EcApRHA’s Benthic Habitats work (seafloor assessment)
The EcApRHA Benthic Habitats Work Package aims to:
- Forward detailed methodological assessments of each indicator for benthic habitats.
- Develop methods to combine indicators for an integrated assessment of benthic habitats under the OSPAR Regional Sea Convention for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).
- Ensure coherence with sister projects ActionMED (for the Mediterranean Sea under the Barcelona Convention) and BalticBOOST (for the Baltic Sea under the HELCOM Convention).
Benthic Habitat indicators being developed include:
- Typical species composition (BH1).
- Condition of benthic habitats communities (BH2).
- Physical damage of predominant species and habitats (BH3).
- Area habitat loss (BH4).
A first joint benthic habitat workshop (EcApRHA benthic partners + other OSPAR benthic habitat experts) was held from 16 to 18 of March 2016 at the marine station of the French Natural History Museum, Dinard (France). The workshop focused on forwarding the methodology to assess each benthic habitat indicator, to facilitate OSPAR intermediate assessment (due August 2016), and develop methods for an integrated assessment.
18 benthic experts attended the workshop from France (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle , Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières, Ifremer), Germany (Bioconsult), Netherlands (Rijkswaterstaat), Spain (Instituto Español de Oceanografía), Sweden (Aquabiota) and United Kingdom (Joint Nature Conservation Committee).
Figure 1: OSPAR, EcApRHA benthic habitats workshop attendees, 16-18 March 2016.
Main outcomes from the workshop:
- Refined methods and work plans to assess each of the benthic indicators.
- Progressed analyses to support case studies within the OSPAR area on benthic indicator assessments, to contribute to OSPAR 2017 intermediate assessment.
- Developed technical methods to combine indicators for an integrated assessment of benthic habitats at an OSPAR regional and sub-regional scale.
- Agreed overarching conceptual approach to structure the guidelines for an integrated assessment (Figure 2).
- Partnerships were formed and information exchanged to ensure links with existing European benthic assessment and monitoring projects.
The next benthic workshop is planned to take place towards the end of June 2016, where detailed integrated assessments guidelines will be developed.
Terms used
Benthic habitats are the variety of seafloor types made up of different types of sediment and biota (collection of fauna and flora). To be able to define the different benthic habitats that exist they are classified into categories under the EUNIS habitat classification system.
EcApRHA benthic habitat project partners
