Benthic monitoring and sampling design and effort to detect spatial changes: A case study using data from offshore wind farm sites

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. The exploitation of renewable energies, in particular offshore wind farms (OWFs), is an expanding sector which involves activities that may adversely affect the marine benthic ecology. Fit-for-purpose monitoring is required with sufficient statistical power to detect ecologically meaningful changes, but to date there have been no studies on the suitability of monitoring programmes applied to OWFs. The theoretical relationship of sampling effort with precision in community estimates and sensitivity of the analysis in detecting spatial changes was investigated, this latter assessed through power analysis. Benthic community monitoring strategies and descriptors applied to UK OWFs were used to interrogate real data variability in the marine environment. There was a general lack of clarity in the survey rationale and hypotheses tested within OWF monitoring programmes hence a lack of rigour in the survey design and statistical testing. Consequently the statistical properties of monitoring strategies have been rarely assessed. Precision of mean estimates of benthic community descriptors and the sensitivity in detecting differences in the means increased with sampling effort. At the average sampling effort applied in the OWF case studies (4 stations per impact type area and 3 replicates per station), the studies had sufficient power to detect a ≥50% change between areas in mean benthic species richness (S; 5 species). Due to their higher variability than S, more stations per impact type area were required to reliably detect a ≥50% change between areas in mean benthic abundance (N; 5 stations) and mean biomass (B; 10 stations). Higher sensitivity and precision of estimates of S, N and B was achieved with transformation of data. Understanding the general implications of monitoring design on the sensitivity of the detection of spatial changes is important, particularly when monitoring effort has to be adjusted due to logistic and financial constraints. Although there is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to marine environmental data acquisition, this study guides researchers, developers and regulators in optimising benthic monitoring strategies at OWFs

Follow on to the development of spatial models of essential fish habitat for the South Inshore and Offshore Marine Plan Areas

