Coastal habitat mapping of Placentia Bay, Newfoundland
Placentia Bay has been recognised as an important coastal area in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), both for its socio-economic and ecological importance. It supports a traditional commercial and recreational fishery, an aquaculture industry, a growing oil and gas/shipping industry. Due to its ecological and socio-economic value in the NL province, Placentia Bay was selected as the focus region for a new Government of Canada Coastal Environment Baseline Program, helping establish an environmental baseline that could be used to assess future human impacts and environmental changes.
While specific species have been identified as being of particular importance in Placentia Bay, the more general marine habitat that supports marine ecosystems is key when trying to ensure long-term ecosystem integrity and can be a good indicator of future potential changes in this region. This project aims at improving our understanding of the current status of coastal habitats in Placentia Bay using different approaches. First, multibeam bathymetry will be collected at seven key sites, covering a range of sites of known ecological importance in Placentia Bay. Second, ground truthing data will be collected at those same sites in order to map benthic species distribution and produce benthic habitat maps. Third, high-resolution aerial drone imagery of eelgrass will be collected at several sites in Placentia Bay. Together, those activities will help collect baseline data characterizing both coastal habitats and the distribution of key species in the bay.
ASSOCIATED PUBLICATIONS
Nemani S, Misiuk B, Cote D, Edinger E, Mackin-McLaughlin J, Templeton A, Robert K (2024) Incorporating functional traits into habitat maps: Patterns of diversity in coastal benthic assemblages, Frontiers in Marine Science, 11: 1141737.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1141737
Mackin-McLaughlin J, Nemani S, Misiuk B, Templeton A, Gagnon P, Edinger E and Robert K (2022) Spatial distribution of benthic flora and fauna of coastal Placentia Bay, an ecologically and biologically significant area of the island of Newfoundland, Atlantic Canada. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10: 999483.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.999483
Nemani S, Cote D, Misiuk B, Templeton A, Mackin-McLaughlin J, Shaw J, Edinger E, Robert K (2022) A Multi-scale feature selection approach for predicting benthic assemblages. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Science, 277: 108053.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.108053
Misiuk B, Lecours V, Dolan MFJ, Robert K (2021) Evaluating the suitability of multi-scale terrain attribute calculation approaches for seabed mapping applications. Marine Geodesy, 44: 327-385. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490419.2021.1925789
Shang X, Robert K, Misiuk B, Mackin-McLaughlin J, Zhao J (2021) Self-adaptive analysis scale determination for terrain features in seafloor substrate classification. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 254: 107359. doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107359
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Command RJ, Nemani S, Misiuk B, Hajibabaei M, Fahner N, Porter E, Singer G, McClenaghan B and Robert K (2023) Incorporating environmental DNA for improved benthic habitat mapping, Conference presentation at GeoHab 2023, Reunion Island.
Nemani, S, Edinger E, Cote D and Robert, K (2021) Taxonomic and Functional Diversity of Coastal Benthic Assemblages [Conference presentation]. COASTGIS conference, virtual.
Nemani, S, Edinger, E, Cote, D and Robert, K (2021) A species and traits-based approach to predicting the distribution and diversity of coastal benthic assemblages [Conference presentation]. Atlantic Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers 30th Annual Meeting, virtual
Nemani, S, Edinger, E, Cote, D and Robert, K (2021) Patterns of Species and Functional Diversity among Coastal Habitats [Conference presentation]. Early Career Biogeographers Conference, virtual.
Nemani, S, Mackin-McLaughlin, J, Edinger, E, Cote, D and Robert, K (2021) Baseline characterization of species assemblages in Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area – Placentia Bay [Seminar presentation]. Seabed Habitats Seminar Series, virtual.
Mackin-McLaughlin, J., Edinger E, Nemani, S., Robert, K. 2021. Defining the terrain attributes influencing benthic flora and Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis distribution along the western coastal of Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada [Conference presentation]. International Society for Applied Phycology, virtual.
Shang, X, Robert, K, Misiuk, B, Mackin-McLaughlin, J and Zhao J (2021). Self-adaptive analysis scale determination for terrain features in seafloor substrate classification. Conference presentation at GeoHab 2021, virtual.
Mackin-McLaughlin, J., Edinger, E., Misiuk, B., Nemani, S., Robert, K. (2021). Comparing the Accuracy of Two Machine-Learning Algorithms in Predicting Benthic Invertebrate Species Assemblages Across Coastal Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada [Conference presentation]. GeoHab 2021, virtual.
Sneep, A., Robert, K., Devillers, R., Le Bris, A., Edinger, E. (2021, May 3-13th). Mapping and characterizing eelgrass beds in Placentia Bay and Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada [Conference presentation]. GeoHab 2021, virtual.
Nemani, S., Edinger, E., Cote, D., Misiuk, B., Mackin-McLaughlin, J., Robert, K. (2021, May 3-13th). A Multi-Scale Feature Selection Approach for Predicting Benthic Communities [Conference presentation]. GeoHab 2021, virtual.
OUTREACH, MEDIA AND DATA
Robert, K., Nemani, S., Mackin-McLaughlin, J., Command, R. (2025). Underwater Videos of Coastal Habitat Mapping in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada.. Federated Research Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.20383/102.0687
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