Finding Reefs: Advances in Mapping Rare Marine Habitats

Feb 1, 2022 | earth and environment

Original Article Reference

This SciPod is a summary of the paper ‘Hydroacoustic Mapping of Geogenic Hard Substrates: Challenges and Review of German Approaches’ from Geosciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10030100

About this episode

The marine environment houses complex types of ecosystems that provide vital services and habitat to aquatic life. Areas of the seafloor where rocky outcrops are present, such as reefs and gravel beds, are some of the rarest marine habitats. Also known as ‘hard substrate habitats’ these ecosystems are under increasing pressure from fishing, eutrophication, climate change, and coastal management. Though hard substrates are protected in the European Union, we are unable to manage them effectively because maps describing their location and dimensions are inaccurate. In a review paper, Dr Svenja Papenmeier [Sven-yah Pah-pan-my-er] of Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde summarises existing rules for mapping substrate habitats, and describes new and potentially ground-breaking mapping techniques.

 

 

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International LicenseCreative Commons License

What does this mean?

Share: You can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt: You can change, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

Credit: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.

More episodes

Dr. Bernhard Reinsberg – Dr. Christoph Valentin Steinert | How Human Rights Laws and Economic Competitiveness Can Co-Exist

Dr. Bernhard Reinsberg – Dr. Christoph Valentin Steinert | How Human Rights Laws and Economic Competitiveness Can Co-Exist

Research from Dr. Bernhard Reinsberg at the University of Glasgow and Dr. Christoph Valentin Steinert at the University of Zurich reveals how France’s groundbreaking mandatory due diligence law defied business predictions of economic harm. Through analysis of 11,504 French companies over fifteen years, their study demonstrates that requiring firms to monitor human rights and environmental standards in their supply chains had no significant impact on profitability. Their findings challenge widespread industry claims that such regulations threaten competitiveness and provide crucial evidence for policymakers considering similar legislation worldwide.

Alexander Nielsen | The Unintended Impacts of Training Walls and Groynes

Alexander Nielsen | The Unintended Impacts of Training Walls and Groynes

Training walls and entrance breakwaters have long been used to keep estuary entrances clear of shoals that threaten boat navigation and increase flood risks for nearby communities. But new research by Alexander Nielsen of Worley Consulting and coastal engineer Angus Gordon reveals that these structures may be causing long-term damage. Their study uncovers how engineered inlets are reshaping the flow of water through estuaries, disrupting wetland ecosystems and triggering costly maintenance challenges.

Chi-Heng Hsieh | Feathered Casualties and Digital Clues: How Citizen Science is Helping Save Birds from Deadly Collisions

Chi-Heng Hsieh | Feathered Casualties and Digital Clues: How Citizen Science is Helping Save Birds from Deadly Collisions

By now, most of us are familiar with stories of wildlife interacting with the modern world, often with unfortunate consequences. Examples include urban foxes struck by vehicles, bears rummaging through trash, and sea turtles entangled in plastic. But there’s a quieter, often unseen danger that claims hundreds of millions of bird lives each year. This is the common window, a source of light for us, but potentially deadly for unsuspecting birds on the wing. Bird-window collisions (or BWCs for short) are a global phenomenon and a growing conservation concern. Birds in flight often fail to perceive clear or reflective glass as a barrier, leading to fatal crashes into windows, especially on modern buildings. Until recently, tracking the scope of this problem, especially in tropical and subtropical regions, has proven difficult. Traditional monitoring methods require trained observers, time-consuming surveys, and, critically, access to fresh bird carcasses, which can vanish quickly in warm, scavenger-rich environments. But in Taiwan, an innovative approach is offering new hope, and it’s coming from an unexpected place: social media.

Professor Jeremy Maurer | Building a seismic timeline of the Nippes earthquake

Professor Jeremy Maurer | Building a seismic timeline of the Nippes earthquake

Sitting directly over a complex network of fault lines, Haiti is one of the most earthquake-prone nations on Earth. In 2021, the Nippes earthquake became the latest to devastate the country, and today, researchers are still piecing together the timeline of seismic events which unfolded during the earthquake. Through their research, Professor Jeremy Maurer and colleagues at Missouri University of Science and Technology have described how the Nippes earthquake originated, shifted, and ruptured a major fault line, triggering numerous ‘afterslip’ events in the following days.

Increase the impact of your research

• Good science communication helps people make informed decisions and motivates them to take appropriate and affirmative action.
• Good science communication encourages everyday people to be scientifically literate so that they can analyse the integrity and legitimacy of information.
• Good science communication encourages people into STEM-related fields of study and employment.
• Good public science communication fosters a community around research that includes both members of the public, policymakers and scientists.
• In a recent survey, 75% of people suggested they would prefer to listen to an interesting story than read it.

Step 1 Upload your science paper

Step 2 SciPod script written

Step 3 Voice audio recorded

Step 4 SciPod published