The ability to spatially locate resources in the marine environment with confidence and at high resolution is central to marine planning and required to manage anthropogenic activities for a sustainable integrated use of the sea. Essential fish habitats are important resources due to their high ecological value in supporting critical fish life stages and their social and economic value as highlighted by ecosystem service models. As such, essential fish habitat maps may represent important supporting tools for the development of marine plan policies in England. The lack of high resolution data on essential fish habitats constitutes a major limitation for the reliable identification of high value habitats and their practical consideration in the marine planning process. To address this problem, a project (MMO (2013)) was undertaken in 2013 to improve the spatial resolution of data on essential fish habitat for fish species of commercial and / or ecological relevance in the South Inshore and South Offshore Marine Plan Areas (hereafter referred to as the South marine plan areas). MMO (2013) used empirical geospatial modelling (classification tree models) of fish survey and environmental data to generate spatial predictions of the presence of fish life stages for ten fish species in the South marine plan areas. MMO (2013) also developed a methodology to assess the confidence associated with model outputs, by combining confidence assessments on the input data and the statistical model predictive ability. The project spatial outputs therefore included maps of the predicted distribution of essential fish habitats (nursery, spawning and adult foraging rounds)for individual species with associated confidence value and onfidence maps. MMO (2013) also developed an integrative approach to combine these maps into multispecies hot spot maps (with associated confidence) identifying areas of higher ecological value based on the frequency of occurrence of the essential habitats for different species. The outputs of MMO (2013) were heavily influenced by the availability and quality of source data and scientific evidence to support the modelling logic as well as the time available to collate and prepare the data. Stakeholder consultation and model validation were recommended to improve the confidence assessment of the MMO (2013) spatial outputs. The present project follows up on this recommendation with the aim of understanding whether the MMO (2013) spatial outputs can be used to support the development of marine plan policies in England. The present project used a stakeholder consultation and validation activity to fulfil the following objectives: 1) validating the essential fish habitat maps developed in MMO (2013) against new data and expert judgement; 2) identifying additional data to improve the confidence in the MMO (2013) essential fish habitat predictions and for the application of the approach in other marine plan areas; 3) obtaining the consultees’ view on the acceptability of the MMO (2013) approach as a tool to support marine planning in England; and 4) providing recommendations to make the model as robust as possible, run the model for all marine plan areas and ensure it can be used in development of marine plans for England. The consultation engaged the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Natural England, as well as other organisations within the UK such as Marine Scotland Science, Natural Resources Wales, Department of the Environment Northern Ireland, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute Northern Ireland and the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) within or adjacent to the South marine plan areas. A questionnaire and discussion via web conferencing were employed. Consultees were asked to provide their view on the validity of the MMO (2013) approach and to identify areas of mismatch between the MMO (2013) spatial predictions of essential fish habitats and their expert knowledge. This information was used to identify areas of reduced confidence in the MMO (2013) maps. The confidence assessment of the MMO (2013) spatial outputs was also improved by statistically validating the model predictions against independent fish survey data. This allowed the re-evaluation of the model predictive ability hence the amendment of the overall confidence associated with the MMO (2013) spatial outputs. Additional data from fish surveys or environmental data layers were also identified based on the consultees’ suggestions and on further input from the Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies (IECS). The associated metadata were explored in order to assess the suitability of these data to improve the MMO (2013) models and/or to allow the application of the approach to other marine plan areas. Due to the limited time available, Defra’s acceptance of the MMO (2013) approach relied on MMO and Cefas judgement and the fishery research scientist consulted in Cefas could not provide an organisation level acceptance of the suitability of the method for marine planning. Although a formal agreement has not yet been obtained, discussion with Cefas, Defra and other organisations allowed identification of strengths and weaknesses associated with the MMO (2013) approach. It was therefore possible to formulate a series of recommendations to improve the approach.The validation activity confirmed that confidence issues were mostly associated with input data layers used to obtain spatial predictions rather than model predictive ability. There was a good agreement of the accuracy of the maps with the expert knowledge and additional empirical evidence, and the statistical validation often led to an increase in the overall confidence in the spatial outputs. The importance of using expert knowledge in addition to statistical validation to refine the model outputs was highlighted during consultation and therefore it was recommended that this isincluded as a procedure within the MMO (2013) approach.The confidence improvement was evident in particular for maps of nursery habitats based on the prediction of occurrence of fish juvenile stages. In most cases these maps reached a moderate confidence after validation. Such an improvement suggests that these maps may have increased utility as spatial areas for marine planning to use in policy formulation. Further improvements of these outputs could be obtained by replacing or integrating the environmental variables used in the models with additional environmental data layers with higher confidence which were not available in this study, as suggested during consultation. This represents a further step towards the improvement of the robustness of the models and the use of the resulting spatial outputs in marine planning. A higher uncertainty was associated with the spatial prediction of spawning and adult feeding grounds relative to nursery areas and amendments to the models were identified as ways of making the models more robust and improving the confidence in their predictions. For example, the inclusion of abundance data of pelagic eggs and larvae in combination with the presence / absence data used in the current models was recommended.The exploration of additional data allowed identification of environmental data layers that should be used as new, additional parameters in the MMO (2013) models. These include variables obtained from detailed energy data layers, Terrain Ruggedness Index obtained from bathymetric data layers and chlorophyll concentration. The use of these additional environmental data has the potential to improve the prediction and confidence in the model outputs in the South marine plan areas and also in other marine plan areas, hence increasing their suitability as supporting tools for marine planning.During consultation, the limited coverage of species included in MMO (2013) was identified as an important limitation of the approach, particularly when an integrative assessment of the ecological value is undertaken by combining the information obtained from maps of essential fish habitats of individual species (as with hot spot maps). Additional fish survey data from datasets used in MMO (2013) and from additional datasets were identified as useful to increase the species coverage in the South marine plan areas (e.g. with inclusion of turbot, brill, whiting and cod) and expand the approach application to other marine plan areas. Notwithstanding the availability of additional fish survey data, not all data are suitable for modelling according to data requirements specified in MMO (2013) (e.g. wide spatial coverage of a fish survey dataset in the marine plan area). A reduced spatial coverage of suitable fish survey data in inshore areas was also identified in MMO (2013) and confirmed in this project, hence limiting the applicability of the models in these areas. The integration of the MMO (2013) spatial outputs with information from other sources better covering these areas (e.g. EA assessments of fish distribution inshore) was therefore recommended. Considering that the above limitations could possibly lead to an underestimation of the overall ecological value of an area, the use of expert knowledge to validate hot spot maps was recommended.Although a formal agreement could not be obtained within the timeline of this project, discussions are still ongoing within Cefas to provide the organisation’s view on the MMO (2013) method. The confidence improvement that would likely result from addressing the recommendations above is considered an important factor that would further increase the suitability of the spatial outputs as supporting tools for the development of marine plan policies in England

Debunking paradigms in estuarine fish species richness

The comparison of species complements within and between habitats and geographical areas is a fundamental aspect of ecological assessments. However, many influences resulting from variability in sampling and data analysis often hinder the ability to determine important patterns in community structure. The study is based on the hypothesis that using a standard sampling method, an asymptote in the rarefaction curve represents the total (gear-specific) species complement likely to be encountered for the geographical area. Accordingly, an asymptotic species richness estimator was used to predict the full complement of species present within each estuary that could be caught using seine netting. The rarefaction curves and species richness estimator enable the interrogation of two underlying paradigms of ecological species richness: the species-energy relationship and the species-area relationship. This analysis reveals distinct groups which show a significant relationship with latitude and size, although the size effect has a smaller influence. In particular, the species-latitude relationship paradigm holds true in this study while the species-area relationship paradigm only applies when latitude is considered concomitantly. Marine species in particular appear to account for the increased fish species number at lower latitudes. The underlying influence of latitude and estuary size suggests that any managerial tool that explores anthropogenic impacts (such as those used in the European Water Framework Directive) should include these aspects. It is concluded that the analysis gives environmental managers an objective cost-beneficial method of identifying when and where further sampling does not give further information for management

