Seafloor Geomorphology as Benthic Habitat

I joined GRID-Arendal as Managing Director in 2014. I am a native of the USA, citizen of Australia and resident of Norway; I describe myself as a “professional foreigner”. I am a graduate of the University of Washington (Seattle USA), completed a PhD at the University of Wales (Swansea UK), married an Australian and have 3 children. I have worked in the field of marine geology and science management for over 30 years and published over 100 scientific papers. I taught marine geology at the University of Sydney and conducted research on UK estuaries, the Great Barrier Reef, the Fly River Delta (Papua New Guinea) and Antarctica. I worked for 20 years for Australia’s national geoscience agency as a scientist and manager. In 2009 I was appointed a member of the group of experts for the United Nations World Ocean Assessment. Apart from managing all of GRID-Arendal’s amazing activities, my interests include new methods for the conduct of environmental assessments (the expert elicitation method) and the use of multivariate statistics and geomorphology to provide tools to manage the global ocean environment. I also enjoy sailing and playing the bagpipes. Elaine holds the inaugural UNESCO Chair in Marine Science at the University of Sydney and is the Director of the University's Marine Studies Institute. Professor Baker is also the Director of the GRID-Arendal office (an official collaborating centre of UNEP) at the University. Elaine is interested in making real world impact – taking the ideas and inspiration of the university beyond academia to help solve some of our biggest problems. She has worked on developing policy recommendations to deal with the growing burden of waste, how to make waste-water pay its own way, how to change the face of mining so it includes people and the planet alongside profit and why our coastal ecosystems are worth more alive than dead. Over the last 10 years Elaine has been working with partners in Australia and Norway on a project that is redrawing the map of the world – to date assisting more than 60 developing coastal states in their efforts to prepare submissions to the United Nations, for what is known as extended continental shelf. This process, when complete, will establish the outer limits of marine jurisdiction for eligible coastal states, helping to finalise global maritime boundaries. A recent milestone in the project was the joint submission for extended continental shelf made by seven West African coastal states. Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Cabo Verde and Sierra Leone joined together in an historic collaboration, to make a single submission for a large area of marine territory. In the Pacific Professor Baker is a co-founder of the Pacific Maritime Boundaries collaboration, which includes the University of Sydney, GRID- Arendal, SOPAC/SPC, Geoscience Australia, the Pacific Forum Fisheries Association, the Australian Attorney Generals Department, the Commonwealth Secretariat and 14 Pacific Islands States. Since 2008 scientific, technical and diplomatic personnel have been meeting twice a year at the University to prepare claims for extended continental shelf under article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and more recently to negotiate and prepare national legislation for shared maritime boundaries. The boundaries projects, known collectively as the Shelf Programme, is building on these successes to develop other initiatives that support sustainable livilihoods along side good ocean governance.

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1: Why map benthic habitats?

Peter T. Harris and Elaine K. Baker

Chapter 2: Habitat mapping and marine management

Elaine K. Baker and Peter T. Harris

Chapter 3: Anthropogenic threats to benthic habitats

Peter T. Harris

Chapter 4: Biogeography, benthic ecology and habitat classification schemes

Peter T. Harris

Chapter 5: Surrogacy

Peter T. Harris

Chapter 6: Seafloor geomorphology—coast, shelf, and abyss

Peter T. Harris

Part II Case studies

Chapter 7: Characterization of worm reefs (Sabellaria vulgaris) in Delaware Bay, United States

Stephanie M. Dohner, Caitlin L. Stockwell, Douglas C. Miller and Arthur C. Trembanis

Chapter 8: Benthic habitat mapping in a shallow tropical bay: the Itaparica channel_eastern Brazil

Paloma P. Avena, Jose´ M.L. Dominguez and Ivan Cardoso Lemos Junior

Chapter 9: Seafloor morphology and habitats of tidal channels in the Venice Lagoon, Italy tidal channel habitats

Fantina Madricardo, Giacomo Montereale-Gavazzi, Marco Sigovini, Aleksandra Kruss, Carlotta Toso and Federica Foglini

Chapter 10: An integrated seafloor habitat map to inform marine spatial planning and management: a case study from Long Island Sound (Northwest Atlantic)

Roman N. Zajac, Lauren M. Stefaniak, Ivar Babb, Christian W. Conroy, Shannon Penna, Deena Chadi and Peter J. Auster

