Page 42 - climate-change2013

MPA CASE STUDY 6

Increasing public awareness and participation
in monitoring efforts

Seabed photo points are an inexpensive and very effective technique for monitoring changes in benthic
marine communities, in which photographs are taken from fixed points at intervals over a period of time.
The technique is being used, for example, in Estrecho Natural Park (Andalusia, Spain) in the Gibraltar
Strait, where a photographic monitoring programme has been set up in rocky habitats with the help of
local diving clubs, nature lovers and university researchers.

The monitoring involves photo point locations at 10–15 sites below the 20 metre depth band, where
coastal impacts are more mitigated. Here, markers enable the divers to easily identify the sites, where they
record their observations at different times of the year. The composition and abundance of the benthic
communities in the various quadrats are monitored to reveal range shifts and the establishment of new
species. Particular attention is given to temperature indicator species such as the orange coral Astroides
calycularis and the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata by examining the coral surface area over time.

A time series of digitized photographs covering
several years, collected with the assistance of
researchers from the Marine Biology Laboratory of
Seville University, should provide the protected area’s
management team with a useful tool for assessing
changes in the benthic community under climate
change. The methodology also makes it possible to
assess how populations respond to climate change
in the absence of certain coastal pressures and
provides an opportunity to involve local communities
in monitoring the marine environment. Astroides calycularis. Photo: M. Otero

Monitoring with photo point locations with diving clubs.

Photo: J. Garrabou

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