Transcript Sergej Olenin

Expert Workshop on Marine
Biological Valuation
Marine Biology Section,
University of Ghent
December 2-4, 2004
Marine Biological Valuation
in the physically stressed
environment:
the Lithuanian case study
SERGEJ OLENIN
Coastal Research and Planning Institute,
Klaipeda University, Lithuania
[email protected]
Lithuanian coastal environment
Klaipėda
Very exposed, unsheltered coast
• 92 km of sandy beaches and
dunes.
• Straight coastline,
no islands and inlets.
• Wave fetch > 200 km in
NW, W, SW directions,
wave height up to 8m.
• Active hydrodynamic,
strong near-shore currents,
coastal erosion.
• Macrofauna and benthic
vegetation are under the
blasting effect of sand and
gravel.
In the middle of the Baltic salinity
gradient
• Low species diversity (“Artenminimum” zone):
50 species of bottom macrofauna,
36 species of benthic macroalgae
Intensive anthropogenic activity
Butinge Oil Terminal,
buoy 7 km offshore
• Klaipeda port, 4th largest
port in the Baltic Sea (cargo
turnover 20 mln tons/yr).
• Two Lithuanian Oil
terminals (10-14 mln
Recreational
tons/yr),
zones
Russian Oil drilling platform
(D6).
Russian (Kaliningrad)
• Klaipeda city
Oil drilling platform
(200, 000 citizens).
• Large recreational zones
Klaipeda
Oil
Terminal
Environmental problems and level of
their management
• LOCAL
(National or municipal level)
– Dredge spoil damping,
– Overfishing.
• REGIONAL
(Baltic Sea scale, e.g. HELCOM level)
–
–
–
–
Eutrophication,
Chemical contamination,
Oil pollution,
Invasion of alien species.
• GLOBAL
– Sea level rise,
– Increase in number of storm events,
– Global warming
(Sources: Olenin 1999; Olenina
& Olenin 2002)
Coastal protected areas
• Two coastal protected areas,
established in 1992;
both comprise marine parts: a 2 nm
wide stripe along the coastline.
• The marine parts were included
without thorough investigation
(“political need”).
Seaside
Regional Park
• New demands:
– 1) coastal typology and designation of
reference conditions (EU Water
Framework Directive),
– 2) establishment of NATURA-2000
marine sites.
Curonian Spit
National Park
Use of biotope approach for
coastal typology
and
valuation of marine life
What is a benthic biotope ?
(contemporary definition)
• A distinctive sea bottom area with conventionally
uniform physical-chemical environment (salinity,
substrate, hydrodynamics, light climate,
temperature regime, etc.) and matching biological
features.
• The physical 'habitat' with its biological
'community‘.
• The “biotope” notion is considered as a synonym of
“habitat” in some legislative acts, directives and
conventions for the convenience of interpretation.
(Sources: Connor et al, 1993; MarLIN 2003; Olenin & Daunys, 2004)
History of the term “biotope”
1877 - K. Möbius:
“The Oyster Bank Is a Biocönose, or a Social Community”
“Biocenosis” = complex superorganism, plants and animals living
together;
1908 – F. Dahl:
“Principles and fundamental ideas of the biocenotic research”
“Biotope” = a complex of factors, which determine physical conditions of
existence of a biocenosis (physical-geographical environment)
“the biotope of the biocenosis”;
1935 – A. Tansley:
“The use and abuse of vegetation concepts and terms”
“Ecosystem” = combination of climatic conditions, soil complex and biotic
community;
Since 1940s: “Ecosystem=Biocenosis + Biotope”
(in German, French, Russian, Polish and other “continental” literature)
(Sources: Olenin 2003; Olenin & Ducrotoy in prep.)
Marine biotope classification systems
•
HELCOM, 1998. Red list of Red list of Marine and
Coastal Biotopes and Biotope Complexes of the Baltic
Sea. Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings, No.75: 3943.
•
Connor et al., 1997: Marine Nature Conservation
Review: marine biotope classification for Britain and
Ireland. Volume 1. Littoral biotopes. Volume 2.
Sublittoral biotopes. Version 97.06. Joint Nature
Conservation Committee, Peterborough, JNCC
Reports, No. 229 and No. 230.
