologies. The science strategy for JERICO-RI will pave the way to a better integration of physical, chemical, and biological observations into an ecological process perspective.
We provide a review of the environmental threats and gaps in monitoring programmes in European coastal waters based on previous studies, an online questionnaire, and an in-depth assessment of observation scales. Our findings underpin the JERICO-NEXT1 monitoring strategy for the development and integration of coastal observatories in Europe and support JERICO-RI2 in providing high-value physical, chemical, and biological datasets for addressing key challenges at a European level. This study highlights the need for improved monitoring of environmental threats in European coastal environments. Participants in the online questionnaire provided new insights into gaps between environmental threats and monitoring of impacts. In total, 36 national representatives, scientists, and monitoring authorities from 12 European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK) completed the questionnaire, and 38 monitoring programmes were reported. The main policy drivers of monitoring were identified as the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Regional Seas Conventions (e.g. OSPAR), and local drivers. Although policy drivers change over time, their overall purposes remain similar. The most commonly identified threats to the marine environment were marine litter, shipping, contaminants, organic enrichment, and fishing. Regime change was identified as a pressure by 67 % of respondents. The main impacts of these pressures or threats were identified by the majority of respondents (> 70 %) to be habitat loss or destruction, underwater noise, and contamination, with 60 % identifying undesirable disturbance (e.g. oxygen depletion), changes in sediment and/or substrate composition, changes in community composition, harmful microorganisms, and invasive species as impacts. Most respondents considered current monitoring of threats to be partially adequate or not adequate. The majority of responses were related to the spatial and/or temporal scales at which monitoring takes place and inadequate monitoring of particular parameters. Suggestions for improved monitoring programmes included improved design, increased monitoring effort, and better linkages with research and new technologies. Improved monitoring programmes should be fit for purpose, underpin longer-term scientific objectives which cut across policy and other drivers, and consider cumulative effects of multiple pressures. JERICO-RI aims to fill some of the observation gaps in monitoring programmes through the development of new technologies. The science strategy for JERICO-RI will pave the way to a better integration of physical, chemical, and biological observations into an ecological process perspective.
We provide a review of the environmental threats and gaps in monitoring programmes in European coastal waters based on previous studies, an online questionnaire, and an in-depth assessment of observation scales. Our findings underpin the JERICO-NEXT 1 monitoring strategy for the development and integration of coastal observatories in Europe, and support JERICO-RI 2 in providing high-value physical, chemical and biological datasets for addressing key challenges at a European level. This study highlights the need for improved monitoring of environmental threats in European coastal environments. Participants in the online questionnaire provided new insights into gaps between environmental threats and monitoring of impacts. In total, 36 national representatives, scientists and monitoring authorities from 12 European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) completed the questionnaire, and 38 monitoring programmes were reported. The main policy drivers of monitoring were identified as the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Regional Seas conventions (e.g. OSPAR) and local drivers. Although policy drivers change over time, their overall purposes remain similar. The most commonly identified threats to the marine environment were: marine litter, shipping, contaminants, organic enrichment, and fishing. Regime shift was identified as a pressure by 67 % of respondents. The main impacts of these pressures or threats were identified by the majority of respondents (> 70 %) to be habitat loss or destruction, underwater noise, and contamination, with 60 % identifying undesirable disturbance (e.g. oxygen depletion), changes in sediment/substrate composition, changes in community composition, harmful micro-organisms and invasive species as key impacts. Most respondents considered current monitoring of threats to be partially adequate or not adequate. The majority of responses were related to spatial and/or temporal scales at which monitoring takes place, and inadequate monitoring of particular parameters. Suggestions for improved monitoring programmes included improved design, increased monitoring effort and better linkages with research and new technologies. Improved monitoring programmes should be fit-for-purpose, underpin longer-term scientific objectives which cut across policy and other drivers, and consider cumulative effects of multiple pressures. The JERICO-RI aims to fill some of the observation gaps in monitoring programmes through development of new technologies. The science strategy for JERICO-RI will pave the way to a better integration of physical, chemical and biological observations into an ecological process perspective. 1 JERICO-NEXT is the European H2020 project under grant agreement No. 654410. 2 JERICO-RI is the European coastal research infrastructure (RI) community built by and through JERICO-NEXT and its predecessor JERICO (Framework 7 Grant Agreement 49 no 262584).
