Search

Malgré l’intérêt croissant pour la cartographie des fonds marins, seul un quart d’entre eux a pu être levé fidèlement à une résolution de l’ordre du km (30 arc-secondes). Ceci s’explique par les lourds coûts engendrés par les campagnes par bateau (sonar) et/ou par avion (lidar). Ainsi, la bathymétrie dérivée de satellite connaît un essor considérable depuis deux décennies. En fer de lance, l’imagerie multispectrale à très haute résolution spatiale de Pléiades Neo dispose de 6 bandes (4 visibles, 1 red edge, et 1 infrarouge) pourvues d’une résolution spatiale de 1,2 m, surclassant ainsi l’imagerie multispectrale de Pléiades-1 dotée de 4 bandes (3 visibles et 1 infrarouge) à 2 m. En s’appuyant sur un jeu de données Pléiades Neo 4 acquis au-dessus des eaux modérément turbides de la baie de Saint-Malo, ce travail a permis de quantifier les contributions des bandes deep blue et red edge à la prédiction de la bathymétrie lidar en regard de la nature de la modélisation, et de l’architecture du réseau neuronal. Premièrement, la modélisation semi-analytique (transfert radiatif) basée sur les transformées de ratio, testées individuellement et linéairement: le remplacement de la bande bleu par la bande deep blue a diminué la régression linéaire standard (bleu-vert-rouge-infrarouge, R2=0,36) de 11,1%, mais le remplacement de la bande rouge par red edge, a produit le même score. Deuxièmement, la modélisation semi-analytique basée sur la transformée de ratio Pléiades-1 versus la combinaison des 15 transformées Pléiades Neo : augmentations respectives de 52,8% de la régression linéaire (R2Pléiades-1=0,36, et R2Pléiades Neo=0,55), et de 36,2% de la régression non-linéaire par réseau de neurones à deux couches cachées à trois neurones (R2Pléiades-1=0,58, et R2Pléiades Neo=0,79). Finalement, la modélisation empirique basée sur la bonification spectrale de la simulation de Pléiades-1 par deep blue et red edge a généré un gain maximal de 6% pour la régression linéaire (R2Pléiades-1=0,50, et R2Pléiades Neo=0,53) et de 1,4% pour la régression non-linéaire par réseau de neurones à deux couches cachées à trois neurones (R2Pléiades-1=0,73, et R2Pléiades Neo=0,74).

Abstract Background Coral reefs are rapidly changing in response to local and global stressors. Research to better understand and inform the management of these stressors is burgeoning. However, in situ studies of coral reef ecology are constrained by complex logistics and limited resources. Many reef studies are also hampered by the scale-dependent nature of ecological patterns, and inferences made on causal relationships within coral reef systems are limited by the scales of observation. This is because most socio-ecological studies are conducted at scales relevant to the phenomenon of interest. However, management often occurs across a significantly broader, often geopolitical, range of scales. While there is a critical need for incisive coral reef management actions at relevant spatial and temporal scales, it remains unclear to what extent the scales of empirical study overlap with the scales at which management inferences and recommendations are made. This systematic map protocol will evaluate this potential scale mismatch with the goal of raising awareness about the significance of effectively addressing and reporting the scales at which researchers collect data and make assumptions. Methods We will use the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) systematic mapping guidelines to identify relevant studies using a framework-based synthesis to summarise the spatial and temporal scales of coral reef fish ecology research and the scales at which management inferences or recommendations are made. Using tested predefined terms, we will search for relevant published academic and grey literature, including bibliographic databases, web-based search engines, and organisational websites. Inclusion criteria for the evidence map are empirical studies that focus on coral reef fish ecological organisation and processes, those informing management interventions and policy decisions, and management documents that cite coral reef research for management decision-making. Study results will be displayed graphically using data matrices and heat maps. This is the first attempt to systematically assess and compare the scales of socio-ecological research conducted on coral reef systems with their management.

The article details the developments and discussions within the Food Protection Trends Management Committee, emphasizing the significance of open access for articles and the upcoming Vice Chair election in 2025. Topics include enhancing content engagement through multimedia elements, recognizing outstanding reviewers, and exploring mentorship opportunities for students involved in food safety research.

