An Integrated Method to Evaluate and Monitor the Conservation State Of
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An integrated method to evaluate and monitor the conservation state of coralligenous habitats: The INDEX-COR approach Stéphane Sartoretto, Thomas Schohn, Carlo Bianchi, Carla Morri, Joaquim Garrabou, Enric Ballesteros, Sandrine Ruitton, Marc Verlaque, Boris Daniel, Eric Charbonnel, et al. To cite this version: Stéphane Sartoretto, Thomas Schohn, Carlo Bianchi, Carla Morri, Joaquim Garrabou, et al.. An integrated method to evaluate and monitor the conservation state of coralligenous habitats: The INDEX-COR approach. Marine Pollution Bulletin, Elsevier, 2017, 120 (1-2), pp.222-231. 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.05.020. hal-01541141 HAL Id: hal-01541141 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01541141 Submitted on 12 May 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Marine Pollution Bulletin 120 (2017) 222–231 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul An integrated method to evaluate and monitor the conservation state of MARK coralligenous habitats: The INDEX-COR approach ⁎ Stéphane Sartorettoa, , Thomas Schohna, Carlo Nike Bianchib, Carla Morrib, Joaquim Garrabouc, Enric Ballesterosd, Sandrine Ruittone, Marc Verlaquee, Boris Danielf, Eric Charbonnelg, Sylvain Bloueth, Romain Davidi, Jean-Pierre Férali, Giulia Gattii a IFREMER, Zone Portuaire de Brégaillon, 83500 La Seyne-sur-mer, France b DiSTAV, Department of Earth, Environment and Life Science, University of Genoa, Corso Europa 26, 16132 Genoa, Italy c Institute of Marine Science, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain d Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes, CSIC, 17300 Blanes, Spain e Aix Marseille Univ, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO, Marseille, France f Agence Française pour la Biodiversité, Antenne de Méditerranée, 26 rue de la République, 13001 Marseille, France g Parc Marin de la Côte Bleue, Observatoire-Plage du Rouet, 31 Avenue Jean Bart, BP. 42, 13620 Carry-le-Rouet, France h Aire marine protégée de la côte Agathoise, Direction Gestion du milieu marin Hôtel de Ville, 34300 Agde, France i Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie Marine et Continentale (IMBE), Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, Avignon Université, Station Marine d'Endoume, Chemin de la Batterie des Lions, F-13007 Marseille, France ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: A new method based on photographic sampling coupled with in situ observations was applied to 53 stations Coralligenous reef along the French Mediterranean coast, to assess the integrity of coralligenous reefs affected by different levels of Ecological status anthropogenic pressure. The conservation state of the assemblages characterizing these habitats was then Ecological indicator assessed by an index – the INDEX-COR – that integrates three metrics: (i) the sensitivity of the taxa to organic Seafloor integrity matter and sediment deposition, (ii) the observable taxonomic richness, and (iii) the structural complexity of the Mediterranean Sea assemblages. The sensitivity of INDEX-COR was tested and showed good correlation with the Level of Pressure calculated for each station according to expert judgment and field observations. 1. Introduction (Corallium rubrum). Finally, they constitute a remarkable and typical Mediterranean underwater seascape, highly attractive for recreational The endemic biogenic habitat known as “coralligenous” represents activities (e.g., scuba-diving), but also greatly affected by anthropo- an array of species diversity in the Mediterranean Sea (Boudouresque, genic pressures locally (Ballesteros, 2006). 2004). Despite the lack of knowledge of the diversity of certain Human activities may cause physical impacts and inputs of organic taxonomic groups, the first preliminary global estimation gave a total matter, sediment and pollutants. Physical impacts (anchoring, fishing number of 1666 species (Ballesteros, 2006). Such extraordinary biodi- and diving) damage both the large sessile invertebrates of the canopy versity is mainly due to the considerable structural complexity of the and the associated fragile calcareous organisms, such as erect bryozoans coralligenous bioconstruction, the most important in the Mediterranean (Garrabou et al., 1998; Linares et al., 2010). Organic matter inputs may Sea (Bianchi, 2002), and the high environmental heterogeneity at small lead to an increase of bioeroders such as clionaid sponges (Ballesteros, scales, which allows for the coexistence