Fish assemblage response to environmental pressures in the Venice lagoon

1 - Venice lagoon (Italy), being a transitional water environment, is subjected to several environmental pressures of anthropogenic origin, with a likely impact on the overall ecological status of the system. 2 - Following the Water Framework Directive (WFD, Directive 2000/60/CE), water bodies are to be characterised by the pressures acting on them, and fish assemblages can be used as biological quality element of their ecological status. The Venice lagoon basin has been divided into 14 water bodies, belonging to 5 types, according to the national classification. 3 - With the aim of comparing the role of anthropogenic pressures and environmental background in affecting the lagoon fish assemblages, human pressures have been identified and their magnitude quantified in each lagoon water body, with particular reference to 3 pressure categories: pollution (including nutrient enrichment), direct pressures on the habitat and the living organisms (with particular regard to fishes), and indirect pressures deriving from ground occupation (adjacent land uses). 4 - Fish assemblage attributes (both taxonomical and functional), in sites located within 4 lagoon water bodies (fish samples were collected in 2001-2002 by using fyke nets), were related to the respective pressures acting on these water bodies, by taking into account also the contribution of natural environmental variability among the studied areas, including habitat diversity. 5 - Results showed similar significant effects of environmental background and anthropogenic pressures on the lagoon fish assemblages. This highlights the importance of controlling for environmental variability to allow the detection of the signal of human impact on biological assemblages when attempting at the evaluation of lagoon ecological status. © 2009 University of Salento - SIBA

Spatial models of essential fish habitat (South Inshore and Offshore marine plan areas)

The aim of the project was to improve the spatial resolution of data on essential fish habitats for key fish species (both of commercial and ecological relevance) in the South Inshore and South Offshore marine plan areas, and to assess the relative value of these fish habitats to the regional commercial fisheries productivity and the ecosystem function.The report's recommendations were formulated on how to address the limitations in future studies to allow improvement of the methodology and its application

Factores Socioculturales Y Adherencia Al Tratamiento Antirretroviral De Gran Actividad A Pacientes Del Hospital Belén De Trujillo - 2018

El presente trabajo de investigación es de tipo descriptivo, con diseño no experimental de corte trasversal, y se realizó en pacientes del Hospital Belén de Trujillo 2018, en el servicio de Infectologia, para Determinar la Relación de los Factores Socioculturales con la Adherencia al Tratamiento Antirretroviral de Gran Actividad. Teniendo una población de 540 pacientes y una muestra de 118 pacientes, la cual la información se obtuvo a través de un cuestionario de preguntas como instrumento y como técnica la encuesta y para el procesamiento de análisis de la información se diseñó una base de datos como el Excel. En los resultados, vemos que los casos encontrados con nivel alto en adherencia al tratamiento antirretroviral de gran actividad a pacientes del Hospital Belén de Trujillo representa el 54.2%, seguido del nivel medio con un 39%; y se muestra la relación de un nivel alto de Adherencia al TARGA en el caso de las edades en el grupo etario de 46 a 59 años, estado civil, grado de instrucción, creencias religiosas, apoyo familiar, ingreso económico dichos pacientes tienen un TARGA alto. En conclusión, se determino la relación de los factores socioculturales con la adherencia al Tratamiento Antirretroviral de Gran Actividad en pacientes del Hospital Belén de Trujillo, 2018 teniendo un adecuado nivel de adherencia

Habitat loss and gain: Influence on habitat attractiveness for estuarine fish communities

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Habitat structure and complexity influence the structuring and functioning of fish communities. Habitat changes are one of the main pressures affecting estuarine systems worldwide, yet the degree and rate of change and its impact on fish communities is still poorly understood. In order to quantify historical modifications in habitat structure, an ecohydrological classification system using physiotopes, i.e. units with homogenous abiotic characteristics, was developed for the lower Lima estuary (NW Portugal). Field data, aerial imagery, historical maps and interpolation methods were used to map input variables, including bathymetry, substratum (hard/soft), sediment composition, hydrodynamics (current velocity) and vegetation coverage. Physiotopes were then mapped for the years of 1933 and 2013 and the areas lost and gained over the 80 years were quantified. The implications of changes for the benthic and demersal fish communities using the lower estuary were estimated using the attractiveness to those communities of each physiotope, while considering the main estuarine habitat functions for fish, namely spawning, nursery, feeding and refuge areas and migratory routes. The lower estuary was highly affected due to urbanisation and development and, following a port/harbour expansion, its boundary moved seaward causing an increase in total area. Modifications led to the loss of most of its sandy and saltmarsh intertidal physiotopes, which were replaced by deeper subtidal physiotopes. The most attractive physiotopes for fish (defined as the way in which they supported the fish ecological features) decreased in area while less attractive ones increased, producing an overall lower attractiveness of the studied area in 2013 compared to 1933. The implications of habitat alterations for the fish using the estuary include potential changes in the nursery carrying capacity and the functioning of the fish community. The study also highlighted the poor knowledge of the impacts of habitat changes on fish due to coastal development and urbanisation and emphasises that ecosystem management and conservation will benefit from a wider understanding of habitat functional roles and habitat changes influencing the functioning and structure of the fish communities