Maintaining animals and also preserving ecology are great challenges because of the growing encroachment of people and various issues affecting the environment. In this perspective, a wide use of AI technology reveals the application with virtually limitless potential to transform the connotations of the conservation campaigns and to mitigate the challenges that all animals undergo globally. Therefore, this paper focuses on the various aspects AI in the establishment of a safer environment for animals in contact with people. Currently, there are so many phrased species gone extinct and the level of biodiversity decline increasing at a large scale. It is important to emphasize that the severity of this situation has been claimed by the Inter-governmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The main causes that correlate this tragedy are Habitat Degradation through human interferences, Poaching, Over-picketing of resources, Effecting the ecology through pollution, and Future effect of climate change. There are actions that are taken under various strategies like the current technology to enhance the protection of the species' divide. Technology has though helped out throughout the time in the preservation of the nature over the years. On this, it is quite clear that the examination and preservation of species has largely depended on the use of technology ranging from the simple radio-tracking methods to satellite images. Another method that enables the researchers to study with a certain degree of precision the displacements of the animals in question is radio telemetry. These implementing factors placed this study in a standby to reveal critical knowledge on the species' distribution, feeding habits, and mobility. Consequently, lessons of decision making on migration and areas of protection may be acquired by the conservationists. The integration of AI with the animal conservation within the recent years has brought amazing advances to our assessment, safety, as well as preservation of the earth's diverse species. Thus, the application of AI to the field of conservation is an applied science since it focuses on the analysis of big data as well as prediction. To put it simply, AI can be defined as the creation of software that may perform a plurality of elementary tasks with the immediate possibility of learning and drawing conclusions independently, based on the input data that is put to them. These algorithms engage with the exact skills to perceive patterns, identify items, and predict events in the future. Thus, contemporary society gets new opportunities to gather, analyze, and utilize data with the help of artificial intelligence in the questions of animal conservation. Artificial intelligence is that gel or glue or pulse that makes things happen, leads to more production. It empowers the researchers to control as well as evaluate information that was indeed extraordinarily cumbersome to control and evaluate before. It accelerates science, and therefore optimizes its efficiency, whether it is a case of distinguishing between numerous photos of cam traps to identify rare species or the analysis of big statistics to determine population density. This condition can turn increasing traditional ways of data harvesting into new forms that also considers data. It can contain information on current movements of animals, the environmental status as well as the threats which can contain aspects like poaching among others. In this chapter application of artificial intelligence in animal conservation will also be discussed; likewise, the factors influencing the effectiveness of wildlife conservation/reduction and control would also be reviewed; the limitations/ethical considerations regarding wildlife conservation and management would also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) annual Medals and Awards recognise achievements in researching, communicating, and teaching a wide range of geographical knowledge. The speeches and citations are a record of the 2023 celebrations, which occurred at the Society on 5 June 2023, with contributions from Andrew Mitchell, Felix Driver, Anson Mackay, Jos Barlow, Harriet Fraser, and Noel Castree. The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) annual Medals and Awards recognise achievements in researching, communicating, and teaching a wide range of geographical knowledge. The speeches and citations are a record of the 2023 celebrations, which occurred at the Society on 5 June 2023, with contributions from Andrew Mitchell, Felix Driver, Anson Mackay, Jos Barlow, Harriet Fraser and Noel Castree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Art–science partnerships offer valuable opportunities to enhance inclusive engagement with research through collaborative creative practice. Here, we present two case studies of interdisciplinary approaches to contextualising environmental science for wider audiences. We synthesise lessons learnt from these case studies and associated stakeholders to provide advice for conducting successful art–science collaborations that help to broaden interactions with environmental geoscience research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: One-third of the Antarctic continental shelf is covered by ice shelves, floating extensions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Marine life beneath and bordering ice shelves is rarely investigated, yet likely to be highly impacted by climate change. As ice shelves retreat, marine environments transition into new open-water spaces, with potential for primary production and consequent food-fall to the seafloor. How Antarctic seabed assemblages (benthos) develop in such emerging spaces is influenced by neighboring and oceanographically-connected communities; thus, closing knowledge-gaps of benthic biodiversity near ice shelves underpins understanding of future ecosystem change. This study examined seafloor assemblages, and environmental differences, in a region that has experienced ice-shelf retreat, in a polynya adjacent to a marine margin at the forefront of climate change: the ice-shelf front. The study area, located in the Weddell Sea, is seldom accessible, and lies within a proposed international marine protected area. The study found a physically- and biologically-diverse seabed, complexity in potential environmental influences, and evidence of increasing megafaunal densities with increasing distance from an ice-shelf front. This research provides insights into seafloor habitats and inhabitants close to an evolving marine margin, and establishes ecological baselines from which biological responses to climate change can be evaluated to inform marine management. Ice shelves cover ~1.6 million km2 of the Antarctic continental shelf and are sensitive indicators of climate change. With ice-shelf retreat, aphotic marine environments transform into new open-water spaces of photo-induced primary production and associated organic matter export to the benthos. Predicting how Antarctic seafloor assemblages may develop following ice-shelf loss requires knowledge of assemblages bordering the ice-shelf margins, which are relatively undocumented. This study investigated seafloor assemblages, by taxa and functional groups, in a coastal polynya adjacent to the Larsen C Ice Shelf front, western Weddell Sea. The study area is rarely accessed, at the frontline of climate change, and located within a CCAMLR-proposed international marine protected area. Four sites, ~1 to 16 km from the ice-shelf front, were explored for megabenthic assemblages, and potential environmental drivers of assemblage structures were assessed. Faunal density increased with distance from the ice shelf, with epifaunal deposit-feeders a surrogate for overall density trends. Faunal richness did not exhibit a significant pattern with distance from the ice shelf and was most variable at sites closest to the ice-shelf front. Faunal assemblages significantly differed in composition among sites, and those nearest to the ice shelf were the most dissimilar; however, ice-shelf proximity did not emerge as a significant driver of assemblage structure. Overall, the study found a biologically-diverse and complex seafloor environment close to an ice-shelf front and provides ecological baselines for monitoring benthic ecosystem responses to environmental change, supporting marine management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal habitats, such as salt marshes and dune systems, can protect communities from hazards by reducing coastline exposure. However, these critical habitats and their diverse ecosystem services are threatened by coastal development and the impacts from a changing climate. Ever increasing pressure on coastal habitats calls for coastal climate adaptation efforts that mitigate or adapt to these pressures in ways that maintain the integrity of coastal landscapes. An important challenge for decisionmakers is determining the best mitigation and adaptation strategies that not only protect human lives and property, but also safeguard the ability of coastal habitats to provide a broad suite of benefits. Here, we present a potential pathway for local-scale climate change adaptation planning through the identification and mapping of natural habitats that provide the greatest benefits to coastal communities. The methodology coupled a coastal vulnerability model with a climate adaptation policy assessment in an effort to identify priority locations for nature-based solutions that reduce vulnerability of critical assets using feasible land-use policy methods. Our results demonstrate the critical role of natural habitats in providing the ecosystem service of coastal protection in California. We found that specific dune habitats play a key role in reducing erosion and inundation of the coastline and that several wetland areas help to absorb energy from storms and provide a protective service for the coast of Marin county, California, USA. Climate change and adaptation planning are globally relevant issues in which the scalability and transferability of solutions must be considered. This work outlines an iterative approach for climate adaptation planning at a local-scale, with opportunity to consider the scalability of an iterative science-policy engagement approach to regional, national, and international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coral reefs are rapidly changing in response to local and global stressors. Research to better understand and inform the management of these stressors is burgeoning. However, in situ studies of coral reef ecology are constrained by complex logistics and limited resources. Many reef studies are also hampered by the scale-dependent nature of ecological patterns, and inferences made on causal relationships within coral reef systems are limited by the scales of observation. This is because most socio-ecological studies are conducted at scales relevant to the phenomenon of interest. However, management often occurs across a significantly broader, often geopolitical, range of scales. While there is a critical need for incisive coral reef management actions at relevant spatial and temporal scales, it remains unclear to what extent the scales of empirical study overlap with the scales at which management inferences and recommendations are made. This systematic map protocol will evaluate this potential scale mismatch with the goal of raising awareness about the significance of effectively addressing and reporting the scales at which researchers collect data and make assumptions. Methods: We will use the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE) systematic mapping guidelines to identify relevant studies using a framework-based synthesis to summarise the spatial and temporal scales of coral reef fish ecology research and the scales at which management inferences or recommendations are made. Using tested predefined terms, we will search for relevant published academic and grey literature, including bibliographic databases, web-based search engines, and organisational websites. Inclusion criteria for the evidence map are empirical studies that focus on coral reef fish ecological organisation and processes, those informing management interventions and policy decisions, and management documents that cite coral reef research for management decision-making. Study results will be displayed graphically using data matrices and heat maps. This is the first attempt to systematically assess and compare the scales of socio-ecological research conducted on coral reef systems with their management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High resolution remotely sensed bathymetric data is rapidly increasing in volume, but analyzing this data requires a mastery of a complex toolchain of disparate software, including computing derived measurements of the environment. Bathymetric gradients play a fundamental role in energy transport through the seascape. Benthic Terrain Modeler (BTM) uses bathymetric data to enable simple characterization of benthic biotic communities and geologic types, and produces a collection of key geomorphological variables known to affect marine ecosystems and processes. BTM has received continual improvements since its 2008 release; here we describe the tools and morphometrics BTM can produce, the research context which this enables, and we conclude with an example application using data from a protected reef in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article lists scientists who acted as referees for the journal including Jonathan Allen, James Bell and Edward Brooks.