Chapter 11: Epibenthic marine habitat mapping in a tropical bay: Todos os

Santos Bay, Eastern Brazil

Renato Guimara˜es de Oliveira, Jose´ Maria Landim Dominguez, Ivan Cardoso Lemos Junior and Carla Maria Menegola da Silva

Chapter 12: Physical oceanographic drivers of geomorphology of rhodolith/maerl beds in Galway Bay, Ireland

Siddhi Joshi and Eugene Farrell

Chapter 13: Seabed habitats of the Bay of Fundy, Atlantic Canada

Brian J. Todd, Craig J. Brown, Brittany Curtis, Stephane Kirchhoff, Myriam Lacharite´, Jessica A. Sameoto and Ian Church

Chapter 14: A dynamic bedforms habitat for the forage fish Pacific sand lance, San Juan Islands, WA, United States

H. Gary Greene, Matthew Baker and John Aschoff

Chapter 15: The eastern Gulf of Finland—brackish water estuary under natural conditions and anthropogenic stress

Daria Ryabchuk, Marina Orlova, Anu Kaskela, Aarno Kotilainen, Alexander Sergeev, Leontina Sukhacheva, Vladimir Zhamoida, Leonid Budanov and Igor Neevin

Chapter 16: Geomorphic features and benthic habitats of a subarctic fjard: Okak Bay, Nunatsiavut, Labrador

Mallory Carpenter, Tanya M Brown, Trevor Bell, Andre´ Martel and Evan Edinger

Chapter 17: Sponge reefs on the Northeast Pacific margin: geomorphic and biological variability

Kim W. Conway, A. Dunham, L.A. Burke, S.K. Archer, J. Shaw and R. Kung

Chapter 18: Habitat mapping in the fjords of the Chilean Patagonia using an autonomous underwater vehicle

K.L. Boswarva, J.A. Howe, R. Obando, C. Fox, B.E. Narayanaswamy, V. Häussermann and C. Abernethy

Chapter 19: The inland deep sea—benthic biotopes in the Sognefjord

Lene Buhl-Mortensen, Pål Buhl-Mortensen, Henrik Glenner, Ulf Båmstedt and Kjell Bakkeplass

Chapter 20: Geomorphology, benthos, and habitats in the Primeiras and Segundas Environmental Protected Area, Mozambique

Luisa Teixeira, Martin Nilsson, Aure´lie Shapiro and Lara Cristina Muaves

Chapter 21: Distribution of seagrass communities north of Barcelona,

Northwestern Mediterranean Sea

M. Canals, D. Amblas, X. Rayo, J. Romero and J. Ylla

Chapter 22: Inner shelf habitat surrounding the Kapiti Marine Reserve, New Zealand

Geoffroy Lamarche, Alix Laferriere, Shane Geange, Jonathan Gardner and Arne Pallentin

Chapter 23: Marine landscapes and habitats of Cilento Geopark (Italy)—linking geo- and biodiversity using a multiscalar approach

Silvana D’Angelo, Floriana Di Stefano, Andrea Fiorentino, Maria Teresa Lettieri, Giovanni Fulvio Russo and Crescenzo Violante

Chapter 24: Fine-scale seabed habitats off Capri Island, southern Italy

C. Violante, M. De Lauro and E. Esposito

Chapter 25: Winnowed gravel lag deposits between sandbanks in the German North Sea

Svenja Papenmeier, Daphnie Galvez, Carmen-Pia Günther, Roland Pesch, Claudia Propp, H. Christian Hass, Bastian Schuchardt and Manfred Zeiler

Chapter 26: Benthic community structure at a remote temperate rocky reef in the Gulf of Maine, Cashes Ledge

Jay Calvert and Chris McGonigle

Chapter 27: Continental shelf habitats off a large South American metropolis: Salvador City, Eastern Brazil

Renata C. Rebouc¸as, Jose´ M.L. Dominguez, Paloma P. Avena, Alina S. Nunes and Lizandra C. Melo

Chapter 28: Temperate rocky reef on the southeast Australian continental shelf ...487

T. Ingleton, J. Neilson, P. Davies, E. Foulsham, M. Linklater, D. Hanslow and A. Jordan

Chapter 29: Geomorphology and microhabitats of large, isolated, immobile bedforms in the Great South Channel, Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Massimo Di Stefano and Larry Alan Mayer

