HydrograpHic SUrVey 7
Hydroacoustic technology used
to monitor marine biodiversity
Hydroacoustic
technology is being
used to further
scientific research into
protecting marine
ecosystems.
Um wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen zum
Schutz von Meeres-
Ökosystemen zu
unterstützen, werden
hydroakustische
Verfahren eingesetzt.
Se utiliza la tecnología
hidroacústica para
avanzar en los estudios
científicos destinados
a proteger los
osidonia is the foundation of marine
ecosistemas marinos.
P
Fig. 1. Posidonia Oceanica is of special
ecosystems. It is a priority habitat importance. It is a species that has a powerful
and fundamental to the ecological attraction to be endemic to the Mediterranean
balance of the seas. Recent research and the key to ensuring biodiversity of the
has established a new scientific method for its seabed.
detection, classification and volume estimation.
Simrad Spain, makers the electronic instruments leaves deposited on the beaches, which protects
for professional fish finding and fishery research against erosion, especially during winter storms.
proposes the use of hydroacoustic technology for The disappearance of grasslands has negative
this purpose. effects not only on the micro-ecosystem itself
Why is Posidonia vital to the marine but also on linked ecosystems; just think that the
ecosystem? The grass meadow is a ‘climax loss of a single metre of grassland can lead to the
community’ representing the highest level of disappearance of several meters of beach due to
development and complexity that a marine erosion. Furthermore, regression of grasslands
ecosystem can reach. Posidonia in coastal involves a loss of biodiversity and deterioration of
ecosystems plays a major role for several reasons: water quality.
l Thanks to its leaf development, the Among the underwater flora of our
environment frees up to 20 litres of oxygen per environment, the Posidonia Oceanica is of special
day and per m2 of meadow. importance. It is a species that has a powerful
l It produces and exports biomass both to attraction to be endemic to the Mediterranean
surrounding ecosystems and to greater depths. and the key to ensuring biodiversity of the
l It provides shelter and breeding grounds for seabed. It is subject to many threats, given the
many fish, cephalopods, bivalves, gastropods, increase in human activities such as chemical
echinoderms and tunicates. spills, discharge of brine from desalination
l It consolidates the seafloor to help offset costs plants, construction of port infrastructure and
and excessive sediment transport due to coastal indiscriminate trawling. We must consider the
currents. slow processes of growth and recovery of a
l It acts as a barrier, attenuating the force of damaged area. It is estimated that the Posidonia
currents and waves and thus preventing coastal extends through the meadows at one centimetre
erosion. per year, so if you try to retrieve a square foot, it
l It dampens the waves through the layer of dead would take a century to achieve your goal.
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