Innovative study methods for the Mediterranean coralligenous habitats

Ramírez, Paula Andrea Zapata; Scaradozzi, David; Sorbib, L.; Palmac, M.; Pantaleoc, U.; Ponti, Massimo; Cerrano, Carlo

doi:10.1080/19475721.2013.849758

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…In this context, several methods have been proposed to evaluate the ecological quality of coralligenous assemblages (Cánovas‐Molina et al, ; Cecchi, Gennaro, Piazzi, Ricevuto, & Serena, ; David et al, ; Deter, Descamp, Ballesta, Boissery, & Holon, ; Féral et al, ; Gatti et al, ; Gatti, Bianchi, Morri, Montefalcone, & Sartoretto, ; Kipson et al, , ; Montefalcone et al, ; Piazzi et al, ; Piazzi, Gennaro, Cecchi, & Serena, ; Ruitton et al, ; Sartoretto et al, , ; Teixidó, Casas, Cebrian, Linares, & Garrabou, ; Zapata‐Ramírez et al, ). These methods have been developed with different approaches and adopt distinct ecological descriptors and sampling techniques, thus hampering the comparison of data and results, and requiring intercalibration procedures (Montefalcone et al, ; Piazzi et al, ; Piazzi, Balata, Cecchi, Gennaro, & Serena, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To assess the ecological quality of coralligenous reefs, an effective standardized monitoring protocol is urgently needed, in order to compare data at the Mediterranean scale and to plan efficient management and intervention programmes (Zapata‐Ramírez et al, ). Management plans should first distinguish the two major coralligenous habitats, namely the shallow and the deep reefs, within and deeper than about 40 m depth respectively (Cerrano et al, ), which should be considered separately in monitoring programmes (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP], ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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STAR: An integrated and standardized procedure to evaluate the ecological status of coralligenous reefs

Piazzi

Gennaro

Montefalcone

et al. 2018

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Coralligenous reefs represent one of the most important coastal ecosystems of the Mediterranean Sea, and their ecological quality must be assessed under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive to evaluate seafloor integrity. An effective standardized monitoring protocol is urgently needed in order to compare data at the Mediterranean scale and to plan efficient management and intervention programmes.2. This paper aims to: (a) review methods used to study shallow coralligenous reefs to propose a method able to optimize sampling effort; (b) select the most effective ecological descriptors to evaluate the responses of coralligenous assemblages to anthropogenic stress; and (c) synthesize available information in an integrated and standardized procedure.3. Ninety-five scientific papers dealing with shallow coralligenous reefs were found.Among these, 52 papers reporting detailed descriptions about sampling methods were selected to identify methodologies and ecological descriptors suitable for monitoring purposes.4. Downstream of the bibliographic review, an integrated and standardized procedure, named STAR (STAndaRdized coralligenous evaluation procedure), was proposed to assess the ecological quality of coralligenous reefs.5. STAR was tested on coralligenous reefs at 12 sites, six of them subjected to high human pressure and six located in areas characterized by low human pressure.6. Significant differences between the two conditions were detected for all the ecological descriptors selected, thus confirming the effectiveness of STAR in the assessment of ecological quality of coralligenous reefs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

STAR: An integrated and standardized procedure to evaluate the ecological status of coralligenous reefs

Piazzi

Gennaro

Montefalcone

et al. 2018

Aquatic Conservation

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“…If precise revisitation is possible, then monitoring produces 2D or 3D photomosaics for estimate of cover difference within revisited transects, with statistical power given by Fig 2 . The use of paired photomosaics for high-resolution monitoring of coral reef habitat is now common, and there is no reason that this method could not also be used to advantage in seagrass monitoring, especially in the clear waters of the Mediterranean [ 53 , 54 , 76 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Error, Power, and Blind Sentinels: The Statistics of Seagrass Monitoring

et al. 2015

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We derive statistical properties of standard methods for monitoring of habitat cover worldwide, and criticize them in the context of mandated seagrass monitoring programs, as exemplified by Posidonia oceanica in the Mediterranean Sea. We report the novel result that cartographic methods with non-trivial classification errors are generally incapable of reliably detecting habitat cover losses less than about 30 to 50%, and the field labor required to increase their precision can be orders of magnitude higher than that required to estimate habitat loss directly in a field campaign. We derive a universal utility threshold of classification error in habitat maps that represents the minimum habitat map accuracy above which direct methods are superior. Widespread government reliance on blind-sentinel methods for monitoring seafloor can obscure the gradual and currently ongoing losses of benthic resources until the time has long passed for meaningful management intervention. We find two classes of methods with very high statistical power for detecting small habitat cover losses: 1) fixed-plot direct methods, which are over 100 times as efficient as direct random-plot methods in a variable habitat mosaic; and 2) remote methods with very low classification error such as geospatial underwater videography, which is an emerging, low-cost, non-destructive method for documenting small changes at millimeter visual resolution. General adoption of these methods and their further development will require a fundamental cultural change in conservation and management bodies towards the recognition and promotion of requirements of minimal statistical power and precision in the development of international goals for monitoring these valuable resources and the ecological services they provide.

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“…[14,15] relied on specific stereoscopic photography equipment in deep water habitats. Finally, many studies applied photogrammetry to measure benthic communities [16][17][18][19] and also [20]. Shortis [21] provided a clear and synthetic overview.…”

Section: Use Of Photogrammetry For Marine Benthic Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photogrammetric Surveys and Geometric Processes to Analyse and Monitor Red Coral Colonies

Royer

Nawaf

Merad

et al. 2018

JMSE

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This article describes the set of photogrammetric tools developed for the monitoring of Mediterranean red coral Corallium rubrum populations. The description encompasses the full processing chain: from the image acquisition to the information extraction and data interpretation. The methods applied take advantage of existing tools and new, innovative and specific developments in order to acquire data on relevant ecological information concerning the structure and functioning of a red coral population. The tools presented here are based on: (i) automatic orientation using coded quadrats; (ii) use of non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) and 3D skeletonization techniques; (iii) computation of distances between colonies from a same site; and (iv) the use of a plenoptic approach in an underwater environment.

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Innovative study methods for the Mediterranean coralligenous habitats

Cited by 16 publications

References 73 publications

STAR: An integrated and standardized procedure to evaluate the ecological status of coralligenous reefs

STAR: An integrated and standardized procedure to evaluate the ecological status of coralligenous reefs

Error, Power, and Blind Sentinels: The Statistics of Seagrass Monitoring

Photogrammetric Surveys and Geometric Processes to Analyse and Monitor Red Coral Colonies

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