Using EUNIS habitat classification in the Avilés Canyon's system and the near continental shelf (Cantabrian Sea) (original) (raw)

Abstract

The complex Aviles Canyons system is located in the western area of the Cantabrian Sea, whose study is currently being carried out by the INDEMARES (LIFE+) project. The aim of this project is to provide the necessary information to establish a network of representative marine protected areas (MPAs) for the purposes of biodiversity conservation on Spanish waters. For the effective design of MPAs several basic questions need to be addressed: what size should the MPA be; what proportion of habitats or species populations should be include; and where should the MPA be sited. In order to answer these questions, one of the main objectives of this project is identifying and charting the habitats and the biological communities that inhabit them. To date, there are different classification systems to define units, including geomorphological features, broad substratum categories and biological communities, for various regions in the world. Within Europe, efforts are currently focused on producing habitats maps of the seafloor and there are several projects in progress trying to define a standard system to provide habitat data in a comparable manner. The most widely accepted system by which habitats are classified is called the European Nature Information System (or EUNIS, Davies et al ., 2004), that is our first option to define the more representative habitats on INDEMARES project study areas. However, this hierarchical classification system is still not well developed for the characteristics of several ecosystems and in general terms presents important discrepancies in their design. Particularly highlights the low development of the classification of the deep-sea habitats and their inconsistencies with hierarchical levels in the sallower waters. In this study we will attempt to determine the suitability of this classification system to the particularities of a complex Aviles Canyon's deep-sea ecosystem, identifying the main problems to be solved in improved versions of the EUNIS to reflect regional peculiarities. As a first step, to recognize the seabed morphology and characterize the processes generating these morphological features, a detailed geomorphologic analysis, based on multibeam bathymetry, parametric seismic profiles, box corer samples and

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