1. EUNIS and Mediterranean marine habitats
Sabrina Agnesi, Giulia Mo, Leonardo Tunesi
ISPRA - Rome, Italy (ETC-BD partner)
The EUNIS habitat classification, governance & future developments
3-4 October, 2011
European Environment Agency , Copenhagen

2. characteristic and accompanying species etc.
PREMISE
Mediterranean marine benthic habitats were incorporated into the EUNIS habitat classification in early 2000s
Mediterranean habitats (biocenoesis, facies and associations) were inserted into the hierarchical system based on an analysis of their known characteristics with respect to a specific EUNIS template.
Aspects which were considered in the process were known determining parameters for each habitat type distribution such as:
depth zone,
substrate type,
energy,
characteristic and accompanying species etc.

3. The zoning in the Mediterranean benthic habitat classification
Biological communities fall within specific biological zones determined by delimiting parameters such as: exposure to seawater and spray (for the shallow superficial zones), amount of light reaching the seabottom, and slope angle change (for the deepest zones).
S = supralittoral: reached by seaspray and never submerged .
M= mesolitoral: determined by high and low tide
I= infralittoral: extends from lower limit of the tide until max depth where photosynthesys of Posidonia oceanica and photophilic algae occurs
C= circalittoral: deepest phytal (where plant life can occur) zone; lower limit determined by shelf break
B= bathyal: characterised by slope of continental shelf margin
A= abyssal: starts where slope angle changes into flattened area

4. (UNEP (OCA)/MED WG 149/5 Rev. 1)
Which habitat reference list was taken into account when the habitats were first inserted into EUNIS?
“Classification of benthic marine Habitat types for the Mediterranean Region”
(UNEP (OCA)/MED WG 149/5 Rev. 1)
a habitat revision collated under the frame work of the SPA/BIO secretariat of UNEP’s Barcelona Convention
aim of the document: define a list of univocal assemblages existing in the Mediterranean, and then identify those with highest conservation interest
UNEP (OCA)/MED WG 149/5 Rev. 1

5. Tot. number of Bioceonosis Tot. N° facies/ associations
“Barcelona Convention” classification system recognizes the existence of distinct bioceonosis and facies/associations occurring univocally in each biological zone
Zone
Tot. number of Bioceonosis
Tot. N° facies/ associations
Supralittoral 4 7
Mesolittoral 6 19
Infralittoral 9 65
Circalittoral 8 34
Bathyal 5
Abyssal 1
Total 32
130
UNEP (OCA)/MED WG 149/5 Rev. 1
EUNIS LEVEL -2 GROUPING
TOTAL n. habitats A1 22 A2 9 A3 37 A4 23 A5 59 A6 B2 1 B3 2
TOTAL
162
All the main Mediterranean benthic habitats listed by Barcelona Convention have been incorporated into EUNIS (ETC/BD activity).

6. Proposal for discussion and future work
What updates are needed?
a) Some of the existing text definitions present in the system could be enriched to the benefit of the user.
Proposal:
-Provide a more thorough text definition for some of the presently listed Med habitat types.
-Upload this into the system.
Note: at the moment ISPRA has revised most habitat text definitions (covered up to part of the circalittoral) and with minor effort remaining deeper habitats can be defined.
b) It is possible that some small assemblages may have been ignored in the Barcelona convention habitat recognition process (i.e. facies of Mytilus galloprovincialis in polluted waters). These should be inserted as new entries.
-These can be revised within the framework of the revision effort of point a) above.

7. Proposal for discussion and future work
What updates are needed? (cont.)
c) any recent knowledge on new habitats needing amendment in EUNIS?
EUSeaMap1 (DG-Mare funded project) identified new habitats in Mediterranean deep waters. These were given a general existing EUNIS code as follows:
A6.2 Deep sea mixed sediments Bathyal
A6.4 Deep sea muddy sand Bathyal
A6.2 Deep sea mixed sediments Abyssal zone
A6.3 Deep sea sand Abyssal zone
A6.4 Deep sea muddy sand Abyssal zone
Though they need to be studied from a biological community point of view, the project shows their existence in the region and they have different characteristics in terms of depth zones.
Proposal:
Modify category A6 (deep sea) into two broad categories that would account for the different substrate types according to distinct biological zones.
1Cameron, A. and Askew, N. (eds.) EUSeaMap - Preparatory Action for development and assessment of a European broad-scale seabed habitat map final report. Available at

