Approche sectorielle subtidale : Identification et caractérisation des habitats benthiques du secteur Glénan (Réseau de surveillance benthique - Région Bretagne) Auteur(s) : Ehrhold, Axel Blanchet, Aline Hamon, Dominique Résumé : Ifremer launched and coordinated the development of a strategy for the REBENT network (REseau BENThique) in 2000 to monitor the aftermath of the "Erika" oil spill in December 1999. Its aim is to provide consistent baseline knowledge about coastal benthic habitats and constitute a monitoring tool to detect changes at various scales over time and space. Sector-based seabed habitat mapping in shallow water (< 50 m deep), is currently being conducted throughout Brittany's coastal waters through a combination of geoacoustic marine systems and ground-truthing using biological grab sampling and seabed observations.
Sedimentological and biological results on Glenan area emphasize a great diversity of subtidal habitats and marine species recognized. Sidescan imagery accentuates the complexity of the communities structure in a marine environment distinguished by strong and regulary roughness of the sea. Maerl biocenose is present at the nord-east of the archipelago. Progressively it gives way to mud sediment colonized by Amphiura filiformis and Haploops in the deeper channel. To the west and the south, substratum types are more coarse, occasionally mobiles, composed of essentially sand community with Nephtys and gravelly sand community with Branchiostoma lanceolatum.
Le Rebent (Réseau benthique), initié en 2000 à la suite de la catastrophe de l'Erika, a pour objectif de suivre les habitats benthiques côtiers et de détecter les changements à différentes échelles de temps et d'espace. L'approche sectorielle dans les petits fonds (< 50 m) des côtes bretonnes combine, des moyens de prospection acoustique, afin de délimiter les principaux types de substrats, avec des prélèvements et des observations biologiques pour caractériser les peuplements macrobenthiques. Les résultats des analyses sédimentologiques et faunistiques montrent autour de l'archipel des Glénan, une grande diversité d'habitats et d'espèces reconnues. L'imagerie acoustique fait ressortir la complexité de leur structuration dans un environnement marin soumis à de fortes et régulières périodes d'agitation. La biocénose de maërl occupe le nord-est de l'archipel. Elle laisse place progressivement aux sédiments envasés à Amphiura filiformis et aux vases à Haploops dans le fond du chenal. A l'ouest et au sud, les subtrats sont plus grossiers, essentiellement sableux à Nephtys et sablo-graveleux à Branchiostoma lanceolatum, épisodiquement mobiles. Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/rapport-2301.pdf http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/sup-2301.pdf http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/2301/ | Partager Voir aussi Haploops maerl bedforms bedload transport communities benthic macrofauna sidescan sonar habitats mapping Glenan Rebent Télécharger |
Mapping habitats in a marine reserve showed how a 30-year trophic cascade altered ecosystem structure Auteur(s) : Leleu, Kevin Remy-zephir, Brice Grace, Roger Costello, Mark J. Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Sci Ltd Résumé : Time-series studies have reported trophic cascades in land, freshwater and marine environments in many geographic areas. However, the spatial extent of habitats, a key metric of ecosystem structure, has not been mapped in these studies. Marine reserves can provide experimental, before-after and inside-outside (control-impacted), situations for assessing the impact of fishing on ecosystems. We mapped seabed habitats and their associated communities (biotopes) in New Zealand's oldest marine reserve for comparison with pre-reserve maps created about 30 years previously. Areas grazed bare by sea urchins were entirely replaced in the centre of the reserve by kelp, or alga turf, an intermediate biotope between heavily grazed encrusting algae and lightly grazed kelp. Urchins declined following increased abundance and body size of spiny (rock) lobsters and fish (especially snapper) in the reserve but maintained bare rock outside. While this gradient in habitat change matched the gradient of predator abundance, it also matched the extent of reef habitat area. Thus the trophic cascade may be influenced by the effect of habitat on the abundance and behavioural interactions of urchins and their predators. Further ecosystem changes may arise should the abundance of mega-predators, such as seals, cetaceans and large sharks, increase in the region; if parasites become pathogenic; and/or when invasive species reach the reserve. No-take marine reserves provide real-world experiments that show the importance of species in food webs, and the consequences of fishing for ecosystems. Because these changes in ecosystem structure may continue, and will vary with environment, climate and species distributions, reserves need to be permanent and replicated geographically. Habitat maps should be produced for all reserves to enable ecological changes in the ecosystem to be spatially quantified. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Biological Conservation (0006-3207) (Elsevier Sci Ltd), 2012-10 , Vol. 155 , P. 193-201 Droits : 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00107/21842/20067.pdf DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.05.009 http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00107/21842/ | Partager Voir aussi Kelp forest Ecosystem change Predator release Subtidal mapping Urchin Barren New Zealand Lobster Fish Time-series Télécharger |