This new data product, created by the University of Sheffield, matches the occurrences of macrobenthic invertebrate species in European seas to a map of seabed habitat types as defined in the EMODnet broad-scale seabed habitat map (EUSeaMap) by EMODnet Seabed Habitats. For this product we use the standard European Nature Information System (EUNIS) habitat classifications for marine sediments. This allows users to obtain lists of benthic species occurring in different habitat types. Alternatively, users can discover the different habitat types occupied by each species.
This product is built from two existing EMODnet data products. It uses the EUSeaMap product created by EMODNet Seabed Habitats and the Presence/absence data of macrozoobenthos in the European Seas product created by EMODnet Biology to obtain lists of all macrobenthic species occurring in all EUNIS seabed habitat types.
Macrobenthic presence/absence data
The data product provided by Herman 2022 includes a full presence-absence matrix of >10,800 distinct taxa over c. 290,000 unique sampling events throughout European seas - see https://github.com/EMODnet/EMODnet-Biology-Benthos-European-Seas for documentation of the data processing and filtering workflow that was used to generate this product, and https://github.com/EMODnet/EUNIS_benthos_species for additional processing steps in the new product.
European seabed habitat data
Seabed habitat information comes from the European broad-scale seabed habitat map EUSeaMap 2021 (EUSM).
In the new product, we focus on EUNIS (European Union Nature Information System) habitat classifications (see Galparsoro et al. 2012).
Matching benthic community data to seabed habitat data
The derived benthic community and seabed habitat datasets described above were then used to match benthic community data to seabed habitats.
Data product
The data product can be explored via the EMODnet map viewer and can be viewed in different ways: seabed habitat polygons can be viewed, and selecting an individual polygon will give a list of benthic species that have been recorded within it. Alternatively, the occurrences of individual taxa can be viewed, with associated habitat information for each. Finally, summary information for each grid cell is available, including number of benthic surveys and number of benthic species recorded.
In addition to presentation of the product in the product viewer, additional documentation and several useful data tables are available via the product’s GitHub repository (https://github.com/EMODnet/EUNIS_benthos_species. This includes example R code for interrogating the summary datasets to obtain, for example, species lists for specific habitat classifications, or habitats known to be occupied by individual species of interest.
It is important to note that, because the version of the habitat map used here is at a coarser resolution than the full EUSeaMap, and also that the precision of the benthos survey data locations is variable, these outputs should be considered as a broad scale guide rather than as a definitive measure of habitat affinities of benthic species.
“Understanding how benthic invertebrates use different seabed habitats is a key step towards defining important habitats, and better managing pressures on key species. This product draws on the extensive data available within EMODnet, including existing products produced by both the Biology and Seabed Habitats pillars, to provide a first inventory of benthic species by EUNIS habitat types throughout European Seas.” Tom Webb, University of Sheffield.