Final report ; Coralligenous is a hard-bottom mainly biogenic habitat, produced by the agglomeration of calcareous encrusting algae growing in dim-light conditions. It is characterized by high structural complexity and spatial heterogeneity, thus supporting rich biodiversity and a variety of sessile assemblages, shaping a typical and one of the most important habitats of the Mediterranean Sea. It produces goods (e.g. food, raw material) and services in several domains (e.g. CO2 sequestration, aesthetics and education). Pollution, smothering and abrasion from a variety of human activities may cause its degradation at a broad scale, whilst fishing and collection of organisms mainly affect target species. Its high aesthetic value may also induce frequentation by SCUBA divers, an additional cause of degradation. Coralligenous is also susceptible to invasive alien species. This habitat, which is of great ecological, socio-economic and cultural importance, is also under the pressures linked to global warming.CIGESMED's GOAL was to understand links between natural and anthropogenic pressures and coralligenous habitats as well as the effects on their functioning to define the Good Environmental Status (GES) of the coastal Mediterranean Sea and propose solutions for maintaining good environmental conditions.Coralligenous specific indices have been constructed and tested by scientists, marine natural parks and reserves managers, also through the implementation of a "citizen science" pilot network. The use of the newest data mining techniques and the development of visualization tools to sort, organize and illustrate very large heterogeneous sets of data constitute an original but complex approach. It permitted to mobilize, visualize and share large data collections, and to manage knowledge to study these habitats.The OUTCOME consists of: i) experimentation and results of new methods to build survey at large scales (testing operating process and materials during dive, photo analyses, population genetics, phylogenetic and metabarcoding approaches) ii) tools to diffuse new methods (website, services, training and field tools for scientists and citizen science, publications) and avoid indices misun-derstanding, iii) tools, methods and prototypes to provide datamining usable for an integrative assessment of the GES within the Framework of the Marine Strategy Directive (for this part, CIGESMED members initiated a new consortium using CIGESMED metadata and dataset to build graph representation, mine graphs and provide tools for environmental decision making). All the outcomes are freely accessible online on websites with open access, open source and open data.The overall achievement was to to bring together researchers (in ecology, economics, sociology, law, etc.) and managers in order to (i) identify the needs and to better address them, (ii) to determine interdisciplinary areas of research concerning the development and management of the coralligenous that could be the subject of a new [multidisciplinary / European / Mediterranean] research project.CIGESMED gathered scientists from France, Greece and Turkey, making it possible to assess the coralligenous habitat in a number of sites in both the northwestern Mediterranean basin and the Aegean-Levantine, under a common approach. Members of ten highly experienced marine ecology laboratories were involved.A total of 10 stations in France (in the Gulf of Lions), Greece (in the Ionian and the Aegean Seas) and Turkey (in the Aegean and the Levantine Seas) were selected to study coralligenous assemblages across the Mediterranean Sea. Analyses of photoquadrats (50x50 cm) and in situ visual observations revealed 313 species, belonging to 15 higher taxa. A total of 204 species were found in Turkey, 192 species in France and 109 species in Greece. Only fifty species were common in all sites. The abundance of the taxonomic groups in coralligenous habitats vary among sites and countries. The multivariate analysis revealed five main assemblages across the Mediterra-nean Sea. A number of important threats were withnessed to have an important impact on coralligenous, with the settlement of invasive alien species (e.g. Caulerpa cylindracea, Womersleyella setacea), sedimentation and factors causing algal bleaching being the most important ones.A new method and index were applied and tested in France (60 stations in Gulf of Lions and Provence) and Greece (4 stations in the Gulf of Corinth) to evaluate the health condition of coralligenous assemblages. This method (INDEX-COR), based on images analyses (60x40cm) and in situ observations, takes into account three metrics giving different levels of information: (i) the ratio "Sensitive-Tolerante Species", (ii) the observable taxonomic richness of the assemblages and (iii) the structural complexity. The global index combining these metrics was tested according to a global index of pressure. Reference conditions were defined in France to propose an interpretation grid to evaluate the status of coralligenous assemblages. This grid applied in Greece demonstrated the necessity to collecte multiple and complete dataset in order to define the