European Broad-Scale Seabed Habitat Maps Support Implementation of Ecosystem-Based Management

We have analyzed the development of “Broad-Scale Seabed Habitat Maps” (BSHM) and their potential use in a European context with regard to the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) implementation, MPA designation and network assessment as well as other applications of BSHMs. The analyses are anchored in BSHMs developed by a series of interlinked EU projects (e.g. UKSeaMap, BALANCE, MESH, Mesh Atlantic, EUSeaMap 2012, and EUSeaMap 2016) and all maps are based on environmental data. Some EU Member States have used BSHMs as part of their MSFD Initial Assessments published in 2012. However, we conclude that BSHMs are a prerequisite for another key MSFD activity, i.e. mapping of potentially cumulative effects of multiple human stressors. Further, BSHMs seem to play a growing role with regard to evidence-based assessments of MPAs. With the upcoming second round of MSFD Initial Assessments due in 2018, including assessment of potentially cumulative pressures, there seems to be an increasing need for more BSHMs nationally, regionally and on a European scale

Review and compilation of habitat models in European Seas

A summary of European studies to date that have aimed to model the potential distribution of seabed habitats or habitat-forming species. This report is the result of a literature review covering the period 2007-2017

A New 30 Meter Resolution Global Shoreline Vector and Associated Global Islands Database for the Development of Standardized Ecological Coastal Units

A new 30-m spatial resolution global shoreline vector (GSV) was developed from annual composites of 2014 Landsat satellite imagery. The semi-automated classification of the imagery was accomplished by manual selection of training points representing water and non-water classes along the entire global coastline. Polygon topology was applied to the GSV, resulting in a new characterisation of the number and size of global islands. Three size classes of islands were mapped: continental mainlands (5), islands greater than 1 km2 (21,818), and islands smaller than 1 km2 (318,868). The GSV represents the shore zone land and water interface boundary, and is a spatially explicit ecological domain separator between terrestrial and marine environments. The development and characteristics of the GSV are presented herein. An approach is also proposed for delineating standardised, high spatial resolution global ecological coastal units (ECUs). For this coastal ecosystem mapping effort, the GSV will be used to separate the nearshore coastal waters from the onshore coastal lands. The work to produce the GSV and the ECUs is commissioned by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and is associated with several GEO initiatives including GEO Ecosystems, GEO Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) and GEO Blue Planet

A New 30 Meter Resolution Global Shoreline Vector and Associated Global Islands Database for the Development of Standardized Ecological Coastal Units

A new 30-m spatial resolution global shoreline vector (GSV) was developed from annual composites of 2014 Landsat satellite imagery. The semi-automated classification of the imagery was accomplished by manual selection of training points representing water and non-water classes along the entire global coastline. Polygon topology was applied to the GSV, resulting in a new characterisation of the number and size of global islands. Three size classes of islands were mapped: continental mainlands (5), islands greater than 1 km2 (21,818), and islands smaller than 1 km2 (318,868). The GSV represents the shore zone land and water interface boundary, and is a spatially explicit ecological domain separator between terrestrial and marine environments. The development and characteristics of the GSV are presented herein. An approach is also proposed for delineating standardised, high spatial resolution global ecological coastal units (ECUs). For this coastal ecosystem mapping effort, the GSV will be used to separate the nearshore coastal waters from the onshore coastal lands. The work to produce the GSV and the ECUs is commissioned by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and is associated with several GEO initiatives including GEO Ecosystems, GEO Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) and GEO Blue Planet

Method for classifying EUSeaMap according to the new version of EUNIS, HELCOM HUB and the Mediterranean habitat types