Coastal habitats have experienced significant degradation and fragmentation in recent decades under the strain of interacting ecosystem stressors. To maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, coastal managers and restoration practitioners face the urgent tasks of identifying priority areas for protection and developing innovative, scalable approaches to habitat restoration. Facilitating these efforts are models of seascape connectivity, which represent ecological linkages across heterogeneous marine environments by predicting species-specific dispersal between suitable habitat patches. However, defining the suitable habitat patches and migratory pathways required to construct ecologically realistic connectivity models remains challenging. Focusing on two reef-associated fish species of the Florida Keys, United States of America (USA), we compared two methods for constructing species- and life stage-specific spatial models of habitat suitability—penalized logistic regression and maximum entropy (MaxEnt). The goal of the model comparison was to identify the modeling algorithm that produced the most realistic and detailed products for use in subsequent connectivity assessments. Regardless of species, MaxEnt's ability to distinguish between suitable and unsuitable locations exceeded that of the penalized regressions. Furthermore, MaxEnt's habitat suitability predictions more closely aligned with the known ecology of the study species, revealing the environmental conditions and spatial patterns that best support each species across the seascape, with implications for predicting connectivity pathways and the distribution of key ecological processes. Our research demonstrates MaxEnt's promise as a scalable, species-specific, and spatially explicit tool for informing models of seascape connectivity and guiding coastal conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]