Chapter 30: Submerged reefs in the Abrolhos Shelf: morphology and habitat

distribution

Lucas C. Ferreira, Alex C. Bastos, Gilberto M. Amado Filho, In memorian, Marcos Daniel A. Leite, Geandre´ C. Boni, Fernando C. Moraes, Ne´lio Secchin, Laura S. Vieira, Ricardo Bahia, Natacha Oliveira, Vale´ria S. Quaresma and Rodrigo L. Moura

Chapter 31: Coral reefs in Fatu Huku Island, Marquesas Archipelago, French Polynesia

Antoine Collin, Jean Laporte, Benjamin Koetz, Franc¸ois-Re´gis Martin-Lauzer and Yves-Louis Desnos

Chapter 32: Carbonate banks and terraces of the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park region, Northern Australia

Rachel Przeslawski, Scott Nichol, Belinda Alvarez, Andrew Carroll, Chris Glasby, Kim Picard and Radford Ben

Chapter 33: Reefs distribution and inter reef sedimentation on Tamandare´ continental shelf, Northeast Brazil

Vanessa C. Fontes, Moab Praxedes Gomes, Helenice Vital, Beatrice P. Ferreira and Mauro Maida

Chapter 34: Nature and condition of outer shelf habitats on the drowned Ac¸u Reef, Northeast Brazil

M.P. Gomes, H. Vital, L.L. Nascimento Silva, P.B. Eichler, D. Rovira and G.O. Longo

Chapter 35: Seabed character and associated habitats of an equatorial tropical shelf: the Rio Grande do Norte Shelf, Northeast Brazil

Helenice Vital, Tatiana Silva Leite, Marina Gomes Viana, Patrícia Pinheiro Beck Eichler, Dieˆgo de Oliveira Batista, Moab Praxedes Gomes, Joa˜o Paulo Ferreira da Silva, Andre´ Giskard Aquino da Silva and Simone Nunes Branda˜o

Chapter 36: Characterizing benthic habitats in two Marine Protected Areas

on the West Florida Shelf

Jennifer L. Brizzolara, Sarah E. Grasty, Alex R. Ilich, John W. Gray, David F. Naar and Steven A. Murawski

Chapter 37: Substrate mapping to inform ecosystem science and marine spatial planning around the main Hawaiian Islands

D. Dove, M. Weijerman, A. Grüss, T. Acoba and J.R. Smith

Chapter 38: Dropstones on a glaciated continental shelf as key habitat, Sabrina Shelf, East Antarctica

Alexandra L. Post, Caroline Lavoie, Eugene W. Domack, Amy Leventer and Rodrigo Fernandez

Chapter 39: Geomorphological and habitat mapping of the glaciated shelf (the Velikaya Salma Strait of the Kandalaksha Gulf of the White Sea, Russia)

Ya.E. Terekhina, A.A. Barymova, A.I. Isachenko, A.I. Kokorin, V.V. Kozlovskiy, P.G. Mikhaylyukova, V.O. Mokievsky, T.Yu. Repkina, A.E. Rybalko, M.Yu. Tokarev and N.V. Shabalyn

Chapter 40: Seafloor geomorphology and benthic habitat of the German Bank glaciated shelf, Atlantic Canada

Craig J. Brown, Brian J. Todd, Stephen J. Smith and Jessica A. Sameoto

Chapter 41: Geomorphic features and benthos in a deep glacial trough in Atlantic Canada

Myriam Lacharite´, Craig J. Brown, Alexandre Normandeau and Brian J. Todd

Chapter 42: Submarine sedimentary bedforms and benthos surrounding the Heard and McDonald Islands World Heritage site

Sally J. Watson, Vanessa Lucieer, Joanne Whittaker, Jodi M. Fox, Nicole Hill and Millard F. Coffin

Chapter 43: Geomorphic features and associated habitats of the Patagonian Continental Margin, southwestern Atlantic

Dulce Mata, Araceli Muñoz, Lourdes Viscasillas and Diego Varas

Chapter 44: Fine-scale habitat characterization of The Gully, the Flemish Cap, and the Orphan Knoll, Northwest Atlantic, with a focus on cold-water corals