•
EUNIS, 2004: European Nature Information System.
European Environment Agency.
http://eunis.eea.eu.int/habitats.jsp (download 2004-1031).
Benthic biotope classification procedure
(relevance to coastal typology and biological valuation)
Mapping and description of
biotopes
Development of the biotope
classification system
Justification of ecological
relevance by the analysis of
matching between physical
and biological features
Inventory of physical
factors shaping benthic
environment
(salinity, substratum, depth,
wave exposure…)
Inventory of biological features
characterizing biotopes
(conspicuous species, coverage of
dominant forms, visible biogenic
signs, community structure)
Benthic biotope classification procedure
(relevance to coastal typology and biological valuation)
Biological valuation and
designation of MPAs
Development of coastal
typology
Identification of coastal types
as complexes of neighboring
interrelated biotopes
(biotope complexes)
Mapping and description of
biotopes
Underwater surveys, 1993-2003
Remote underwater
video survey
Description of sea bottom and
sampling by SCUBA divers
Sampling of bottom
macro fauna using a Van
Veen grab
Paper (pdf) available at:
http://www.eucc-d.de/coastline_reports.php
Biotope as integration of different
ecological criteria
• Diversity
– alfa - diversity within biotope,
– beta – diversity among biotopes,
– gamma – diversity of biotope complexes (coastal types)
• Dependency
– Presence of habitat engineers and keystone species (e.g.
Zostera, Fucus, Furcellaria or Mytilus, Ostrea)
• Integrity
– Measure of degradation of biotopes
– Functional importance
– Functional interrelations between the biotopes
Biotopes as functional units of
coastal marine ecosystems
• Physico-chemical conditions of a habitat determine
diversity of species, as well as functional diversity,
“allowing” presence of certain functional groups and
“restricting” (or “forbidding”) existence of others.
– Examples: a) active biosedimentation is possible only on large boulders
below the breakers zone; b) production of macroalgae – only within
euphotic zone on large stones; c) herring spawning – on stony bottoms
with macroalgae.
• The biotopes differ not only in their appearance
(exterior) but also in their functions, which they
perform in coastal marine ecosystems.
3D scheme of benthic biotopes
at the Seaside Regional Park
Biotopes as mapping units
Depression in the uppermost part of the submarine slope
with floating algae mats
Mobil sands with burrowing amphipods and mysid shrimps
Large boulders with filamentous green macroalgae
Stony bottoms with the red algae
Furcellaria lumbricalis
Stony bottoms with the blue mussel Mytilus edulis
Soft bottoms with the bivalve Macoma baltica and
polychaetes Pygospio elegans, Hediste diversicolor
Primary production of
macroalgae
Formation and
accumulation of
detritus
Active
biosedimentation
(suspension feeding)
Utilization of detritus from the
surface of bottom sediments and
bioturbation
Ecological integrity criteria:
assessment of functional importance
of biotopes
Functions
Biotopes
Spawning
ground
Foraging area
for fish, birds
Shelter for fish
fry
Support for
high species
diversity
Stony bottoms
with Furcellaria
2
1
2
2
Stony bottoms
with Mytilus
0
2
1
2
Mobil sands with
Bathyporeia
0
1
1
0
Soft bottoms in
aphotic zone
0
2
0
1
0 – not relevant, 1 – present, 2 - important
Conclusion
• The biotope integrates several important
ecological criteria used for biological valuation.
• Biotope is a convenient unit which may be used for
the coastal typology and coastal types may be
identified as the complexes of interrelated
neighboring biotopes.
• National and international biotope classification
systems are being developed for the coastal zones
of Europe. This may provide a solid background
for a scientifically acceptable and widely
applicable valuation strategy.
Extras
Furcellaria lumbricalis
Furcellaria lumbricalis:
Biotope under change
1968
(Data: Blinova & Tolstikova, 1972)
1993
(Data: Olenin & Labanauskas, 1994)
Būtingė Oil Terminal
• Oil tank facilities on land connected
by a 7,5 km long pipeline with the
offshore buoy (depth ca. 20 m)
• 10 mln tons of oil products in 2003
(Ventspils – 28 mln tons)
Spices richness of
bottom macrofauna
[
] - <5 species
[
] - >10 species
[
] - >15 species