reference conditions for the different Mediterranean sectors (e.g. Ionian Sea, Egean Sea and Cretan Sea). Finally, additional indices (CAI, COARSE and ESCA) were tested on the datasets obtained in France and Greece. The comparison of the results is still in progress. The first ones show the advantages and the limits of each index. They underline the need to achieve precisions on (i) their degree of sensitivity in the evaluation of the coralligenous assemblages and (ii) the impact of the different images analysis techniques.Although the global set of samples is still under analysis, the metabarcoding pilot study already gave very promising results for the assessment of coralligenous community species composition: many more species were identified than by eye, predicting a higher resolution than traditional approaches for monitoring and comparing coralligenous assemblages.A dedicated Citizen Science initiative was designed and launched in the course of the project, aiming to engage enthusiast divers in the study and monitoring of coralligenous assemblages through the gathering of basic information regarding spatial occurrence, assemblage structure and associated pressures and threats. The implementation platform comprises a data collection protocol and a multilingual website which serve both educational and data submission purposes. Online and paper educational documentation, as well as observation protocol guidelines are essential tools developed to train volunteer divers. Underwater slates based on the princi-ples of rapid visual assessment have also been developed and distributed to all participants for data collection. Geo-referenced data reporting focuses on: (a) basic topographic and abiotic features for the preliminary description of each site, and the creation of data series for sites receiving multiple visits; (b) presence and relative abundance of typical conspicuous species, as well as, (c) existence of pressures and imminent threats, for the characterization and assessment of coralligenous assemblages. More than 100 observation sets from across the Mediterranean have been registered to date by approximately 30 divers while 75 members have registered to the website, which remain active after the conclusion of the project.Metadata and data produced by the CIGESMED project have a high potential for use by several stakeholders involved in environmental management. Mapping this information needed to share common definitions on coralligenous components and allows starting building a micro thesaurus. The methodology is now developed and the first part of the thesaurus is online. A new consortium called IndexMed whose task is to index Mediterranean biodiversity data, makes it possible to build graphs in order to analyse the CIGESMED data and develop new solutions for coralligenous data mining.The outreach activity of the project included participation of the Consortium to an impressive number of Conferences, Symposia and Workshops, which made it possible to achieve not only the communication of the main objectives of the project but also the development of links with other projects, targeting Marine Biodiversity [e.g. EMBOS (The European Marine Biodiversity Observa-tory), LifeWatch (ESFRI Research Infrastruc-ture), DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status), VECTORS (VECTORS of Change in European Marine Ecosystems and their Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts) and EU BON (Building the European Biodiversity Observation Net-work)]. A flyer was developed to provide the basic information on the project. The project was also advertised during much larger events, in the premises of the participating institutes, such as open days (e.g. exhibitions for the Climate change, TEDx events). The target audience for the outreach activity consisted of researchers and scientists, students, educators, environmental managers, policy makers and stakeholders from all the economic sectors including industry. The means which were used were: (a) the project website, which until now shows a high number of visits recorded for a specialized one: 250,000 hits; (b) the production of 353 articles for the scientific audience and for the society at large. Five websites have been created from which information on the project is broadcasted.The methods and datasets produced by CIGESMED are disseminated to the STIC community, as free tools for studies to be used for any type of data sciences (data mining, data representation .), particularly through the means provided by IndexMed and through data qualification processes (which will need to be continuously improved to keep them relevant). This reusability of the data will be improved in particular by the production of data papers and future animations planned within the framework of the IndexMed consortiumThe Steering Committee consisting of all the WP leaders and the coordinator was responsible for all practical decision making, strategic planning and implementation.A Committee of External Advisors met at an annual basis, and aimed at providing advice on all aspects of the execution of the project to ensure CIGESMED to meet its objectives.
