GIS based tools for marine habitat
determination and marine spatial
planning
Tiffany C. Vance
NOAA/NMFS/Alaska Fisheries Science Center
C.J. Beegle-Krause, David Steube
ASA / Applied Science Associates
Sharon M. Mesick
NOAA National Oceanographic Data Center / Coastal Data Development Center
Why look at habitat?
• Climate studies look at societal impacts –
habitat loss/gain/change is analogous for
organisms
• Legislative mandate to identify critical habitat
• As ecosystem forecasting develops, need for
tools to integrate climate impacts
• Element of marine spatial planning –
identifying critical areas and activities that
can occur there
• Ecosystem forecasting
Defining Habitat
• Habitat crucial to survival of organisms
• Habitat can be 2.5 or 3D
• Determining habitat parameters for
organisms, e.g. temperature ranges,
altitudes or substrate types
• Data gathering vs habitat modeling
Using GIS to Delineate Marine Habitat
• Seagrass is a typical 2D habitat
• Species interact with the surface
• Bottom type, slope and currents define
‘best’ habitat
• GIS provides many tools to delineate and
model benthic habitats
• Open ocean fish experience a
multidimensional environment
• Species interact with water column
• Optimal pelagic habitat varies by life
stage and is multivariate
• Traditional GIS tools inadequate to
integrate diverse time series data
Walleye Pollock in Shelikof Strait
•
•
•
Walleye Pollock produce the largest catch of any single species inhabiting
the 200-mile U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.
Key forage fish in the ecosystem
One spawning aggregation is in Shelikof Strait.
- Larvae transported down the Strait.
- Favorable nursery areas assumed to be inshore
- Larval dispersal studied using sampling, drifters and models
EcoFOCI Forecast Horizon
Years:
INPUT:
OUTPUT :
EXAMPLES :
1
50
Indices
Qualitative
Scenario
ROMS/NPZ
IPCC Scenario
Quantitative
Prediction
Quantitative
Prediction
Ecosystems
FOCI Recruitment
Considerations
Predictions
Chapter
Stabeno et al.,
(2008)
EcoFOCI = Ecosystems and Fisheries
Oceanography Coordinated
Investigations
Work in Process
(Recruitment,
Dominant
Species
Energy Flow)
NPCREP = North Pacific
Climate Regimes and
Ecosystem Productivity
HabitatSpace
• Pelagic habitat – 3D
• Using in situ data, ocean models and
biological data to define habitats
• Interactive not static display
• User can define parameter ranges for
organism, iterative
• Statistics to compare habitats
Software Elements
•
•
•
•
•
•
ArcGIS – extension and standalone tool
IDV - for analysis and visualization
netCDF files in a THREDDS server
EDC - Environmental Data Connector
ASA COASTMAP
Statistics toolbox – Python
System Architecture
Data Sources
• Ocean Models
- NCOM, ROMS
Data Server
Northern Gulf
Institute
Ecosystem Data
Assembly Center
Clients
• ESRI ArcGIS ext
standalone tool
• IDV client
• Physical data
- temperature, salinity
• Visualization:
• Data Ingest
-Integrate data to
define habitats
- ASCII
• Meteorological data
- NetCDF
- Shapefiles
- Wind speed, insolation
• Biological data
-Fish catch abundance
• Larval track
-Modeled using ROMS
currents data
or
-User defined, iterative
parameter ranges
-Path of organism through
habitat
• Transformation
-From source to standard
formats
• Data Service
- THREDDS
- ESRI FGDB
• Statistical Analysis
- Hot spot analysis
- Kriging
- Mean center
ASA-IDV Data Connector
• Ocean Model Data
(ROMS)
• Curvilinear grid
• Single file
• netCDF CF
compliant
• Works ‘out of the
box’
ESRI Data Connections
Physical
• Feature data readily ingested
• Point, line & poly
Meteorological
• Raster data readily ingested
Biological
• Users specify data rendering
with customized menus
• Select and name variables
Particle (Larval) Track
• Name and save
project files
Ancillary (grid)
Analysis Capabilities
• Shape
characterization
• Statistics
– Landscape
metrics
– Fractal
dimension
– Mean center
• Path of
organism
through habitat
Conclusions
• Habitat determination is important for
marine spatial planning and in
determining climate impacts
• GIS can provide tools to describe and
model habitats in 3-D
• IDV can be modified to provide
visualization and analysis of habitats
• Statistical tools for landscape metrics in
3-D still under development
For additional information contact:
Tiffany.C.Vance@noaa.gov
Guide to the ASA IDV plugin available
in the back.
Plugin available at www.asascience.com
Terrestrial Habitat for Ducklings
http://www.ducks.ca/aboutduc/news/archives/2004/040531.
html