Habitat Classification Glen S. Jamieson Interpretation of Vlad Kostylov’s habitat classification approach

Benign Adverse Scope for Growth Stable Disturbed Risk of HADD The colours represent the equivalent of plant hardiness zones Note: there are no specific boundaries – they can be assigned as appropriate.

Average Temperature Physical substrate disturbance because of currents or wave energy Temperature range (variability- mean or absolute?) Collectively, the two temperature axes, which might also include salinity, ie. to create a water density measure, define water masses, and so incorporate depth Attempt at clarification of the proposed Habitat Classification of benthic habitats: This is functionally the “climate portion” of a biogeoclimatic classification (terrestrial example = plant hardiness zones), with additional layers being the “geo” portion (substrate features – mud to bedrock?) and a “bio” component (dominant, or characteristic species, that are associate with the geoclimatic components).

 Data analysed to date goes from 20 m depth to 1000 m. However, this approach can likely be also used for shallower waters if additional variables are included to define habitat:  Eg. Degree of wave exposure (fetch?), freshwater influence (riverine plumes), depth of thermal stratification and/or anoxic layer, etc.