CIGESMED habitat's characterization: a simple ans reusable typology at the Mediterranean scale

Abstract

International audienceThe so-called coralligenous makes Mediterranean marine habitats that are of the most important in terms of complexity and biodiversity. Coralligenous is formed by the development of several types of communities where bio-constructor, bio-erodor engeneer and " habitat " species interact to build complex structures. The European program CIGESMED studies the Good Environmental Status (G.E.S.) of these habitats. Several protocols are implemented, in particular the cartography of abiotic context, and species observation by means of photo-quadrats. The cartography inventories the profiles types of the coralligenous sites with as robust as possible categories: depth, orientation, slope, roughness, and main coralligenous stands. The objective is to establish a link between the species occurrence features, and the profiles features in order to understand the " natural " spatial variability of coralligenous habitats