Final report ; Coralligenous is a hard-bottom mainly biogenic habitat, produced by the agglomeration of calcareous encrusting algae growing in dim-light conditions. It is characterized by high structural complexity and spatial heterogeneity, thus supporting rich biodiversity and a variety of sessile assemblages, shaping a typical and one of the most important habitats of the Mediterranean Sea. It produces goods (e.g. food, raw material) and services in several domains (e.g. CO2 sequestration, aesthetics and education). Pollution, smothering and abrasion from a variety of human activities may cause its degradation at a broad scale, whilst fishing and collection of organisms mainly affect target species. Its high aesthetic value may also induce frequentation by SCUBA divers, an additional cause of degradation. Coralligenous is also susceptible to invasive alien species. This habitat, which is of great ecological, socio-economic and cultural importance, is also under the pressures linked to global warming.CIGESMED's GOAL was to understand links between natural and anthropogenic pressures and coralligenous habitats as well as the effects on their functioning to define the Good Environmental Status (GES) of the coastal Mediterranean Sea and propose solutions for maintaining good environmental conditions.Coralligenous specific indices have been constructed and tested by scientists, marine natural parks and reserves managers, also through the implementation of a "citizen science" pilot network. The use of the newest data mining techniques and the development of visualization tools to sort, organize and illustrate very large heterogeneous sets of data constitute an original but complex approach. It permitted to mobilize, visualize and share large data collections, and to manage knowledge to study these habitats.The OUTCOME consists of: i) experimentation and results of new methods to build survey at large scales (testing operating process and materials during dive, photo analyses, population genetics, phylogenetic and metabarcoding approaches) ii) tools to diffuse new methods (website, services, training and field tools for scientists and citizen science, publications) and avoid indices misun-derstanding, iii) tools, methods and prototypes to provide datamining usable for an integrative assessment of the GES within the Framework of the Marine Strategy Directive (for this part, CIGESMED members initiated a new consortium using CIGESMED metadata and dataset to build graph representation, mine graphs and provide tools for environmental decision making). All the outcomes are freely accessible online on websites with open access, open source and open data.The overall achievement was to to bring together researchers (in ecology, economics, sociology, law, etc.) and managers in order to (i) identify the needs and to better address them, (ii) to determine interdisciplinary areas of research concerning the development and management of the coralligenous that could be the subject of a new [multidisciplinary / European / Mediterranean] research project.CIGESMED gathered scientists from France, Greece and Turkey, making it possible to assess the coralligenous habitat in a number of sites in both the northwestern Mediterranean basin and the Aegean-Levantine, under a common approach. Members of ten highly experienced marine ecology laboratories were involved.A total of 10 stations in France (in the Gulf of Lions), Greece (in the Ionian and the Aegean Seas) and Turkey (in the Aegean and the Levantine Seas) were selected to study coralligenous assemblages across the Mediterranean Sea. Analyses of photoquadrats (50x50 cm) and in situ visual observations revealed 313 species, belonging to 15 higher taxa. A total of 204 species were found in Turkey, 192 species in France and 109 species in Greece. Only fifty species were common in all sites. The abundance of the taxonomic groups in coralligenous habitats vary among sites and countries. The multivariate analysis revealed five main assemblages across the Mediterra-nean Sea. A number of important threats were withnessed to have an important impact on coralligenous, with the settlement of invasive alien species (e.g. Caulerpa cylindracea, Womersleyella setacea), sedimentation and factors causing algal bleaching being the most important ones.A new method and index were applied and tested in France (60 stations in Gulf of Lions and Provence) and Greece (4 stations in the Gulf of Corinth) to evaluate the health condition of coralligenous assemblages. This method (INDEX-COR), based on images analyses (60x40cm) and in situ observations, takes into account three metrics giving different levels of information: (i) the ratio "Sensitive-Tolerante Species", (ii) the observable taxonomic richness of the assemblages and (iii) the structural complexity. The global index combining these metrics was tested according to a global index of pressure. Reference conditions were defined in France to propose an interpretation grid to evaluate the status of coralligenous assemblages. This grid applied in Greece demonstrated the necessity to collecte multiple and complete dataset in order to define the