Atlantic Coral & Hardbottom (Southeast Blueprint Indicator)

Reason for Selection Hardbottom provides an anchor for important seafloor habitats such as deep-sea corals, plants, and sponges. Hardbottom and these associated communities provide important habitat structure for many invertebrate and fish species (NOAA 2018). Hardbottom areas serve as fish nursery, spawning, and foraging grounds, supporting commercially valuable fisheries like snapper and grouper (NCDEQ 2016). According to Dunn and Halpin (2009), “hardbottom habitats support high levels of biodiversity and are frequently used as a surrogate for it in marine spatial planning.” Human-created hardbottom (e.g., artificial reefs) is also known to provide additional habitat that is quickly colonized to provide a suite of ecosystem services commonly associated with naturally occurring hardbottom (Wu et al. 2019). Input Data * [Southeast Blueprint 2024 extent] * [Southeast Blueprint 2024 subregions] Coral & hardbottom * [Mapping and Geomorphic Characterization of the Vast Cold-Water Coral Mounds of the Blake Plateau]; data provided prior to official release on 6-14-2023 by Dr. Derek Sowers with Ocean Exploration Trust ([derek@oceanexplorationtrust.org]); read the [published journal article] about this research; [read more about the mapping expedition]; [read an abstract describing this work] from the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting; [read a white paper about the survey] * The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) [South Atlantic Bight Marine Assessment] (SABMA); chapter 3 of [the final report] provides more detail on the seafloor habitats analysis * NOAA deep-sea coral and sponge locations, accessed 5-10-2024 on the [NOAA Deep-Sea Coral & Sponge Map Portal] * [Florida coral and hardbottom habitats], accessed 12-19-2023 * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) [Characterizing Spatial Distributions of Deep-sea Corals and Hardbottom Habitats in the U.S. Southeast Atlantic]; [read the final report]; data shared prior to official release on 2-4-2022 by Matt Poti with the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) ([matthew.poti@noaa.gov]) * [Predictive Modeling and Mapping of Hardbottom Seafloor Habitats off the Southeast U.S]: unpublished NOAA data and [draft final report entitled Assessment of Benthic Habitats for Fisheries Management] provided on 1-28-2021 by Matt Poti with NOAA NCCOS ([matthew.poti@noaa.gov]) Shipwrecks & artificial reefs * [NOAA wrecks and obstructions layer] (shapefile), accessed 5-1-2023 on the [Marine Cadastre] * [NOAA artificial reefs], accessed 5-9-2024 on the [Marine Cadastre], provided by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management * Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC): [Artificial Reefs in Florida] (.xlsx), accessed 5-9-2024 Defining inland extent & split with Gulf * [Marine Ecoregions Level III]from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation North American Environmental Atlas, accessed 12-8-2021 * 2023 [NOAA coastal relief model]: volumes 2 (Southeast Atlantic), 3 (Florida and East Gulf of America), 4 (Central Gulf of America), and 5 (Western Gulf of America), accessed 3-27-2024 Mapping Steps * Create a seamless vector layer to constrain the extent of the Atlantic coral and hardbottom indicator to marine and estuarine areas <1 m in elevation. This defines how far inland it extends. * Merge together all coastal relief model rasters (.nc format) using the create virtual raster tool in QGIS. * Save the merged raster to .tif format and import it into ArcPro. * Reclassify the NOAA coastal relief model data to assign a value of 1 to areas from deep marine to 1 m elevation. Assign all other areas (land) a value of 0. * Convert the raster produced above to vector using the raster to polygon tool. * Clip to the 2024 Blueprint subregions using the pairwise clip tool. * Hand-edit to remove terrestrial polygons (one large terrestrial polygon and the Delmarva peninsula). * Dissolve the resulting data layer to produce a seamless polygon defining marine and estuarine areas <1 m in elevation. * Hand-edit to select all but the main marine polygon and delete. * Define the extent of the Atlantic version of this indicator to separate it from the Gulf. This split reflects the extent of the different datasets available to represent coral and hardbottom habitat in the Atlantic and Gulf, rather than a meaningful ecological transition. * Use the select tool to select the Florida Keys class from the Level III marine ecoregions (“NAME_L3 = "Florida Keys"“). * Buffer the “Florida Keys” Level III marine ecoregion by 2 km to extend it far enough inland to intersect the inland edge of the <1 m elevation layer. * Reclassify the two NOAA Atlantic hardbottom suitability datasets to give all non-NoData pixels a value of 0. Combine the reclassified hardbottom suitability datasets to define the total extent of these data. Convert the raster extent to vector and dissolve to create a polygon representing the extent of both NOAA hardbottom datasets. * Union the