Coastal Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) and the Ecosystem Thematic Network (ETN)

Christopher J. Madden NatureServe March 2008 ApplicationsApplications ofof thethe MarineMarine StandardStandard FormatFormat

•• IdentificationIdentification ofof areasareas ofof CriticalCritical HabitatHabitat andand BiodiversityBiodiversity •• EndemicEndemic speciesspecies •• ThreatenedThreatened speciesspecies •• HotHot spotsspots •• DelineateDelineate MPAsMPAs •• LocateLocate EssentialEssential FishFish HabitatHabitat •• EcosystemEcosystem BasedBased ManagementManagement AdvantagesAdvantages ofof thethe MarineMarine StandardStandard FormatFormat

•• ParticipateParticipate inin aa largelarge datadata networknetwork •• SeamlessSeamless integrationintegration withwith FreshwaterFreshwater andand TerrestrialTerrestrial ETNsETNs •• UmbrellaUmbrella classificationclassification thatthat incorporatesincorporates oror translatestranslates allall membermember datasetsdatasets CMECSCMECS SuiteSuite ofof ClassificationClassification ToolsTools

Biophysical Classification

Benthic Cover Geoform Classification Classification Water Column Classification CMECSCMECS--GEOSSGEOSS IntegrationIntegration

•• HierarchicalHierarchical withinwithin BiogeographicBiogeographic regionsregions •• NestedNested •• SimilarSimilar toto aa speciesspecies taxonomytaxonomy •• BioBio--physicalphysical •• SpatialSpatial fromfrom aa metersmeters toto contintentalcontintental scalescale •• InclusiveInclusive ofof andand translatestranslates withwith otherother classificationsclassifications LargeLarge MarineMarine EcosystemsEcosystems 00--200m200m BiogeochemicalBiogeochemical EcoregionsEcoregions >> 200m200m CMECSCMECS IIIIII HierarchyHierarchy w/inw/in EcoregionEcoregion Ecological L1 Region Ecological Region

Fresh Water Marine Influenced L2 Regime

Estuarine- Nearshore Estuary Neritic Oceanic L3 Influenced Marine System

Intertidal/Benthic Intertidal/Benthic Intertidal/Benthic Intertidal/Benthic Intertidal/Benthic L4 Subsystem

Bare/Colonized/ Bare/Colonized/ Bare/Colonized/ Bare/Colonized/ Bare/Colonized/ L5 Cover Vegetated Vegetated Vegetated Vegetated Vegetated

Vagile Species & L6 Class Biological Associations L7 Subclass

L8 Biotope Complex Biotope Biotope Biotope Biotope Biotope L9 Biotope LevelLevel ThemesThemes

Ecoregion Climate Regime, Biogeography

Regime/ System Salinity/Enclosure/Total Depth

Sub system Intertidal/Benthic (Depth)

Cover Biological Cover/Bare

Class Biophysical Structure

Subclass Biophysical Fine Structure, Substrate

Biotope Complex Dominant Biology Type/Association

Biotope Specific Biology

Spatial Scale is an implicit classifier at each level Modifiers for Form, Energy, Light, Physico-Chemistry, Anthropogenics CensusCensus ofof MarineMarine LifeLife andand OBISOBIS DataData ModelModel LinkagesLinkages • OBIS will add CMECS habitat designation for each data set. (short term)

• OBIS incorporating CMECS into its data model to allow habitat designations for all data records. (long term)

• The OBIS portal will have a direct link to CMECS website.

• OBIS-NatureServe working to unify terminology across IMCRA, EUNIS and CMECS SanSan DiegoDiego SupercomputerSupercomputer CenterCenter •• OBISOBIS OntologyOntology MappingMapping ProjectProject •• TranslationTranslation andand crosswalkcrosswalk viavia thethe ““WrapperWrapper””

Physical Ecological multi-dimensional species & biology environment

classification units

Classification Hierarchy

A useful tool for comparing classifications NatureServeNatureServe CMECSCMECS websitewebsite

http://www.natureserve.org/getData/CMECS/index.htm NatureServeNatureServe CMECSCMECS websitewebsite

http://www.natureserve.org/getData/CMECS/index.htm ConclusionConclusion •• MarineMarine ETNETN WebsiteWebsite willwill gogo livelive withwith thethe draftdraft StandardStandard FormatFormat latelate MarchMarch 20082008 •• IABINIABIN isis conductingconducting aa trainingtraining workshopworkshop AprilApril 20082008 •• SeveralSeveral LatAmLatAm countriescountries areare contributingcontributing datadata toto thethe networknetwork •• WeWe inviteinvite additionaladditional projectsprojects fromfrom thethe CaribbeanCaribbean BasinBasin

http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/I ABIN/FormatoEstandar/formatomarino.php