Full text

Turn on search term navigation

© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Sustainable coastal social–ecological systems rely on healthy ecosystems known to provide benefits to both nature and people. A key ecosystem found globally is seagrass, for which maps at a scale relevant to inform conservation and management efforts are often missing. Eelgrass (Zostera marina), a species of seagrass found throughout the northern hemisphere, has been declining in Placentia Bay, an ecologically and biologically significant area of Canada’s east coast subject to an increasing human impact. This research provides baseline information on the distribution of eelgrass meadows and their anthropogenic stressors at seven sites of Placentia Bay and three sites of the adjacent Trinity Bay, on the island of Newfoundland. High-resolution maps of eelgrass meadows were created by combining ground-truth underwater videos with unmanned aerial vehicle imagery classified with an object-based image analysis approach. Visual analyses of the imagery and underwater videos were conducted to characterize sites based on the presence of physical disturbances and the semi-quantitative cover of epiphytes, an indication of nutrient enrichment. A total eelgrass area of ~1 km2 was mapped across the 10 sites, with an overall map accuracy of over 80% for 8 of the 10 sites. Results indicated minimum pressures of physical disturbance and eutrophication affecting eelgrass in the region, likely due to the small population size of the communities near the eelgrass meadows. These baseline data will promote the sustainability of potential future coastal development in the region by facilitating the future monitoring and conservation of eelgrass ecosystems.

Details

Title
Mapping and Characterizing Eelgrass Meadows Using UAV Imagery in Placentia Bay and Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Author
Sneep, Aaron 1 ; Devillers, Rodolphe 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Katleen, Robert 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Arnault Le Bris 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Edinger, Evan 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X9, Canada; [email protected] (R.D.); [email protected] (E.E.) 
 Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X9, Canada; [email protected] (R.D.); [email protected] (E.E.); Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Espace-Dev (IRD, U. Montpellier, U. Réunion, U. Guyane, U. Perpignan Via Domitia, U. Nouvelle-Calédonie), 34090 Montpellier, France 
 School of Ocean Technology, Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5R3, Canada; [email protected] 
 Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research, Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5R3, Canada; [email protected]; Institute of Marine Research, 5005 Bergen, Norway 
 Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X9, Canada; [email protected] (R.D.); [email protected] (E.E.); Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5R3, Canada 
First page
3471
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20711050
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3047077917
Copyright
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.