scholarly journals Acoustic Approach to Determining Seabed Substrates Distribution at Mandi Darah Island, Sabah

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 374-382
Author(s):  
Mohd Shukri Mohd Yusop ◽  
Mohd Norsyarizad Razali ◽  
Nazirah Md Tarmizi ◽  
Mohd Najib Abdul Ghani Yolhamid ◽  
M.N. Azzeri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Direct Observation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Habitat Mapping ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Single Beam ◽  
Management And Conservation

Marine ecosystems and natural habitat play the important role of the Earth’s life support system. They significantly contribute to economies and food safety and help preserve ecological processes. However, the devastation of the marine ecosystem in Malaysia due to the human factor and climate change is quite alarming. Therefore, spatial marine information, especially on the distribution of seabed substrates and habitat mapping, are of utmost importance for marine ecosystem management and conservation. Traditionally, seabed substrate and habitat mapping were classified based on direct observation techniques such as photography, video, sampling, coring and scuba diving. These techniques are often limited due to water clarity and weather conditions and only suitable for smaller scale surveys. In this study, we employed an acoustic approach using the RoxAnn Acoustic Ground Discrimination System (AGDS) with a high-frequency single-beam echo sounder to examine the distribution of seabed substrate at the Mandi Darah Island, Sabah. The acoustic signals recorded by AGDS are translated into hardness and roughness indices which are then used to identify the unique characteristics of the recorded seabed types. The analysis has shown that fifteen types of substrates, ranging from silt to rough/some seagrass, have been identified and classified. The findings demonstrated that the acoustic method was a better alternative for seabed substrate determination than the conventional direct observation techniques in terms of cost and time spent, especially in large scale surveys. The seabed substrate dataset from this study could be used as baseline information for the better management and conservation of the marine ecosystem.

Developing an Autonomous Hovercraft for Benthic Surveying in Very Shallow Waters

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Troup ◽  
David Barclay ◽  
Matthew Hatcher
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Clarity ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Optical Methods ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Sediment Type ◽  
Side Scan Sonar ◽  
Single Beam ◽  
Remote Sensing Methods

<p>Benthic surveys in very shallow water (< 1 meter) are often carried out by remote sensing methods such as LiDAR, satellite imagery, and aerial photography, or by written observations paired with GPS point measurements and underwater video. Remote sensing can be helpful for large scale mapping endeavors, but the optical methods commonly used are limited in their effectiveness by cloud cover and water clarity. In situ surveys are often carried out manually and can therefore be quite inefficient. A proposed alternative method of small scale, high resolution mapping is an autonomous, amphibious hovercraft, fitted with high frequency single-beam and side-scan sonar instruments. A hovercraft can move seamlessly from land to water which allows for convenient and simple deployment. The sonar instruments are attached to a boat-shaped outrigger hull that can be raised and lowered automatically, enabling data collection in water as shallow as 10 cm. These data are used to extract seafloor characteristics in order to create detailed maps of the research area that include information such as sediment type, presence and extent of flora and fauna, and small-scale bathymetry.</p>

scholarly journals Environmental Engineering Techniques to Restore Degraded Posidonia oceanica Meadows

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 661
Author(s):  
Luigi Piazzi ◽  
Stefano Acunto ◽  
Francesca Frau ◽  
Fabrizio Atzori ◽  
Maria Francesca Cinti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Posidonia Oceanica ◽  
Environmental Engineering ◽  
Bottom Surface ◽  
Sessile Invertebrates ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Short Time

Seagrass planting techniques have shown to be an effective tool for restoring degraded meadows and ecosystem function. In the Mediterranean Sea, most restoration efforts have been addressed to the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica, but cost-benefit analyses have shown unpromising results. This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of environmental engineering techniques generally employed in terrestrial systems to restore the P. oceanica meadows: two different restoration efforts were considered, either exploring non-degradable mats or, for the first time, degradable mats. Both of them provided encouraging results, as the loss of transplanting plots was null or very low and the survival of cuttings stabilized to about 50%. Data collected are to be considered positive as the survived cuttings are enough to allow the future spread of the patches. The utilized techniques provided a cost-effective restoration tool likely affordable for large-scale projects, as the methods allowed to set up a wide bottom surface to restore in a relatively short time without any particular expensive device. Moreover, the mats, comparing with other anchoring methods, enhanced the colonization of other organisms such as macroalgae and sessile invertebrates, contributing to generate a natural habitat.

