Climate change and other anthropogenic pressures have been altering species distribution ranges in climatic transitional zones worldwide. In the Iberian Peninsula, cold-affinity marine forests, such as kelp, are retreating northward or being replaced by warm-affinity counterparts, underscoring the need for habitat restoration measures which are currently being put in place. By linking biological EOVs with environmental and socio-economic variables, our Living Lab will support the Marine Spatial Planning by fomenting Marine Protected Areas, guiding restoration plans and assessing possible sustainable harvesting of macroalgae.
The Atlantic Living Lab is advancing research around ocean observations of kelp forests in the Atlantic Ocean, on the coast of Portugal, which is a biogeographic limit for many that have here their southern or northernmost distribution.
Objectives
Our key objectives in the Atlantic Living Lab are:
- to investigate how new methods for assessing the Essential Ocean Variable (EOV) macroalgae canopy cover and composition can be combined with traditional or standard techniques to better capture its essence and associated phenomena,
- these include exploring eDNA methods for detecting macroalgae in Atlantic waters to complement future studies on species distributional shifts as well as utilizing remote sensing at multiple scales to accurately map intertidal and shallow subtidal macroalgal extent.
The Atlantic Living Lab is closely collaborating with the Tuscan Archipelago Living Lab for testing in Atlantic conditions, joint developed monitoring methodologies for macroalgal forests.
Essential Ocean Variables under study
Main EOVs studied in the Living Lab:
(Click on the EOV name to access the corresponding GOOS EOV Specification Sheet if available)
Macroalgae canopy cover and composition
Related project tasks
Task on “Validation of emerging technologies”
Lead partner: UNIPI
Contributing partners: DTU, UU, CIIMAR, MOi
In this task we perform calibration and validation of emerging biodiversity observation technologies to sense EOVs through direct comparisons with traditional sampling methods, with the aim of increasing their spatial coverage and sampling frequency. The task focuses on cabled camera networks, eDNA sampling, Argo floats and acoustics, and how modelling analyses can add value to these observations. Recommendations for improved sampling protocols will also be provided.
Task on “Variables to detect change”
Lead partner: UU
Contributing partners: CIIMAR, AD AIR CENTRE, UNIPI
This task explores the environmental, social and economic factors and associated variables that would be advantageous to measure to detect change in coastal systems. This will be done by reviewing the literature to identify potential drivers of change, which will then be translated to measurable variables (e.g., agricultural land-runoff could be estimated by area
of agricultural land). Future monitoring needs a much more holistic approach, and environmental, social and economic factors need to be considered, and appropriate variables need to be measured, to understand the reasons for change, both positive and negative.
Task on “Advancing remote sensing observations of marine biodiversity”
Lead partner: AIR CENTRE
Contributing partners: UU, UNIPI, CIIMAR
This task utilises the potential of emerging high-resolution remote sensing technologies to
improve the capacity to generate macroalgae and seagrass distribution maps from space, using Copernicus data. The development of models and tools to increase the certainty about the status and trends of macroalgae and seagrass will be validated with existing test sites, where the area covered with macroalgae and seagrass is well known, allowing to fine-tune the results. The developed frameworks will serve as a guidance tool to produce high-
resolution products of macroalgae and seagrass cover extent, and allow for enhanced mapping and improved monitoring of the EOVs.
Task on “Coordination of the living labs to demonstrate an operational workflow in different settings”
Lead partners: IOPAN, UU
Contributing partners: All partners
This task coordinates across all the focal living labs to iteratively test the ability to
connect all the components of the workflow by responding to the Blueprint’s guiding questions in particular settings. Feedback from the living labs will be collected at various stages and used to improve the final Blueprint.
Task on “Improved capacity for sustained observations and reporting of EVs and related indicators”
Lead partner: UNESCO
Contributing partners: IOPAN, AIR CENTRE, UNIPI, UU, CIIMAR
This task will demonstrate the improved ability to observe and report on various biology and ecosystems Essential Variables (EV) and indicator frameworks. Knowledge of the status of biological observations will be improved by collecting metadata from previously unreported long-term monitoring activities to the GOOS BioEco Portal, thus enabling better identification of outstanding gaps in coordinated observations and data reporting. We will also review positive examples of adopting common sampling protocols for the benefit of integrating collocated biological, biogeochemical and physical EOV observations to develop novel data
products and applications.
Task on “Development of new EOV data products and associated roadmaps”
Lead partner: IOPAN
Contributing partners: All partners
This task develops roadmaps and implementation plans towards establishing new biological data products critical for advancing ecosystem, biodiversity and climate projections and global assessments. Roadmaps will be co-created with relevant stakeholders, in particular the modelling communitie and key data integrators. In the process we will test the applicability of the Blueprint workflow specifically for data product development. Substantial data rescue effort targeting publication of long-term biological observations from the Arctic region will be undertaken to deliver a pilot demonstration of the Marine Organic Carbon Atlas. Incorporating remote sensing and model estimates of marine organic carbon stocks and fluxes will help better understand and model the links between biology, biodiversity, biogeochemistry and climate.
Task on “Establishing early-warning indicators, detecting and assessing impacts of compound events and tipping points”
Lead partner: UNIPI
Contributing partners: MOi, DTU, CIIMAR, UU, IO PAN
Some of the main challenges addressed in the different focal living labs are identifying and predicting nonlinear changes (such as tipping points), potentially caused by combined effects of different forcing factors. In addition to classical indicators of loss of resilience based on time series, this task considers spatial early warning signals that rely on short-term observations that can be easily obtained and updated. We will recommend and test the performance of a set of potential early-warning indicators. The focus will be on exploring indicators from cable camera observations relevant to detecting changes in macroalgae and seagrass; and new functional plankton diversity indicators derived from a combination of
trait-based models and historical observations.
