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A coastal area is a confluence of land and marine ecosystems and includes the independent biological, ecological, and geological area. Increasing pressure on these areas can decrease the quality of marine habitats, and can even lead to the loss of sensitive habitats. In this regard, a “biotope” has been suggested as the most informative operational unit for research and management. These biotopes, however, have been specified by the dominant species; they depend on the seabed, they are stable, and sometimes are used synonymously with the word ecology. Habitat classifications are, therefore, most accurate and ecologically relevant at the biotope level because of the direct relationship between the biota and their environment. The Coastal Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) was developed with the input of over 40 coastal and 20 marine habitat experts and presents a universally accepted standard classification for coastal and marine habitats. ... We classified the eastern coast of Mazandaran Province (Babolsar to Amirabad Port) and then encoded this zone based on the CMECS model.

This research was conducted during 2007-2008 with the main aim of classifying marine coastal habitats in Gwatr Bay located in Iran-Pakistan border, south east of Sistan-Blaluchetan Province. We used Coastal-Marine Ecological Standard Classification (CMECS) with three data layers covering water column, benthic cover classifier and geomorphology. Layers and habitats information were analyzed in a GIS environment and the indicator species were determined. WCC classification was done based on temperature, salinity and clarity classifiers for Ichthyoplankton communities. The result showed that two main seasonal habitats including spring habitat (spring, summer and winter) and fall habitat, affected by the monsoon season is present in the area. Also we considered particle size and total organic matter in sediment as classifiers for benthic habitats which indicated two different habitats based on distances from shore. Habitats were divided into unmixed macro-benthos community (polychaete) and mixed macro-benthos community including: Polychaete, Amphipoda and Gastropoda. The habitats were shown on digital GIS maps with their specific codes.

The “Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)”, a new approach to ecological classification, was applied to 122 km of the southern intertidal zone of Qeshm Island located the Hormouz Strait - the Persian Gulf. Two components of this model, Surface Geology (SGC) and Biotic Cover (BCC) were used. Considering the extent and geomorphological alternations of the covered area, 12 sampling sites within 5 sub-regions were designated using by GPS. In total, 60 habitats (biotopes) with 47 codes were determined; this variety of biotopes is directly related to the diverse surface geology (substrate) of the covered area. Most of the biotopes and codes were recorded in the mid-eastern coastal zone, due to heterogeneity in substrate structure associated with numerous ecological niches in rocky shores. Crustacean species such as Eriphia smithi, Thalamita prymna, Molluscan species such as Clypeomorous bifisciatus, Cerithium caeruleum and echinoderm species such as Echinometra mathaei and Ophiactis sp. were characteristic of rocky shores, while Crustacea groups including Ocypode rotundata and Dotilla sp., and Umbonium vestiarium (Mollusca) were characteristic of sandy shores. Although the highest number of codes was recorded in Zeitun Park site (Eastern coast), it did not possess the expected specific species (such as Diadema setosum, Linckia multiflora and Ophiocoma scolopendrina), that were encountered in sites with similar surface geology. This could have been caused by tourist traffic at the Zeitun Park site.