reference conditions for the different Mediterranean sectors (e.g. Ionian Sea, Egean Sea and Cretan Sea). Finally, additional indices (CAI, COARSE and ESCA) were tested on the datasets obtained in France and Greece. The comparison of the results is still in progress. The first ones show the advantages and the limits of each index. They underline the need to achieve precisions on (i) their degree of sensitivity in the evaluation of the coralligenous assemblages and (ii) the impact of the different images analysis techniques.Although the global set of samples is still under analysis, the metabarcoding pilot study already gave very promising results for the assessment of coralligenous community species composition: many more species were identified than by eye, predicting a higher resolution than traditional approaches for monitoring and comparing coralligenous assemblages.A dedicated Citizen Science initiative was designed and launched in the course of the project, aiming to engage enthusiast divers in the study and monitoring of coralligenous assemblages through the gathering of basic information regarding spatial occurrence, assemblage structure and associated pressures and threats. The implementation platform comprises a data collection protocol and a multilingual website which serve both educational and data submission purposes. Online and paper educational documentation, as well as observation protocol guidelines are essential tools developed to train volunteer divers. Underwater slates based on the princi-ples of rapid visual assessment have also been developed and distributed to all participants for data collection. Geo-referenced data reporting focuses on: (a) basic topographic and abiotic features for the preliminary description of each site, and the creation of data series for sites receiving multiple visits; (b) presence and relative abundance of typical conspicuous species, as well as, (c) existence of pressures and imminent threats, for the characterization and assessment of coralligenous assemblages. More than 100 observation sets from across the Mediterranean have been registered to date by approximately 30 divers while 75 members have registered to the website, which remain active after the conclusion of the project.Metadata and data produced by the CIGESMED project have a high potential for use by several stakeholders involved in environmental management. Mapping this information needed to share common definitions on coralligenous components and allows starting building a micro thesaurus. The methodology is now developed and the first part of the thesaurus is online. A new consortium called IndexMed whose task is to index Mediterranean biodiversity data, makes it possible to build graphs in order to analyse the CIGESMED data and develop new solutions for coralligenous data mining.The outreach activity of the project included participation of the Consortium to an impressive number of Conferences, Symposia and Workshops, which made it possible to achieve not only the communication of the main objectives of the project but also the development of links with other projects, targeting Marine Biodiversity [e.g. EMBOS (The European Marine Biodiversity Observa-tory), LifeWatch (ESFRI Research Infrastruc-ture), DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status), VECTORS (VECTORS of Change in European Marine Ecosystems and their Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts) and EU BON (Building the European Biodiversity Observation Net-work)]. A flyer was developed to provide the basic information on the project. The project was also advertised during much larger events, in the premises of the participating institutes, such as open days (e.g. exhibitions for the Climate change, TEDx events). The target audience for the outreach activity consisted of researchers and scientists, students, educators, environmental managers, policy makers and stakeholders from all the economic sectors including industry. The means which were used were: (a) the project website, which until now shows a high number of visits recorded for a specialized one: 250,000 hits; (b) the production of 353 articles for the scientific audience and for the society at large. Five websites have been created from which information on the project is broadcasted.The methods and datasets produced by CIGESMED are disseminated to the STIC community, as free tools for studies to be used for any type of data sciences (data mining, data representation .), particularly through the means provided by IndexMed and through data qualification processes (which will need to be continuously improved to keep them relevant). This reusability of the data will be improved in particular by the production of data papers and future animations planned within the framework of the IndexMed consortiumThe Steering Committee consisting of all the WP leaders and the coordinator was responsible for all practical decision making, strategic planning and implementation.A Committee of External Advisors met at an annual basis, and aimed at providing advice on all aspects of the execution of the project to ensure CIGESMED to meet its objectives.
