Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, Lofos Panepistimiou, 81100, Mytilene, Greece; Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 46.7 km Athens Sounio Ave., 19013, Anavyssos, Greece.
Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 46.7 km Athens Sounio Ave., 19013, Anavyssos, Greece.
J Environ Manage. 2023 Oct 15;344:118323. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118323. Epub 2023 Jun 22.
The degradation of marine ecosystems is a growing concern worldwide, emphasizing the need for efficient tools to assess their ecological status. Herein, a novel ecosystem-based ecological evaluation index of shallow rocky reefs is introduced and tested in the Aegean and Ionian Seas (NE Mediterranean). The index focuses on a specific set of pre-selected species, including habitat-forming, key, commercially important, and non-indigenous species, across a wide range of trophic levels (1.00-4.53). Data acquisition is conducted through rapid non-destructive SCUBA diving surveys to assess all macroscopic food web components (macroalgae, invertebrates, and fish). Two versions of the index, ECOfast and ECOfast-NIS, were developed, each applying a different approach to account for the impact of non-indigenous species. In our case study, the correlations between the two versions of the index and sea surface temperature, protection status, occurrence of carnivorous fish, and non-indigenous herbivores were assessed through generalized additive models (GAMs). The assessment assigned 93% (ECOfast) or 96% (ECOfast-NIS) of the sites to a moderate to bad ecological status, indicating an alarming situation in the shallow rocky reefs of the NE Mediterranean. Sites evaluated as poor or bad were characterized by extensive coverage of ephemeral macroalgae, absence or minimal presence of large indigenous carnivorous fish, and complete absence of one to three out of five invertebrate functional trophic groups. The community composition of macroalgae, herbivorous species, and carnivorous fishes differed between the 5 m and 15 m depth zones. Surface temperature and carnivorous fish occurrence were the most important tested predictors of the ecological status of shallow rocky reefs. The best GAMs showed that the ECOfast score declined with sea surface temperature and increased with the occurrence of carnivorous fish; ECOfast-NIS declined with sea surface temperature and the occurrence of non-indigenous fish and increased with the occurrence of carnivorous fish. The non-destructive and integrative nature of this approach, its speed of data acquisition and analysis, and its capacity to account for highly mobile predatory fish and non-indigenous species render the ECOfast index a novel, robust, and valuable tool for assessing the ecological status of shallow rocky reefs.
海洋生态系统的退化是全球范围内日益关注的问题，这强调了需要有效的工具来评估它们的生态状况。本文介绍了一种新的基于生态系统的浅海多岩石礁生态评估指数，并在爱琴海和爱奥尼亚海（地中海东北部）进行了测试。该指数侧重于一组特定的预选物种，包括造礁物种、关键物种、商业重要物种和非本地物种，涵盖了广泛的营养层次（1.00-4.53）。数据采集是通过快速非破坏性的水肺潜水调查进行的，以评估所有宏观食物网成分（大型藻类、无脊椎动物和鱼类）。开发了两种版本的指数，ECOfast 和 ECOfast-NIS，它们采用了不同的方法来考虑非本地物种的影响。在我们的案例研究中，通过广义加性模型（GAMs）评估了这两种版本的指数与海面温度、保护状况、肉食性鱼类的出现和非本地食草动物之间的相关性。评估结果将 93%（ECOfast）或 96%（ECOfast-NIS）的站点分配到中等到差的生态状况，表明地中海东北部浅海多岩石礁的情况令人担忧。评估为差或极差的站点的特点是短暂出现的大型藻类大量覆盖，缺乏或极少存在大型本地肉食性鱼类，以及五个无脊椎动物功能营养组中有一到三个完全缺失。大型藻类、食草物种和肉食性鱼类的群落组成在 5 米和 15 米深度带之间有所不同。海面温度和肉食性鱼类的出现是测试浅海多岩石礁生态状况的最重要预测因子。最佳 GAMs 表明，ECOfast 得分随海面温度的升高而降低，随肉食性鱼类的出现而升高；ECOfast-NIS 随海面温度和非本地鱼类的出现而降低，随肉食性鱼类的出现而升高。这种方法的非破坏性和综合性、数据采集和分析的速度以及对高度移动的掠食性鱼类和非本地物种的考虑，使 ECOfast 指数成为评估浅海多岩石礁生态状况的一种新颖、强大和有价值的工具。