buffered ecoregion with the combined NOAA extent polygon created above. Add a field and use it to dissolve the unioned polygons into one polygon. This leaves some holes inside the polygon, so use the eliminate polygon part tool to fill in those holes, then convert the polygon to a line. * Hand-edit to extract the resulting line between the Atlantic and Gulf. * Hand-edit to use this line to split the <1 m elevation layer created earlier in the mapping steps to create the separation between the Atlantic and Gulf extent. * From the NOAA deep-sea coral and sponge point locations, select all points. Buffer the point locations by 150 m, convert to raster, and assign them a value of 8. The buffer distance used here, and later for shipwrecks and artificial reefs, follows guidance from the Army Corps of Engineers for setbacks around artificial reefs and fish havens (Riley et al. 2021). * From the FL FWC coral and hardbottom data, convert to raster and assign the “coral reef” class a value of 8 and the “hardbottom” and “hardbottom with seagrass” classes a value of 7. * From the TNC SABMA data, pull out observed hardbottom polygons that contain a value of “01. mapped hardbottom area” in the TEXT_DESC field. Convert to a raster and assign a value of 7. * Combine the NOAA regional artificial reef dataset with the Florida FWC artificial reefs. Buffer the points by 150 m and convert to raster, assigning all buffered points a value of 6. * From the wrecks database, extract locations having “high” and “medium” confidence (positionQuality = “high” and positionQuality = “medium”). Buffer by 150 m and convert to raster, assigning them a value of 5. * From the Blake Plateau dataset, pull out peaks, ridges, and slopes from the landform data and assign them all a value of 4. * Reclassify both NOAA hardbottom suitability datasets into 5 quantiles. Assign the top quantile a value of 3, the second-highest quantile a value of 2, and the middle quantile a value of 1. Assign the lower two quantiles a value of NoData. They are not used in the indicator due to the relatively low likelihood of hardbottom presence (<40% probability). * Combine the two NOAA hardbottom suitability datasets and use the newer data from the “Characterizing Spatial Distributions of Deep-sea Corals and Hardbottom Habitat in the U.S. Southeast Atlantic” project where pixels overlap. Snap and project the result based on the Southeast Blueprint 2024 extent. * Combine all the layers produced above using the cell statistics tool with the overlay statistic maximum. * As a final step, clip to the spatial extent of Southeast Blueprint 2024. Note: For more details on the mapping steps, code used to create this layer is available in the[Southeast Blueprint Data Download]under > 6_Code. Final indicator values Indicator values are assigned as follows: 8 = Confirmed hardbottom-associated species (corals, sponges) 7 = Confirmed natural hardbottom 6 = Artificial reefs 5 = Shipwrecks 4 = Predicted cold-water coral mounds (Blake Plateau) 3 = Highest probability of hardbottom (>80th percentile) 2 = High probability of hardbottom (>60th-80th percentile) 1 = Medium probability of hardbottom (>40th-60th percentile) 0 = Not identified as hardbottom Known Issues * This indicator likely underpredicts hardbottom suitability in shallow waters. While this indicator includes new hardbottom suitability models based on recent hardbottom observations for deep waters (depths of 50 m or below), the underlying NOAA data available for shallow waters were developed in 2014. * While this layer has a 30 m resolution, both NOAA hardbottom datasets were coarser than that. We downsampled 100 m pixels and 92 m pixels to 30 m. * This indicator underestimates shallower hardbottom habitat (<200 m depth) north of the NC/VA state line because the study area of the shallower hardbottom suitability dataset was restricted only to the South Atlantic marine environment and did not cover the northern portion of the SECAS marine area. The indicator also underestimates deeper hardbottom habitat north of approximately 37.5°N latitude because the study area of the deeper hardbottom suitability dataset does not perfectly align with the SECAS marine area and leaves an area of NoData. * This indicator likely overpredicts hardbottom in the “3 = highest probability of hardbottom” class because the sampling data used to generate these hardbottom probability models is not sufficient to finely resolve the relative likelihood of hardbottom within this bin. While there is a high probability of hardbottom within these areas, there is likely more variation than the model depicts (i.e., the probabilities are somewhat “smeared”). Disclaimer: Comparing with Older Indicator Versions There are numerous problems with using Southeast Blueprint indicators for change analysis. Please consult Blueprint staff if you would like to do this (email [hilary_morris@fws.gov]). Literature Cited Commission for Environmental Cooperation. 