This paper discusses the design and implementation of a citizen science pilot project, COMBER (Citizens' Network for the Observation of Marine BiodivERsity, http://www.comber.hcmr.gr), which has been initiated under the ViBRANT EU e-infrastructure. It is designed and implemented for divers and snorkelers who are interested in participating in marine biodiversity citizen science projects. It shows the necessity of engaging the broader community in the marine biodiversity monitoring and research projects, networks and initiatives. It analyses the stakeholders, the industry and the relevant markets involved in diving activities and their potential to sustain these activities. The principles, including data policy and rewards for the participating divers through their own data, upon which this project is based are thoroughly discussed. The results of the users analysis and lessons learned so far are presented. Future plans include promotion, links with citizen science web developments, data publishing tools, and development of new scientific hypotheses to be tested by the data collected so far.
This paper discusses the design and implementation of a citizen science pilot project, COMBER (Citizens' Network for the Observation of Marine BiodivERsity, http://www.comber.hcmr.gr), which has been initiated under the ViBRANT EU e-infrastructure. It is designed and implemented for divers and snorkelers who are interested in participating in marine biodiversity citizen science projects. It shows the necessity of engaging the broader community in the marine biodiversity monitoring and research projects, networks and initiatives. It analyses the stakeholders, the industry and the relevant markets involved in diving activities and their potential to sustain these activities. The principles, including data policy and rewards for the participating divers through their own data, upon which this project is based are thoroughly discussed. The results of the users analysis and lessons learned so far are presented. Future plans include promotion, links with citizen science web developments, data publishing tools, and development of new scientific hypotheses to be tested by the data collected so far.
International audience ; Coralligenous outcrops represent a "hotspot" of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. Algae and sessile invertebrate taxa (mainly sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates) structure the associated benthic assemblages and constitute remarkable seascapes. Nevertheless, this fragile habitat is submitted to a wide array of human impacts such as sewage outfalls, eutrophication, physical impacts linked to fishing and diving activities, as well as global warming effects. The current European legislative context (EU WFD, EU Habitat Directive, EU MSFD) imposes to reach or maintain a good environmental status for marine ecosystems. In this context, the MPA stakeholders need to have robust and accessible tools allowing the evaluation of the conservation state of the habitats. Concerning coralligenous bottoms, we propose a new method based on an integrated approach taking into account (i) the ratio between sensitive and tolerant species according to human impacts, (ii) the richness of macrotaxonomic descriptors assessed from direct observation (in situ or from images) and (iii) their structural complexity (basal, intermediate and upper layers present in coralligenous bottoms). These three metrics are combined into a global index called INDEX-COR. Datasets were acquired along the French coasts. In each site, 2 transects 15m long were installed on the bottom. Along each transect, 15 photo quadrats (40 cm x 60 cm) and 1 video were recorded and notes were taken by a SCUBA diver-Observer. This method was applied between 15 and 50 meters depth and can be also performed by a ROV (Remotely Operating Vehicule) or an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). INDEX-COR is intended to be applied to other Mediterranean areas using metrics and species lists adapted to the different regional contexts.
