Kavanaugh, Maria: Oregon State University (Project Lead)
Project Funding:
2018 - 2021
NRA: 2016 NASA: Group on Earth Observations Work Programme
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
Background: The GEO-BON Thematic Marine Biodiversity Observing Network (MBON) supports the operational monitoring of marine biodiversity, defined broadly as the variety of life at the gene, species and ecosystem levels. Understanding how biodiversity changes across these levels provides insight to ecosystems’ resiliency or vulnerability to global change, and their capacity to maintain the vital ecosystem services on which humans depend. The systematic observation of life in the global ocean requires both standardized in-situ (field observations) and remote sensing methods, and a means for stakeholders to compare status and trends between locations. In the US, three pilot programs are sponsored in a partnership established between the NASA, NOAA, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the Smithsonian Institution’s Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, and the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). We propose to link these demonstration projects with efforts worldwide via a common biogeographic framework that characterizes the four dimensional variability of ocean dynamics. This framework will be relevant at global and regional scales, can serve as the basis of scaling local observations of biodiversity to regional responses to climate, and provide an objective means to intercompare biodiversity-habitat relationships in advective environments.
Proposed work: Objective classification and validation of remotely-sensed dynamic seascapes using high resolution (1 km) satellite data has occurred at regional to local scales in temperate-upwelling and tropical reef environments as part of the US MBON pilot program. Seascapes provide a framework to assess and scale up patterns of biodiversity and effects of environmental change on pelagic community structure, ranging from microbes to fish. With partners at the Arctic MBON and the Distributed Biophysical Observatory (DBO), we will add a polar ecosystem case study to
demonstrate transferability and track changes in multi-trophic level diversity in response to changing sea-ice, temperature and nutrient delivery, and ocean chemistry.
Concurrent to the US MBON effort, the US Geological Survey and the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) embarked on a global 3-D static classification of ocean volumes using multi-year climatologies of physical and chemical data archived in the World Ocean Atlas (WOA); future efforts may classify based on seasonal climatologies. We will classify dynamic seascapes globally using readily available satellite products, and inter-compare the boundaries associated with each classification scheme as a means of cross validation. Intercomparisons will highlight variability at depth not directly observed by satellites but important to pelagic species. Conversely, dynamic seascapes will illuminate changes in habitat quality and extent not apparent from climatologies.
Deliverables: 1) A global seascape classification scheme that reveals multiscale ocean dynamics, using ocean color, winds, temperature, sea surface height and sea-ice from NASA repositories; 2) An intercomparison with ESRI /USGS partners to determine boundary co-location across methods; 3) Extension of the US-MBON high resolution seascapes to polar seas; 4) Examination of biodiversity patterns across polar seascapes using AMBON and DBO data.
Partners include GEO members NASA, NOAA, USGS, ESRI, Arctic DBO and Blue Planet with the goal to provide a sustainable, standardized, and validated biogeographic framework to monitor and intercompare biodiversity patterns and trends, accessible to stakeholders worldwide. This proposal is complementary to that of Montes et al. that seeks to unify in situ sampling methods across sites in the Americas contributing to a Pole-to-Pole or global MBON.
Publications:
Blaisdell, J., Thalmann, H. L., Klajbor, W., Zhang, Y., Miller, J. A., Laurel, B. J., Kavanaugh, M. T. 2021. A Dynamic Stress-Scape Framework to Evaluate Potential Effects of Multiple Environmental Stressors on Gulf of Alaska Juvenile Pacific Cod. Frontiers in Marine Science. 8. DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2021.656088
Bowman, J. S., Kavanaugh, M. T., Doney, S. C., Ducklow, H. W. 2018. Recurrent seascape units identify key ecological processes along the western Antarctic Peninsula. Global Change Biology. 24(7), 3065-3078. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14161
Jamil, A. L., Kavanaugh, M. T., Spitz, Y. H. 2023. Drivers of Physical and Biological Frontal Variability in the Northern California Current System. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 128(6). DOI: 10.1029/2022JC019408
Jamil, A. L., Kavanaugh, M. T., Spitz, Y. H. 2023. Drivers of Physical and Biological Frontal Variability in the Northern California Current System. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 128(6). DOI: 10.1029/2022JC019408
Kavanaugh, M. T., Church, M. J., Davis, C. O., Karl, D. M., Letelier, R. M., Doney, S. C. 2018. ALOHA From the Edge: Reconciling Three Decades of in Situ Eulerian Observations and Geographic Variability in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Frontiers in Marine Science. 5. DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00130
Kavanaugh, M. T., Church, M. J., Davis, C. O., Karl, D. M., Letelier, R. M., Doney, S. C. 2018. ALOHA From the Edge: Reconciling Three Decades of in Situ Eulerian Observations and Geographic Variability in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Frontiers in Marine Science. 5. DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00130
Kavanaugh, M., Bell, T., Catlett, D., Cimino, M., Doney, S., Klajbor, W., Messie, M., Montes, E., Muller Karger, F., Otis, D., Santora, J., Schroeder, I., Trinanes, J., Siegel, D. 2021. Satellite Remote Sensing and the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network: Current Science and Future Steps. Oceanography. 34(2). DOI: 10.5670/oceanog.2021.215
Muller-Karger, F., Kavanaugh, M., Iken, K., Montes, E., Chavez, F., Ruhl, H., Miller, R., Runge, J., Grebmeier, J., Cooper, L., Helmuth, B., Escobar-Briones, E., Hammerschlag, N., Estes, M., Pearlman, J., Hestir, E., Duffy, E., Sarri, K. J., Hudson, C., Landrum, J., Canonico, G., Jewett, L., Newton, J., Kirkpatrick, B., Anderson, C., Bates, A., Sousa-Pinto, I., Nakaoka, M., Soares, J. 2021. Marine Life 2030: Forecasting Changes to Ocean Biodiversity to Inform Decision-Making: A Critical Role for the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON). Marine Technology Society Journal. 55(3), 84-85. DOI: 10.4031/MTSJ.55.3.28
Woodill, A. J., Kavanaugh, M., Harte, M., and Watson, J. R., “Predicting Illegal Fishing on the Patagonia Shelf from Oceanographic Seascapes”, arXiv e-prints, 2020. DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2007.05470.
Woodill, A. J., Kavanaugh, M., Harte, M., Watson, J. R. 2021. Ocean seascapes predict distant-water fishing vessel incursions into exclusive economic zones. Fish and Fisheries. 22(5), 899-910. DOI: 10.1111/faf.12559
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):