2009. Marine Ecoregions of North America, 2008. Vector digital data. Montréal, Québec, Canada. [[https://www.cec.org/north-american-environmental-atlas/marine-ecoregions/]]. Conley, M.F., M.G. Anderson, N. Steinberg, and A. Barnett, eds. 2017. The South Atlantic Bight Marine Assessment: Species, Habitats and Ecosystems. The Nature Conservancy, Eastern Conservation Science. [[https://easterndivision.s3.amazonaws.com/Marine/SABMA/SABMA_Report_11April2018.pdf]]. Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSCRTP) (2016). Observations of Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Occurrences from the NOAA National Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Database, 1842-Present, version 20230620-0 (NCEI Accession 0145037). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. Accessed December 20, 2023. [[https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0145037]]. Dunn DC, Halpin PN (2009) Rugosity-based regional modeling of hard-bottom habitat. Marine Ecology Progress Series 377:1-11. [[https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07839]]. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Artificial Reefs: Download Reef Locations. Microsoft Excel file. Accessed December 19, 2023. [[https://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/artificial-reefs/locate/]]. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Coral and Hard Bottom Habitats Florida. Vector digital data. Published March 12, 2015. Accessed December 19, 2023. [[https://geodata.myfwc.com/datasets/myfwc::coral-and-hard-bottom-habitats-in-florida/about]]. Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. October 2010. Final Report: 5-Year Review of the Final Generic Amendment Number 3 Addressing Essential Fish Habitat Requirements, Habitat Areas of Particular Concern, and Adverse Effects of Fishing in the Fishery Management Plans of the Gulf of Mexico. [[https://gulfcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/EFH-5-Year-Review-Final-10-10.pdf]]. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program 2018 Report to Congress. December 2018. [[https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/coris/library/NOAA/DSCRTP/Other/Reports_To_Congress/2018/DSCRTP2018_Report_to_Congress.pdf]]. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Unpublished Draft: Assessment of Benthic Habitats for Fisheries Management. May 2015. [[https://secassoutheast.org/pdf/DRAFT_Benthic-Habitats-for-Fisheries-Management-Final-Report-April-2015-with-MP-additions.pdf]]. NCDEQ (North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality) 2016. North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan Source Document. Morehead City, NC. Division of Marine Fisheries. 475 p. [[https://deq.nc.gov/media/26813/open]]. Neilson, B. J., & Ferry, P. S. (1978) A Water Quality Study of the Estuarine James River. Special Reports in Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering (SRAMSOE) No.131. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary. [[https://doi.org/10.21220/V52157]]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. (2023). Coastal Relief Models (CRMs) [Data set]. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. [[https://doi: 10.25921/5ZN5-KN44]]. Office for Coastal Management, 2023: Wrecks and Obstructions. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. [[https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/70439]]. Poti M, Goyert HF, Salgado EJ, Bassett R, Coyne M, Winship AJ, Etnoyer PJ, Hourigan TF, Coleman HM, Christensen J. 2022. Data synthesis and predictive modeling of deep-sea coral and hardbottom habitats offshore of the southeastern US: guiding efficient discovery and protection of sensitive benthic areas. New Orleans (LA): US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 224 p. Contract No.: M16PG00010. Report No.: OCS Study BOEM 2022- 038. [[https://espis.boem.gov/final%20reports/BOEM_2022-038.pdf]]. Riley, K.L., Wickliffe, L.C., Jossart, J.A., MacKay, J.K., Randall, A.L., Bath, G.E., Balling, M.B., Jensen, B.M., and Morris, J.A. Jr. 2021. An Aquaculture Opportunity Area Atlas for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 299. Beaufort, NC. 545 pp. [[https://doi.org/10.25923/8cb3-3r66]]. Sowers, Derek, Larry Mayer, Giuseppe Masetti, Erik Cordes, Ryan Gasbarro, Elizabeth Lobecker, Kasey Cantwell, Shannon Hoy, Michael White, Sam Candio, Mashkoor Malik, and Matt Dornback. Mapping and Geomorphic Characterization of the Vast Cold-Water Coral Mounds of the Blake Plateau. Accessed June 14, 2023. [[https://secassoutheast.org/pdf/ISDSC8_Sowers_et_al_Poster_Final.pdf]]. Sowers, D.C.; Mayer, L.A.; Masetti, G.; Cordes, E.; Gasbarro, R.; Lobecker, E.; Cantwell, K.; Candio, S.; Hoy, S.; Malik, M.; et al. Mapping and Geomorphic Characterization of the Vast Cold-Water Coral Mounds of the Blake Plateau. Geomatics 2024, 4, 17-47. [[https://doi.org/10.3390/geomatics4010002]]. Wu, Zhongin, James R. Tweedley, Neil R. Loneragan, Xiumei Zhang. 2019. Artificial reefs can mimic natural habitats for fish and macroinvertrbrates in temperate coastal waters of the Yellow Sea. Ecological Engineering, vol 139. [[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2019.08.009]].