International audience ; Coralligenous outcrops represent a "hotspot" of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. Algae and sessile invertebrate taxa (mainly sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates) structure the associated benthic assemblages and constitute remarkable seascapes. Nevertheless, this fragile habitat is submitted to a wide array of human impacts such as sewage outfalls, eutrophication, physical impacts linked to fishing and diving activities, as well as global warming effects. The current European legislative context (EU WFD, EU Habitat Directive, EU MSFD) imposes to reach or maintain a good environmental status for marine ecosystems. In this context, the MPA stakeholders need to have robust and accessible tools allowing the evaluation of the conservation state of the habitats. Concerning coralligenous bottoms, we propose a new method based on an integrated approach taking into account (i) the ratio between sensitive and tolerant species according to human impacts, (ii) the richness of macrotaxonomic descriptors assessed from direct observation (in situ or from images) and (iii) their structural complexity (basal, intermediate and upper layers present in coralligenous bottoms). These three metrics are combined into a global index called INDEX-COR. Datasets were acquired along the French coasts. In each site, 2 transects 15m long were installed on the bottom. Along each transect, 15 photo quadrats (40 cm x 60 cm) and 1 video were recorded and notes were taken by a SCUBA diver-Observer. This method was applied between 15 and 50 meters depth and can be also performed by a ROV (Remotely Operating Vehicule) or an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). INDEX-COR is intended to be applied to other Mediterranean areas using metrics and species lists adapted to the different regional contexts.
International audience ; Coralligenous outcrops represent a "hotspot" of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. Algae and sessile invertebrate taxa (mainly sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates) structure the associated benthic assemblages and constitute remarkable seascapes. Nevertheless, this fragile habitat is submitted to a wide array of human impacts such as sewage outfalls, eutrophication, physical impacts linked to fishing and diving activities, as well as global warming effects. The current European legislative context (EU WFD, EU Habitat Directive, EU MSFD) imposes to reach or maintain a good environmental status for marine ecosystems. In this context, the MPA stakeholders need to have robust and accessible tools allowing the evaluation of the conservation state of the habitats. Concerning coralligenous bottoms, we propose a new method based on an integrated approach taking into account (i) the ratio between sensitive and tolerant species according to human impacts, (ii) the richness of macrotaxonomic descriptors assessed from direct observation (in situ or from images) and (iii) their structural complexity (basal, intermediate and upper layers present in coralligenous bottoms). These three metrics are combined into a global index called INDEX-COR. Datasets were acquired along the French coasts. In each site, 2 transects 15m long were installed on the bottom. Along each transect, 15 photo quadrats (40 cm x 60 cm) and 1 video were recorded and notes were taken by a SCUBA diver-Observer. This method was applied between 15 and 50 meters depth and can be also performed by a ROV (Remotely Operating Vehicule) or an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). INDEX-COR is intended to be applied to other Mediterranean areas using metrics and species lists adapted to the different regional contexts.
International audience ; Coralligenous outcrops represent a "hotspot" of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. Algae and sessile invertebrate taxa (mainly sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates) structure the associated benthic assemblages and constitute remarkable seascapes. Nevertheless, this fragile habitat is submitted to a wide array of human impacts such as sewage outfalls, eutrophication, physical impacts linked to fishing and diving activities, as well as global warming effects. The current European legislative context (EU WFD, EU Habitat Directive, EU MSFD) imposes to reach or maintain a good environmental status for marine ecosystems. In this context, the MPA stakeholders need to have robust and accessible tools allowing the evaluation of the conservation state of the habitats. Concerning coralligenous bottoms, we propose a new method based on an integrated approach taking into account (i) the ratio between sensitive and tolerant species according to human impacts, (ii) the richness of macrotaxonomic descriptors assessed from direct observation (in situ or from images) and (iii) their structural complexity (basal, intermediate and upper layers present in coralligenous bottoms). These three metrics are combined into a global index called INDEX-COR. Datasets were acquired along the French coasts. In each site, 2 transects 15m long were installed on the bottom. Along each transect, 15 photo quadrats (40 cm x 60 cm) and 1 video were recorded and notes were taken by a SCUBA diver-Observer. This method was applied between 15 and 50 meters depth and can be also performed by a ROV (Remotely Operating Vehicule) or an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). INDEX-COR is intended to be applied to other Mediterranean areas using metrics and species lists adapted to the different regional contexts.
