IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i20p8302-d425351.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Impact of Physical and Anthropogenic Environmental Factors in Determining the Habitat Suitability of Seagrass Ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Ryan Hastings

    (Department of Geography, University College Cork, Cork T12 K8AF, Ireland)

  • Valerie Cummins

    (School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork T23 AX58, Ireland
    Centre for Marine & Renewable Energy Institute, University College Cork, Cork P43 C573, Ireland)

  • Paul Holloway

    (Department of Geography, University College Cork, Cork T12 K8AF, Ireland
    Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork T23 XE10, Ireland)

Abstract

Blue Carbon ecosystems such as mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrasses have been shown to sequester large amounts of carbon, and subsequently are receiving renewed interest from policy experts in light of climate change. Globally, seagrasses remain the most understudied of these ecosystems, with their total geographic extent largely unknown due to challenges in mapping dynamic coastal environments. As such, species distribution models (SDMs) have been used to identify areas of high suitability, in order to inform our understanding of where unmapped meadows may be located or to identify suitable sites for restoration and/or enhancement efforts. However, many SDMs parameterized to project seagrass distributions focus on physical and not anthropogenic variables (i.e., dredging, aquaculture), which can have negative impacts on seagrass meadows. Here we used verified datasets to identify the potential distribution of Zostera marina and Zostera noltei at a national level for the Republic of Ireland, using 19 environmental variables including both physical and anthropogenic. Using the Maximum Entropy method for developing the SDM, we estimated approximately 95 km 2 of suitable habitat for Z. marina and 70 km 2 for Z. noltei nationally with high accuracy metrics, including Area Under the Curve (AUC) values of 0.939 and 0.931, respectively for the two species. We found that bathymetry, maximum sea-surface temperature (SST) and minimum salinity were the most important environmental variables that explained the distribution of Z. marina and that high standard deviation of SST, mean SST and maximum salinity were the most important variables in explaining the distribution of Z. noltei. At a national level, we noted that it was primarily physical variables that determined the geographic distribution of seagrass, not anthropogenic variables. We unexpectedly modelled areas of high suitability in locations of anthropogenic disturbance (i.e., dredging, high pollution risk), although this may be due to the binary nature of SDMs capturing presence-absence and not the size and condition of the meadows, suggesting a need for future research to explore the finer scale impacts of anthropogenic activity. Subsequently, this research should foster discussion for researchers and practitioners working on sustainability projects related to Blue Carbon.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan Hastings & Valerie Cummins & Paul Holloway, 2020. "Assessing the Impact of Physical and Anthropogenic Environmental Factors in Determining the Habitat Suitability of Seagrass Ecosystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8302-:d:425351
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8302/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8302/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dan A. Smale & Thomas Wernberg & Eric C. J. Oliver & Mads Thomsen & Ben P. Harvey & Sandra C. Straub & Michael T. Burrows & Lisa V. Alexander & Jessica A. Benthuysen & Markus G. Donat & Ming Feng & Al, 2019. "Marine heatwaves threaten global biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(4), pages 306-312, April.
    2. Boris Worm, 2017. "How to heal an ocean," Nature, Nature, vol. 543(7647), pages 630-631, March.
    3. Barbara Neumann & Athanasios T Vafeidis & Juliane Zimmermann & Robert J Nicholls, 2015. "Future Coastal Population Growth and Exposure to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Flooding - A Global Assessment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-34, March.
    4. Paul Holloway & Richard Field, 2020. "Can Rock-Rubble Groynes Support Similar Intertidal Ecological Communities to Natural Rocky Shores?," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-17, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Flavio Borfecchia & Carla Micheli & Luigi De Cecco & Gianmaria Sannino & Maria Vittoria Struglia & Alcide Giorgio Di Sarra & Carlo Gomez & Giuliana Mattiazzo, 2021. "Satellite Multi/Hyper Spectral HR Sensors for Mapping the Posidonia oceanica in South Mediterranean Islands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-27, December.
    2. Caitlin Dalla Pria & Fiona Cawkwell & Stephen Newton & Paul Holloway, 2022. "City Living: Nest-Site Selection Preferences in Urban Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-12, March.
    3. Muhammad Abdul Hakim Muhamad & Rozaimi Che Hasan & Najhan Md Said & Jillian Lean-Sim Ooi, 2021. "Seagrass habitat suitability model for Redang Marine Park using multibeam echosounder data: Testing different spatial resolutions and analysis window sizes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-26, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Caitlin Dalla Pria & Fiona Cawkwell & Stephen Newton & Paul Holloway, 2022. "City Living: Nest-Site Selection Preferences in Urban Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-12, March.