8. Proposal for discussion and future work
Considerations on the system’s structure functional to future application
1) All main “Barcelona convention“ habitats are presently “fitted” into EUNIS.
The EUNIS habitat classification objective to give a nomenclature code to each habitat /community known to exist in European waters has been reached ( except for minor updates and modifications of points a & b before).
2) Usage of the hierarchical positioning of each habitat type to draw comparisons amongst habitats that are grouped in similar hierarchical ranking groupings can currently lead to non homogenous habitat considerations for Mediterranean habitats (i.e. when proposing that habitats be monitored or mapped etc. at a given set EUNIS level).
Why? Criteria guiding the subdivision at some of the level 2 and 3 are not homogenous between groups. This leads to ecologically uneven subdivisions amongst some A2 and A3 groupings (i.e. habitat groupings are not being differentiated with a similar approach - i.e. major substrate – hard vs. soft, and depth zone –infralittoral, circalittoral, bathyal, abyssal).
This is particularly evident in the way Mediterranean habitats fit in EUNIS.
Let’s look at this a little more in detail……………

9. Littoral rock & other hard substrata
Biological Zone
Supralittoral
(S)
Mesolittoral
(M)
Infralittoral (I)
Circalittoral
( C )
Bathyal (B)
Abyssal
(A)
Mud 1 3 5
Muddy sands and mud 2
Sandy mud, sand, cobbles and rock 12
Sand 13 4
Boulder and cobbles
Rock 15 35 18
Posidonia oceanica
Substrate category
EUNIS II Level
Littoral rock & other hard substrata A1
Littoral sediment A2
Infralittoral rock A3
Circalittoral rock A4
Sublittoral sediment A5
Deep-sea bed A6 B2 B3 B1
Coastal
habitats

10. Infralittoral and circalittoral soft bottoms are all listed under A5
Supralittoral
(S)
Mesolittoral
(M)
Infralittoral (I)
Circalittoral
( C )
Bathyal (B)
Abyssal
(A)
Mud 1 3 5
Muddy sands and mud 2
Sandy mud, sand, cobbles and rock 12
Sand 13 4
Boulder and cobbles
Rock 15 35 18
Posidonia oceanica
Littoral rock & other hard substrata A1
Littoral sediment A2
Infralittoral rock A3
Circalittoral rock A4
Sublittoral sediment A5
Deep-sea bed A6
Infralittoral and circalittoral soft bottoms are all listed under A5
Bathyal and abyssal, soft and hard bottoms are all listed under A6 B2 B3 B1
Coastal
habitats

11. Differentiation per gross substrate
Lev.
Group categories 1
A Marine 2
A 1
Littoral rock A2
Littoral sediment A3
Infralittoral rock A4
Circalittoral rock A5
Sublittoral sediment A6
Deep sea 3
A1.1
High energy litt. rock
A2.1
Littoral coarse sediment
A2.2
Littoral sand and muddy sand
A3.1
Atl. & Med. high energy infralittoral rock
A3.2
Atl. & Med. moderate energy littoral rock
A4.2
Atl. & Med. moderate energy
A5.1
Sublitt. coarse sediment
A5.2
Sublitt. sand
A5.4
Sublitt. mixed sediments
A6.1
Deep sea rock
A6.5
Deep sea mud 4
A1.13
Med. comm. upper mediolitt. rock
A2.13 Med. comm. mediolitt. coarse detr.
A2.25
Med. comm. mediolitt. sands
A3.13
Med. comm. very exposed wave
A4.26
Med. comm. Mod. exposed wave
A5.13
Infralittoral coarse sed.
A5.23
Infralittoral fine sand
A5.47
Med. comm. shelf-edge detritic bottoms
A6.51
Med. comm. bathyal muds
A6.52
Comm. abyssal muds 5
A1.131 Ass. B. atropurpurea
A2.251
Facies O. bicornis
A3.132 Ass. C. amentacea
A4.265 Association Sargassum spp.
A5.138 Ass. with rodolithes
A5.235 Med. comm. fine sands shallow waters
A5.471 Facies L. phalangium
A6.511
Facies T. muricata 6
Facies with L. medit.
Differentiation per gross substrate
Differentiation per gross substrate (hard vs. soft)
Differentiation per biological zone

12. Proposal for discussion and future work
Considerations on the system’s structure functional to future application (cont.)
2) Considerations on the hiearchical subdivisions at level 2 and 3
Proposal:
Would it be possible to subdivide A5 (sublittoral sediments) into two distinct level 2 categories: infralittoral and circalittoral?
Would it be possible to differentiate A6 (deep sea) into three distinct level 2 categories:
- Bathyal rock
- Bathyal sediments
- Abyssal sediments

13. Proposal for discussion and future work
Considerations on the system’s structure functional to future application (cont.)
3) EUNIS habitat classification is the most exhaustive database tool containing updated description on the characteristics of all marine habitats across European seas.
This habitat coding will allow wide-range mapping initiatives which will produce cartographies using a univocal habitat coding language.
This will allow to visualize the spatial extent of each habitat /community type in Europe and show how the European habitat biodiversity is distributed and abundant throughout space.
It will take some time for this to happen throughout all of Europe.
Meanwhile, can we enrich the system, and then interrogate it so as to evaluate which components of habitat diversity are present/absent in the different geographic seas?
Proposal:
This could be done by inserting a “flag-up” option per biogeographic sea in every habitat definition that we have so far inserted.