habitat dynamics at the catchment-coast interface, a digest

1. habitat dynamics at the catchment-coast interface, a digest Jan Vermaat, Alison Gilbert Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Aim To summarise ELOISE findings on the dynamics of European coastal habitats, including the open high sea, for a range of end users. TOC: approach / habitat? / findings / conclusions

2. approach • ‘digest’: a brief review (20 pp) • material: published output of ELOISE projects • method: draft subject to electronic discussion and two review cycles (external + internal within the consortium).

3. habitat • Ecologists often use ‘habitat’ loosely in their M&M to indicate their working area • Textbooks offer different definitions: from ‘real places’ to ‘the spatial subdivision of the environment within an ecosystem into convenient units’ (Desmukh) • My favorite: Southwoods population-oriented approach, predictability in time and space scaled against life span and dispersal capacity

4. habitat typology • Several exist. For the EC a typology has been developed entitled ‘EUNIS’ • Has developed into a legal entity, with phonebook lists of categories and their area. • We aggregated EUNIS into 8 categories http://eunis.eea.eu.int/

5. 8 aggregate coastal habitat types • Cliffs, shingle beaches, kelp beds • Wetlands and dune complexes • Salt marsh • Sand-banks and mudflats • Seagrass beds • Lagoons • Subtidal sediments • Open sea pelagic

6. dynamics • We searched for ‘dynamics’ or variability, .. • Within habitat: internal, due to physical forcing at different time scales, tides, seasons, pluvials (sequences of years) • Between habitats: transition, externally forced or internal and cyclic

7. findings: 6 lengthy tables • Much of ELOISE research has been devoted to biogeochemistry of nutrients, heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (cf Ledoux et al.) • Still we found a substantial contribution: • Understanding natural dynamics (13 proj) • Understanding anthropogenic state change (27) • Provide indicators (13)

8. findings 2 • Much of the work was focused on the open water, • particularly the upper fringe (cliffs, dunes and saltmarshes) was poorly represented in ELOISE projects

9. { findings 3: what happens to these habitats? • Mostly related to increased human use, directly or indirectly This is an excerpt of a DPSIR analysis, idenitfying major driving pressures and their impacts in different European coastal seas

10. findings 4: what have we learned?

11. conclusions • coastal research occurred outside ELOISE as well, but received less attention… • Most of the work has ‘increased our understanding’. A clear focus has been on biogeochemistry of pollution and effects on plankton and benthos. • Three habitat types have been studied most intensively: the pelagic, lagoons, and mudflats + sandbanks. • Salt marshes, coastal dunes + wetlands and cliffs were under-represented within ELOISE, as was the Atlantic seaboard. • Major ongoing societal change across the EU will enhance the pressures affecting the extent and quality of coastal ecosystems.

12. gaps for future research • Comparative surveys of spatial pattern such as habitat mosaics and state transitions • The Atlantic seaboard and under-represented habitats • Fisheries and aquaculture effects • Europe-wide stock taking – research or monitoring -- EEA? • Disciplinary integration is ‘reaching secondary school stage’ but needs maturation Sweeping statement to close off: see the last paragraph of the digest (http://www.research.plymouth.ac.uk/marine-policy/eloise/index.htm)