Statement |
Habitat map was originally created for: Estep, A., Croquer, A., Flower, J., Brandtneris, V., Mandoske, J., Bond, M., & Miller, K. (2018). Marine scientific assessment: A description of Montserrat's nearshore marine environment. Washington, DC: Waitt Institute. The GitHub repository also contains data for: Flower, J., Ramdeen, R., Estep, A., Thomas, L.R., Francis, S., Goldberg, G., Johnson, A.E., McClintock, W., Mendes, S.R., Mengerink, K., O'Garro, M., Rogers, L., Zischka, U. & Lester, S.E. (2020). Marine spatial planning on the Caribbean island of Montserrat: Lessons for data-limited small islands. Conservation Science and Practice, e158. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.158 ORCID iD iconhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6731-8182 . This map was created using visual surveys and remote sensing techniques to improve existing benthic maps and extend information past the 100m depth contour. A 2016 benthic habitat map was digitized by hand using data from the marine survey, habitat observation, fish trap, and drop camera sites. Data from Google Earth aerial imagery was exported and georeferenced in areas where visibility allowed for accurate photo interpretation. A small area of multi-beam imagery was also available from the north west portion of the shelf. Preliminary context for mapping was gleaned from benthic maps in IRF 1993 and Wild et. al 2007. These maps provided valuable insight into dominant benthic features and the nterpretation of site observations Benthic classification was divided into two categories: bottom type, and habitat. Bottom type delineates substrate composition, categorized as hard bottom, soft bottom, or mixed bottom (a combination of both hard and soft bottom). Habitat refers to the dominant habitat per polygon and describes a combination of the geoform and biological cover. Benthic classification identified nine distinct habitat classes within the survey area: (1) algal reef (hard bottom), (2) algal reef (mixed bottom), (3) artificial reef, (4) colonized volcanic boulders, (5) coral reef, (6) hard bottom and sand, (7) sand, (8) sargassum forest, and (9) seagrass habitats. The benthic habitat map was not drafted with any minimum mapping unit and has yet to undergo an accuracy assessment. Ground truthing was conducted using all field survey points where habitat classifications were made or where georeferenced photos were collected. For publication to EMODnet, SAERI cleaned the original shapefile (available at https://github.com/jflowernet/Montserrat_MSP_prioritization/blob/master/data/habitat_map.gpkg) using MapShaper (https://mapshaper.org/) and processed the attribute table to fit the specified data exchange format. To complete the ORIG_HAB data field required by the data exchange format, SAERI combined information from the "habitat" column and "Type_HSM" column contained in the original dataset; as such, ORIG_HAB should be interpreted as the habitat type followed by '---' and then the benthic substrate classification. All work was conducted in QGIS v3.28.4. unless otherwise specified. IRF 1993: Montserrat Environmental Profile: An Assessment of the Critical Environmental Issues Facing Montserrat With an Action Agenda for the Future Wild, R., Slade, L., Pardee, M., & Carleton, C. (2007). Towards multi-user marine management in Montserrat. LTS International. More information on dataset creation found at: Estep, A., Croquer, A., Flower, J., Brandtneris, V., Mandoske, J., Bond, M., & Miller, K. (2018). Marine scientific assessment: A description of Montserrat's nearshore marine environment. Washington, DC: Waitt Institute. Orig_Hab format: Habitat (the dominant habitat per polygon, describes combination of geoform and biological cover)---Type_HSM (Bottom type, delineates substrate composition, categorized as hard bottom, soft bottom, or mixed bottom (combination of hard and soft bottom) |