International audience ; Coralligenous outcrops represent a "hotspot" of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. Algae and sessile invertebrate taxa (mainly sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans and tunicates) structure the associated benthic assemblages and constitute remarkable seascapes. Nevertheless, this fragile habitat is submitted to a wide array of human impacts such as sewage outfalls, eutrophication, physical impacts linked to fishing and diving activities, as well as global warming effects. The current European legislative context (EU WFD, EU Habitat Directive, EU MSFD) imposes to reach or maintain a good environmental status for marine ecosystems. In this context, the MPA stakeholders need to have robust and accessible tools allowing the evaluation of the conservation state of the habitats. Concerning coralligenous bottoms, we propose a new method based on an integrated approach taking into account (i) the ratio between sensitive and tolerant species according to human impacts, (ii) the richness of macrotaxonomic descriptors assessed from direct observation (in situ or from images) and (iii) their structural complexity (basal, intermediate and upper layers present in coralligenous bottoms). These three metrics are combined into a global index called INDEX-COR. Datasets were acquired along the French coasts. In each site, 2 transects 15m long were installed on the bottom. Along each transect, 15 photo quadrats (40 cm x 60 cm) and 1 video were recorded and notes were taken by a SCUBA diver-Observer. This method was applied between 15 and 50 meters depth and can be also performed by a ROV (Remotely Operating Vehicule) or an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). INDEX-COR is intended to be applied to other Mediterranean areas using metrics and species lists adapted to the different regional contexts.
BiCIKL is an European Union Horizon 2020 project that will initiate and build a new European starting community of key research infrastructures, establishing open science practices in the domain of biodiversity through provision of access to data, associated tools and services at each separate stage of and along the entire research cycle. BiCIKL will provide new methods and workflows for an integrated access to harvesting, liberating, linking, accessing and re-using of subarticle-level data (specimens, material citations, samples, sequences, taxonomic names, taxonomic treatments, figures, tables) extracted from literature. BiCIKL will provide for the first time access and tools for seamless linking and usage tracking of data along the line: specimens > sequences > species > analytics > publications > biodiversity knowledge graph > re-use.
uploaded for EU BON by Plazi The EU BON project aims to Build the European Biodiversity Observation Network, and is the European contribution to the Group on Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). This present deliverable, entitled "Strategies and business plan for regional and global biodiversity information infrastructures" (D7.4) fits under EU BON Work Package (WP) 7 "Implementation of GEO BON: strategies and solutions at European and global levels", and provides an overview of the outputs resulting from two WP7 Tasks. The objectives of this deliverable were to develop (1) a strategy for a global GEO BON infrastructure with optimised functionality in terms of efficiency and operability (as part of Task 7.4), and (2) a business plan for sustaining the European Biodiversity Observation Network after the funded phase (as part of Task 7.5). Building on the outputs from other EU BON work packages and extensive consultation (including externally to the project consortium), these objectives have been met. The global and European-level map of the biodiversity informatics landscape (Task 7.4) has led to a better understanding of the landscape's current structure and functioning. This will enable key players to establish or strengthen collaborations, avoid effort duplication, and facilitate access to the biodiversity data, information and knowledge required to support effective decision-making. The business plan for the European Biodiversity Observation Network (Task 7.5) summarises what the network has to offer, to identified end-users (from policy, science/research, and citizen-science), in terms of products, tools and services, including those that can potentially generate income. A possible organisational structure, potential sources of funding, along with entry points for the network in other projects and initiatives (established or upcoming), are also presented.