Habitat mapping in the Caribbean for management and conservation: Use and assessment of aerial photography

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. C. Sheppard ◽  
K. Matheson ◽  
J. C. Bythell ◽  
P. Murphy ◽  
C. Blair Myers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerial Photography ◽  
Habitat Mapping ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Management And Conservation

scholarly journals Skillful prediction of tropical Pacific fisheries provided by Atlantic Niños

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iñigo Gómara ◽  
Belén Rodríguez-Fonseca ◽  
Elsa Mohino ◽  
Teresa Losada ◽  
Irene Polo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Ecosystem Model ◽  
Tropical Pacific ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Marine Food Web ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Model ◽  
The Tropical Pacific

AbstractTropical Pacific upwelling-dependent ecosystems are the most productive and variable worldwide, mainly due to the influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO can be forecasted seasons ahead thanks to assorted climate precursors (local-Pacific processes, pantropical interactions). However, owing to observational data scarcity and bias-related issues in earth system models, little is known about the importance of these precursors for marine ecosystem prediction. With recently released reanalysis-nudged global marine ecosystem simulations, these constraints can be sidestepped, allowing full examination of tropical Pacific ecosystem predictability. By complementing historical fishing records with marine ecosystem model data, we show herein that equatorial Atlantic Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) constitute a superlative predictability source for tropical Pacific marine yields, which can be forecasted over large-scale areas up to 2 years in advance. A detailed physical-biological mechanism is proposed whereby Atlantic SSTs modulate upwelling of nutrient-rich waters in the tropical Pacific, leading to a bottom-up propagation of the climate-related signal across the marine food web. Our results represent historical and near-future climate conditions and provide a useful springboard for implementing a marine ecosystem prediction system in the tropical Pacific.

GERI – The emerging Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaana Bäck ◽  
Werner Kutsch ◽  
Michael Mirtl
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Research Infrastructure ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Unique Challenge ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Research Infrastructures ◽  
Access To Data

<p>Ecosystem Research Infrastructures around the world have been designed, constructed, and are now operational as a distributed effort. The common goal is to address research questions that require long-term ecosystem observations and other service components at national to continental scales, which cannot be tackled in the framework of single and time limited projects.  By design, these Research Infrastructures capture data and provide a wider range of services including access to data and well instrumented research sites. The coevolution of supporting infrastructures and ecological sciences has developed into new science disciplines such as macrosystems ecology, whereby large-scale and multi-decadal-scale ecological processes are being explored. </p><p>Governments, decision-makers, researchers and the public have all recognized that the global economy, quality of life, and the environment are intrinsically intertwined and that ecosystem services ultimately depend on resilient ecological processes. These have been altered and threatened by various components of Global Change, e.g. land degradation, global warming and species loss. These threats are the unintended result of increasing anthropogenic activities and have the potential to change the fundamental trajectory of mankind.  This creates a unique challenge never before faced by society or science—how best to provide a sustainable economic future while understanding and globally managing a changing environment and human health upon which it relies.</p><p>The increasing number of Research Infrastructures around the globe now provides a unique and historical opportunity to respond to this challenge. Six major ecosystem Research Infrastructures (SAEON/South Africa, TERN/Australia, CERN/China, NEON/USA, ICOS/Europe, eLTER/Europe) have started federating to tackle the programmatic work needed for concerted operation and the provisioning of interoperable data and services. This Global Ecosystem Research Infrastructure (GERI) will be presented with a focus on the involved programmatic challenges and the GERI science rationale.</p>

Freshwater, Fish and the Future: Proceedings of the Global Cross-Sectoral Conference

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Freshwater Fish ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Fish Assemblages ◽  
Physical Habitat ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Tropical Island

<em>Abstract.</em> —Freshwater tropical island environments support a variety of fishes that provide cultural, economic, and ecological services for humans but receive limited scientific, conservation, and public attention. Puerto Rico is a Caribbean tropical island that may serve as a model to illustrate the interactions between humans and natural resources in such complex ecosystems. The native freshwater fish assemblage of Puerto Rico is distinct from mainland assemblages in that the assemblage is not diverse, all species are diadromous, and they may be exploited at multiple life stages (e.g., postlarva, juvenile, adult). Primary large-scale drivers of recent water-use policy include economic growth, human population density, and urbanization, with climate change as an overarching influence. Watershed and riparian land use, water quality, river flow and instream physical habitat, river habitat connectivity, exotic species, and aquatic resource exploitation are important proximate factors affecting the ecosystem and fisheries. Research on ecological processes and components of the stream and river fish assemblages has expanded the knowledge base in the past decade with the goal of providing critical information for guiding the conservation and management of the lotic resource to optimize ecosystem function and services. The greatest challenge facing Caribbean island society is developing policies that balance the needs for human water use and associated activities with maintaining aquatic biodiversity, ecological integrity and services, and sustainable fisheries. Achieving this goal will require broad cooperation and sustained commitment among public officials, agency administrators, biologists, and the public toward effective resource management.