Vincent Lecours, Luka´?s Ga´bor, Evan Edinger and Rodolphe Devillers

Chapter 45: Characterization of the geomorphology and biotopes of the Ha´fadju´p canyon system, south Iceland

Davíð Þo´r O´ðinsson, Steinunn H. O´lafsdo´ttir and Julian M. Burgos

Chapter 46: Continental shelf, canyons and pockmark fields in the southeastern Bay of Biscay

Ibon Galparsoro, Iñigo Muxika, Joxe Mikel Garmendia and Jose´ Germa´n Rodríguez

Chapter 47: The geomorphology and biology of a submarine canyon system incising Ireland’s shelf edge in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean

D. O’Sullivan, Y. Leahy, J. Guinan, R. Ross, F. Sacchetti, Kerry Howell, David Lyons and Leonie O’Dowd

Chapter 48: Tricase Submarine Canyon: cold-water coral habitats in the southwesternmost Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

Mariacristina Prampolini, Lorenzo Angeletti, Valentina Grande, Marco Taviani and Federica Foglini

Chapter 49: Cold-water coral habitat in the Bari Canyon System, Southern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

Lorenzo Angeletti, Mariacristina Prampolini, Federica Foglini, Valentina Grande and Marco Taviani

Chapter 50: Benthic habitats of a mud volcano associated with the Queen Charlotte transform margin along northern British Columbia, Canada and Southern Alaska, United States

J. Vaughn Barrie, H. Gary Greene and Kim W. Conway

Chapter 51: Geomorphic features, main habitats and associated biota on and around the newly formed Tagoro submarine volcano, Canary Islands

Ana Sotomayor-Garcia, Jose´ L. Rueda, Olga Sa´nchez-Guillamo´n, Juan T. Va´zquez, Desire´e Palomino, Luis M. Ferna´ndez-Salas, Nieves Lo´pez-Gonza´lez, Marcos Gonza´lez-Porto, Javier Urra, J. Magdalena Santana-Casiano, Melchor Gonza´lez-Da´vila and Eugenio Fraile-Nuez

Chapter 52: Habitat distribution and associated biota in different geomorphic features within a fluid venting area of the Gulf of Ca´diz (Southwestern Iberian Peninsula, Northeast Atlantic Ocean)

Pablo Lozano, Jose´ L. Rueda, Marina Gallardo-Nu´ñez, Carlos Farias, Javier Urra, Yolanda Vila, Nieves Lo´pez-Gonza´lez, Desire´e Palomino, Olga Sa´nchez-Guillamo´n, Juan T. Va´zquez and Luis M. Ferna´ndez-Salas

Chapter 53: New evidence to support the distribution of dense hydrocoral_sponge communities along George V slope, East Antarctica

J. Smith, Alexandra L. Post, P.E. O’Brien and M.J. Riddle

Chapter 54: Chemosynthetic seep communities triggered by seabed slumping off of northern Papua New Guinea

David R. Tappin

Chapter 55: Near-pristine benthic habitats on the Francesc Page`s Bank, Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean

Claudio Lo Iacono, Jordi Grinyo´, Suzanne Conlon, Manfred Lafosse, Alain Rabaute, Martina Pierdomenico, Hector Perea, Elia d’Acremont and Eula`lia Gra`cia

Chapter 56: Application of the coastal and marine ecological classification standard to Gosnold Seamount, North Atlantic Ocean

D. Sowers, J.A. Dijkstra, K. Mello, G. Masetti, M. Malik and Larry Alan Mayer

Chapter 57: Deep-sea benthic megafaunal communities on the New England and Corner Rise Seamounts, Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Abby Lapointe, Les Watling and Allen M. Gontz

Chapter 58: Manganese nodule fields from the Northeast Pacific as benthic habitats

Thomas Kuhn, Katja Uhlenkott, Annemiek Vink, Carsten Rühlemann and Pedro Martinez Arbizu

Chapter 59: Geomorphology and benthic habitats of the Kermadec Trench, Southwest Pacific Ocean

Alan J. Jamieson, Heather A. Stewart, Ashley A. Rowden and Malcolm R. Clark

Part III Synthesis

Chapter 60: GeoHab Atlas of seafloor geomorphic features and benthic habitats—synthesis and lessons learned

Peter T. Harris and Elaine K. Baker