Adding the “where” to the “who and what”. Considering the seascape can help the study of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biodiversity, Ecology, Marine Biology
- Keywords
- Seascape, Photomosaic, habitat compensation, environmental status, Kelp, Green Sea Urchin, grazing, habitat mapping, spatial, species interaction
- Copyright
- © 2018 Ferrario et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2018. Adding the “where” to the “who and what”. Considering the seascape can help the study of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. PeerJ Preprints 6:e26807v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.26807v1
Abstract
Whether we want to conserve, restore or enhance biodiversity, or use it to assess the environmental status of our coasts, the indissoluble link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is influenced by the spatial context of an ecosystem (the seascape). Using field-based research conducted in subarctic regions, we will show how the seascape can modulate species interactions which impair the habitat-forming functions of kelp. Specifically, bottom heterogeneity modulates top-down grazer control impacting the functioning of artificial structures as habitats for canopy-forming seaweeds in habitat compensation efforts. Unfortunately, coastal habitat maps from which seascape information could be obtained are often non-existant or are coarse in scale. We thus present how optical imagery-derived photomosaics can be used to map biological and geomorphological features over continuous and wide areas. Moreover, photomosaics can reveal patterns of local distribution of benthic species that can be useful when assessing biodiversity to evaluate the environmental status in coastal areas. Seascape context is thus a determining element which will improve our ability to maintain ecosystem functioning and services and inform coastal management.
Author Comment
This is an abstract which has been accepted for the WCMB.