Mitigating Impacts of Natural Hazards on Fishery Ecosystems

2008 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Single Beam ◽  
Coastal Bays ◽  
Fishing Vessels ◽  
Northern Gulf Coast ◽  
Hurricanes Katrina And Rita ◽  
Survey Planning

<em>Abstract</em>.—Hurricanes Katrina and Rita critically impacted the northern Gulf Coast. Shrimping and other commercial fishing industries saw large scale destruction of vessels and shore based facilities in addition to a deposition of large amounts of debris on fishing grounds from Alabama to Louisiana. In 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Office of Coast Survey and Office of Response and Restoration started the implementation of a large scale hazards survey program to map the coastal waters of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The first phase of the effort involved surveying more than 600 square nautical miles of coastal bays and nearshore waters with sidescan and single beam acoustic sonar. Survey findings are posted each week on a NOAA public Web site displaying the location of each hazard and debris found. The survey work is also updating the NOAA navigation charts for coastal areas that are used heavily by fishing vessels, the navigation industry, and recreational boaters. Survey planning and implementation is conducted cooperatively with the marine fisheries agencies of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Basic life support training in schools: Reflecting on students' and teachers' perspectives in Portugal

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-128
Author(s):  
Nuno Pinto ◽  
Alexandra Carvalho ◽  
Rita Silva ◽  
Eleonora Marianucci ◽  
Beatriz Novo
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Basic Life Support ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Training Programme ◽  
The Public ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
Effective Training ◽  
Training Courses ◽  
Teachers Perspectives

Cardiovascular events are the third cause of death in the world. It is generally accepted by all the main health organisations dedicated to this topic that increasing the number of potential members of the public who could intervene if necessary will lead to an increase in the survival rate in the case of cardiac arrest. To achieve this goal, offering effective training courses to as many individuals as possible, on a large scale and at a low cost, is recommended. Schools are by nature one of the ideal places for implementing this type of large-scale training programme. With this study the authors aim to measure how open students and teachers are to basic life-support training in their school and how this can improve their confidence levels in performing basic life-support if needed.

Community Replacement Pathways: What Do Fossil Sequences Reveal About Marine Ecosystem Transitions?

1990 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 262-272
Author(s):  
William Miller
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Ultimate Cause ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
Time And Energy

Paleontologists have lavished much time and energy on description and explanation of large-scale patterns in the fossil record (e.g., mass extinctions, histories of monophyletic taxa, deployment of major biogeographic units), while paying comparatively little attention to biologic patterns preserved only in local stratigraphic sequences. Interpretation of the large-scale patterns will always be seen as the chief justification for the science of paleontology, but solving problems framed by long time spans and large areas is rife with tenuous inference and patterns are prone to varied interpretation by different investigators using virtually the same data sets (as in the controversy over ultimate cause of the terminal Cretaceous extinctions). In other words, the large-scale patterns in the history of life are the true philosophical property of paleontology, but there will always be serious problems in attempting to resolve processes that transpired over millions to hundreds-of-millions of years and encompassed vast areas of seafloor or landscape. By contrast, less spectacular and more commonplace changes in local habitats (often related to larger-scale events and cycles) and attendant biologic responses are closer to our direct experience of the living world and should be easier to interpret unequivocally. These small-scale responses are reflected in the fossil record at the scale of local outcrops.

scholarly journals Linkages in the Landscape: The Role of Corridors and Connectivity in wildlife Conservation

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Norwood
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Wildlife Conservation ◽  
Habitat Modification ◽  
World Population ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Old Growth Forest ◽  
Migratory Routes ◽  
Forest Mosaic ◽  
Increasing Demand

Increasing demand for resources through a growing world population and the development of consumer led economies has led to large-scale habitat modification. One of the most disturbing aspects of these changes is the loss of biodiversity. Conservation biology as a discipline seeks to counteract or minimize the loss of biodiversity. Management is an Important aspect in achieving this goal. One concept used in Wildlife management and conservation is that of landscape linkages. Linkages are aimed at faclhtatmg .the connectivity for species, communities or ecological processes. There are many types of linkages in the landscape; both natural and human induced. Covered in this book are linkages such as greenways, dispersal corridors, riparian remnants, wildlife corridors, stepping stones, hedgerows and road underpasses. Linkages range in scale from small patches of old-growth forest in a forest mosaic to migratory routes for birds across and between continents.

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