The need for maps of the seabed has become increasingly urgent in recent years for a wide range of reasons and uses, including reporting on the state of the marine environment to implement EU policies such as the MSFD. In ten years, the EMODnet Seabed Habitats initiative has produced maps for all European marine regions, where input data allowed, the resultant seabed habitat maps are known collectively as ”EUSeaMap”. With products such as EUSeaMap, it is assumed that mapping the broad habitat types defined in seabed habitat classifications (e.g. EUNIS) provides appropriate proxies for the occurrence of the species or communities of species that occupy them. In addition to being released in EUNIS 2007-2011 and the MSFD Broad Benthic Habitat Types, the next version of EUSeaMap (expected in September 2021) will be released in three classifications, namely EUNIS 2019 (the new version of EUNIS), and the regional classifications HELCOM HUB and the Mediterranean habitat types. This report proposes crosswalks between EUSeaMap modelled broad habitat types and the three classifications, and briefly discusses the opportunities/challenges entailed by the crosswalks. Our conclusion is that no major issue is expected for the translation of EUSeaMap into these classifications. We also argue that in EUNIS 2019 there are gaps at biotope levels, particularly in the Black Sea and the Arctic, and that measures should be taken to address these gaps

Mapping seabed habitats over large areas: prospects and limits

Since its inception, in 2009, EMODnet Seabed Habitats has brought together a European consortium of specialists in benthic ecology and seabed habitat mapping to develop a transnational broad-scale seabed habitat map, named EUSeaMap. EUSeaMap is the only pan-European cartographic product that provides a standardised trans-boundary overview of the spatial distribution of seabed habitats across Europe. As such, it has been extensively used in various applications such as Marine Protected Area evaluation or cumulative impact of stressors on habitats, and it is likely to be used again in the future in various marine ecosystem assessments. It is therefore important to continue to update it regularly when significant improvements to the data products that constitute its basis, i.e. the seabed substrate, bathymetry or environmental variables, are published. In addition to EUSeaMap, it would be desirable to provide stakeholders with products on the spatial distribution of targeted habitats/biotopes such as those of conservation interest (e.g. kelp forest, seagrass meadows, coral reefs). Some techniques, hereafter referred to as "SDMs", are acknowledged to be effective in mapping these habitats. We argue that a program that would use these techniques to map these key habitats/biotopes in European waters would be invaluable, but such a program can only be achieved if there is a significant improvement in the spatial resolution of environmental variables. An important message of this report is therefore that the EU should consider funding a project that would develop spatially explicit high-resolution (at least 500 m) data products on key variables (light availability, hydrodynamics, wave exposure, temperature, oxygenation, chlorophyll-a, phosphate, nitrate, etc.) that would spatially cover all European waters

EUSeaMap. A European broad-scale seabed habitat map

In order to most benefit from the potential offered by the European marine basins in terms of growth and employment (Blue Growth), and to protect the marine environment, we need to know more about the seafloor. European Directives, such as the MSFD, but also the Horizon 2020 roadmap explicitly called for a multi-resolution full coverage of all European seas including bathymetry, geology and habitats. The present work, following on a suite of past initiatives, has made a big step forward in this direction. It has first boosted the collation of existing maps from surveys by setting up a framework and a procedure to encourage people to submit their maps and data. This resulted in a more attractive EMODnet seabed habitat portal and a snowball effect with more and more people willing to join. However, collation will eventually come to an end and as new creations of seabed habitat maps are so complex and time-consuming, a cost-efficient way to meet the need for a full-coverage habitat map was found to be low-resolution maps and models to predict seafloor habitat types. The broad-scale map referred to as EUSeaMap has been created by this project and after the first two phases it now covers all European basins from the Barents Sea to Macaronesia and to the Black Sea. By harmonising mapping procedures - based on the EUNIS classification - and fostering a common understanding among seabed mappers in Europe, EUSeaMap provides today the community with a comprehensive, free and ready-to-use map that can find applications at regional scale for management and conservation issues. Tables and maps for all basins can be found in section 3 “Results and disciussions”. The project has played a key role in giving feedback to other EMODnet communities dealing with bathymetry, geology and biology, all essential data sources for the broad-scale map. It has also improved the understanding of the EUNIS habitat classification - with a focus on the Adriatic and the Black Sea - by better specifying transitions between classes based on benthic ground-truth data. It has fostered the development of oceanographic variables such as light, waves and currents that have a strong bearing on habitats. Finally it has also been instrumental in developing map confidence assessment methods that account for the broad spatial variation in data sources quality and for uncertain boundaries between habitat classes. The EUSeaMap methods are repeatable and ensure that the predictive maps can continue to be improved in the future, as a result either of EUNIS enhancements or increase in resolution. From today’s 250m resolution it is likely that new deliveries of enhanced source layers due to steady progress in oceanography and geophysics will enable constant refinement of the maps over time