of different habitats (Kipson 2006), while sediment deposition can modify the composition of et al., 2011). The presence of a canopy of large sessile invertebrates assemblages and associated biodiversity (Balata et al., 2005, 2007). (e.g., gorgonians and erect sponges) further increases this complexity. Finally, the presence of pollutants in the water column has been shown Coralligenous habitats harbour several species of interest for artisanal to cause a decrease in biodiversity (Hong, 1983; Ballesteros, 2006). fishing, such as crustaceans, fishes and the emblematic red coral Among the environmental factors affecting coralligenous habitats, ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Sartoretto), [email protected] (T. Schohn), [email protected] (C.N. Bianchi), [email protected] (C. Morri), [email protected] (J. Garrabou), [email protected] (E. Ballesteros), [email protected] (S. Ruitton), [email protected] (M. Verlaque), [email protected] (B. Daniel), [email protected] (E. Charbonnel), [email protected] (S. Blouet), [email protected] (R. David), [email protected] (J.-P. Féral), [email protected] (G. Gatti). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.05.020 Received 28 October 2016; Received in revised form 27 April 2017; Accepted 10 May 2017 Available online 15 May 2017 0025-326X/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. S. Sartoretto et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 120 (2017) 222–231 extremely high temperature events have became more frequent during ecological status of coralligenous habitats is proposed, with special the last decades (Garrabou et al., 2009), and have led to mass consideration given to the needs of stakeholders (e.g., MPAs, Marine mortalities of long-living and structuring species (Cerrano et al., Protected Areas). The approach is based on the integration of three 2000; Pérez et al., 2000; Garrabou et al., 2009; Lejeusne et al., 2010). metrics: (i) the sensitivity of species to fine sedimentation and organic The acidification of seawater caused by the increased concentration of matter input; (ii) the taxonomic richness; and (iii) the structural atmospheric CO2 has been shown to reduce the growth and calcification complexity of the assemblages. The first objective of this paper is to rates of calcareous algae involved in the bioconstruction (Martin and describe and illustrate the method. The second is to propose a new Gattuso, 2009; Lacoue-Labarthe et al., 2016), and can finally lead to the index to assess the ecological status of coralligenous habitats, the total disappearance of coralligenous reefs (Linares et al., 2015). INDEX-COR. Finally, the third objective is to test its efficiency accord- Paradoxically, despite their ecological and economical importance, ing to different levels of anthropogenic pressure affecting the marine European legislation never refers directly to coralligenous habitats. environment. Annex I of the Habitat Directive (HD, 92/43/EEC) takes into account a generic “Reefs” category in the list of habitats of community interest. 2. Materials and methods Only recently, coralligenous reefs have been included by the European Union in a Red List of marine habitats (Gubbay et al., 2016). The Water 2.1. Study area Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) mentions the assessment of the composition and abundance of benthic flora and fauna only as a The study area is located along the French continental means to evaluate the quality of water bodies. A list of Biological Mediterranean coast. The western zone, from the Gulf of Fos to Quality Elements (BQE) is defined by the WFD (phytoplankton, Marseilles, is characterized by high turbidity and considerable sediment benthos, etc.), but only the best known benthic habitats have been inputs due to the estuary of the Rhône River: thus coralligenous reefs considered to date: soft substrates (Borja et al., 2000; Simboura and can be found starting from relatively shallow depths (12–15 m). On the Zenetos, 2002; Rosenberg et al., 2004; Muxika et al., 2007), upper contrary, the eastern zone, from Toulon to Saint-Raphaël, is generally infralittoral rocky reefs (Orfanidis et al., 2001; Ballesteros et al., 2007) characterized by clear waters which allow coralligenous habitats to and Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows (Romero et al., 2007; Gobert develop down to 100–110 m depth. et al., 2009; Lopez y Royo et al., 2009). Finally, the Marine Strategy From the geological viewpoint, the study area is mainly character- Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EC) introduces the concept of ized by rocky