    2. Paul Holloway & Richard Field, 2020. "Can Rock-Rubble Groynes Support Similar Intertidal Ecological Communities to Natural Rocky Shores?," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Sem J. Duijndam & W. J. Wouter Botzen & Liselotte C. Hagedoorn & Philip Bubeck & Toon Haer & My Pham & Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts, 2023. "Drivers of migration intentions in coastal Vietnam under increased flood risk from sea level rise," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(2), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Philip Antwi-Agyei & Frank Baffour-Ata & Sarah Koomson & Nana Kwame Kyeretwie & Nana Barimah Nti & Afia Oforiwaa Owusu & Fukaiha Abdul Razak, 2023. "Drivers and coping mechanisms for floods: experiences of residents in urban Kumasi, Ghana," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 116(2), pages 2477-2500, March.
    5. Anirban Mukhopadhyay & Sugata Hazra & Debasish Mitra & C. Hutton & Abhra Chanda & Sandip Mukherjee, 2016. "Characterizing the multi-risk with respect to plausible natural hazards in the Balasore coast, Odisha, India: a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) appraisal," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(3), pages 1495-1513, February.
    6. Islam, Md. Mofakkarul & Sarker, Md. Asaduzzaman & Al Mamun, Md. Abdullah & Mamun-ur-Rashid, Md. & Roy, Debashis, 2021. "Stepping Up versus Stepping Out: On the outcomes and drivers of two alternative climate change adaptation strategies of smallholders," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    7. Ke Wang & Yongsheng Yang & Genserik Reniers & Quanyi Huang, 2021. "A study into the spatiotemporal distribution of typhoon storm surge disasters in China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 108(1), pages 1237-1256, August.
    8. Domingues, Rita & Costas, Susana & Jesus, Saul & Ferreira, Óscar, 2017. "SENSE OF PLACE, RISK PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS OF A COASTAL POPULATION AT RISK (Faro Beach, Portugal): A qualitative content analysis," Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, Cinturs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve, vol. 5(3), pages 163-175.
    9. Lina M. Rasmusson & Aekkaraj Nualla-ong & Tarawit Wutiruk & Mats Björk & Martin Gullström & Pimchanok Buapet, 2021. "Sensitivity of Photosynthesis to Warming in Two Similar Species of the Aquatic Angiosperm Ruppia from Tropical and Temperate Habitats," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Joseph L.-H. Tsui & Rosario Evans Pena & Monika Moir & Rhys P. D. Inward & Eduan Wilkinson & James Emmanuel San & Jenicca Poongavanan & Sumali Bajaj & Bernardo Gutierrez & Abhishek Dasgupta & Tulio Ol, 2024. "Impacts of climate change-related human migration on infectious diseases," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 14(8), pages 793-802, August.
    11. Zhibin Yang & Robert Stachler & Joshua S. Heyne, 2020. "Orthogonal Reference Surrogate Fuels for Operability Testing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-13, April.
    12. Rifat, Shaikh Abdullah Al & Liu, Weibo, 2022. "Predicting future urban growth scenarios and potential urban flood exposure using Artificial Neural Network-Markov Chain model in Miami Metropolitan Area," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. Magalhães Filho, L.N.L. & Roebeling, P.C. & Costa, L.F.C. & de Lima, L.T., 2022. "Ecosystem services values at risk in the Atlantic coastal zone due to sea-level rise and socioeconomic development," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    14. D. J. Rasmussen & Scott Kulp & Robert E. Kopp & Michael Oppenheimer & Benjamin H. Strauss, 2022. "Popular extreme sea level metrics can better communicate impacts," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Alexandre Mignot & Karina Schuckmann & Peter Landschützer & Florent Gasparin & Simon Gennip & Coralie Perruche & Julien Lamouroux & Tristan Amm, 2022. "Decrease in air-sea CO2 fluxes caused by persistent marine heatwaves," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    16. Tongtong Xu & Matthew Newman & Antonietta Capotondi & Samantha Stevenson & Emanuele Di Lorenzo & Michael A. Alexander, 2022. "An increase in marine heatwaves without significant changes in surface ocean temperature variability," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    17. Ryota Nakamura & Martin Mäll & Tomoya Shibayama, 2019. "Street-scale storm surge load impact assessment using fine-resolution numerical modelling: a case study from Nemuro, Japan," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 99(1), pages 391-422, October.
    18. Gelian Song & Meijuan Xia & Dahai Zhang, 2023. "Deep Reinforcement Learning for Risk and Disaster Management in Energy-Efficient Marine Ranching," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-20, August.
    19. Maria Fabrizia Clemente, 2022. "The Future Impacts of ESL Events in Euro-Mediterranean Coastal Cities: The Coast-RiskBySea Model to Assess the Potential Economic Damages in Naples, Marseille and Barcelona," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    20. Yılmaz, Merve & Terzi, Fatih, 2021. "Measuring the patterns of urban spatial growth of coastal cities in developing countries by geospatial metrics," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8302-:d:425351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.