EUSeaMap 2019, A European broad-scale seabed habitat map, technical report

EUSeaMap 2019 is the third iteration of EUSeaMap. All versions have been produced as part of the EMODnet Seabed Habitats project, which is one of several thematic lots in EMODnet. The project has brought together a European consortium of specialists in benthic ecology and seabed habitat mapping. The partners first collaborated in EMODnet phase 1 (2009-2012) to deliver a prototype predictive seabed habitat map in four trial basins (Greater North Sea, Celtic Seas, Baltic, Western Mediterranean). This predictive model was named EUSeaMap (Cameron and Askew, 2011). In EMODnet Phase 2 (2012-2016), the consortium extended EUSeaMap coverage to all European regions (Populus et al, 2017). In the new version, the spatial coverage was extended further North in order to include the Barents Sea. The spatial detail was substantially improved. This was made possible by improvements to the physical predictor variables created by the other EMODnet lots which are the input data to the EUSeaMap model. A substantial revision of the map creation process has also been carried out in order to make it more reproducible. This document describes all these modifications which have led to the elaboration of EUSeaMap 2019

EUSeaMap 2021. A European broad-scale seabed habitat map

EUSeaMap 2021 is the fifth iteration of EUSeaMap. All versions have been produced as part of the EMODnet Seabed Habitats project, which is one of several thematic lots in EMODnet. The project has brought together a European consortium of specialists in benthic ecology and seabed habitat mapping. The partners first collaborated in EMODnet phase 1 (2009-2012) to deliver a prototype predictive seabed habitat map in four trial basins (Greater North Sea, Celtic Seas, Baltic, Western Mediterranean). This predictive model was named EUSeaMap (Cameron and Askew, 2011). In EMODnet Phase 2 (2012-2016), the consortium extended EUSeaMap coverage to all European regions (Populus et al, 2017). In phase 3 (2017-2021), a first version (2019) extended the spatial coverage further North in order to include the Barents Sea, developed better environmental data were incorporated, and dramatically improved the spatial detail. The new version, developed in the period 2019-2021 and named 2021, is substantially evolved from the previous version as it accounts for new seabed substrate data published by EMODnet Geology in 2021, including in Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Norway and Spain, 2) is published in new classifications, including the new version of the marine section of EUNIS, named EUNIS 2019 and 3) addresses some issues identified in EUSeaMap 2019

EUSeaMap 2023, A European broad-scale seabed habitat map, Technical Report

EUSeaMap 2023 is the sixth iteration of EUSeaMap. All versions have been produced as part of the EMODnet Seabed Habitats project, which is one of several thematic lots in EMODnet. The project has brought together a European consortium of specialists in benthic ecology and seabed habitat mapping. The partners first worked together in EMODnet Phase 1 (2009-2012) to develop a prototype predictive seabed habitat map in four test basins (Greater North Sea, Celtic Seas, Baltic Sea, Western Mediterranean). This predictive model was named EUSeaMap (Cameron and Askew, 2011). In EMODnet Phase 2 (2012-2016), the consortium extended the spatial coverage of EUSeaMap to all European regions (Populus el al., 2017). In Phase 3 (2017-2021), a first version (2019) extended the spatial coverage further north to include the Barents Sea, incorporated improved environmental data, and dramatically improved the spatial detail. In 2021 EUSeaMap was improved with new seabed substrate data and was published in new classifications, including the new version of the marine section of EUNIS, called EUNIS 2019. In this new version, called EUSeaMap 2023, EUSeaMap has been extended to the Caribbean Sea and the Caspian Sea. In Continental Europe, Macaronesia, Iceland and the Arctic, progress has been made in integrating new data on seabed substrate, bathymetry, wave energy and the probability of the occurrence of the halocline at the bottom of the Baltic Sea