Development of benthic environmental indicators for macrobenthos using habitat prediction model

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K12356
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 63040:Environmental impact assessment-related
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: Umehara Akira 広島大学, 環境安全センター, 助教 (40825791)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 西嶋 渉 広島大学, 環境安全センター, 教授 (20243602)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 生息地予測 / 瀬戸内海 / 底質特性 / ベントス / Maxent

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Benthic organisms are an important biota in the ecosystem, playing a role in material circulation and as food for fishes. However, collection of the sediment using grab sampler, identification and counting by experts are required for the benthos monitoring. In this study, we applied the Maxent modeling, which has been used to estimate the potential distribution of rare species, for predicting the potential distribution of the macrobenthos in the Seto Inland Sea from the physico-chemical characteristic of the sediment. In addition, by narrowing down the parameters of the sediment characteristics that are truly necessary in the model estimation, it became possible to estimate the probability of appearance of the macrobenthos using the parameters that are widely and commonly taken in various marine areas. Furthermore, the developed Seto Inland Sea model made it possible to estimate the probability of appearance of macrobenthos in the Ariake Sea.

Free Research Field

海洋生態学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

マクロベントス調査は採泥および専門家による同定・計数が必須であり、その労力の大きさと専門性からデータ数が限られているという大きな課題があった。本研究において環境省が実施した瀬戸内海1200地点を超える膨大なデータを用いて、主要なマクロベントスの出現率を精度良く推定できるモデルを構築できた意義は大きい。本手法が今後のマクロベントスのモニタリング手法として活用され、空間的・季節的にこれまでよりも高解像度なマクロベントスの分布の把握によって低次生物生産過程における生態系構造の解明ができ、また気候変動に伴うベントスの将来分布予測等に用いられることで環境動体解析や水産分野に貢献できると期待される。