Mapping of biological resources for GIS ”Black sea”
Ivan L.Levkovich-Maslyuk
Moscow State University
Dept. of Cartography and Geoinformatics
Black Sea Environment Programme (BSEP) was organized by UN and with financial support of UN for coordination of efforts of world community for solving of ecological problems of Black sea. One of the projects of that programme was creation of Black Sea GIS. This work took 3 years (1994-1997).
By present time many scientists are speaking about critical state of Black sea in result of antropogenic impact. Biodiversity of this area is rich, especially of endemic species. Unfortunately, during last few decades many factors of external impact are constantly increasing. The most vulnerable area is coastal zone. Only three decades ago very rich of diversity catches of fish with great volume supplied constant income for thousand fishermen and fed a lot of generations of Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Turkish, Romanians and Russians. During the last three decades the ecological balance was disturbed and it led to fast degradation of Black sea nature wealth. There are only 5 species of fish remained from 1965 when there were 25 species in catches and some species are disappeared now. Great disaster is distribution of immigrants in the Black sea. One of them is Mnemiopsis leydyi.
The preparation of thematic layers and including of layers in GIS is very difficult and important process. It is important to study the correlation between environment characteristics to make decisions about restoration of Black sea ecosystem.
Schemes of distribution and migrations of 14 species of commercial important Black sea fishes, results of plankton community researchings, schemes of algae distribution on the northern-western shelf and maps of hydrological and hydrochemical features distribution served as base materials for our work. Schemes of distribution and migrations of fishes and schemes of algae distribution were prepared by FAO (Food and Agricultural organization) which is part of UN. For each of the 14 species of commercial importance a one-page summary of the main features of the distribution, life history and fishery was given together with an illustrative scheme.
During the digitizing of maps data were transformed to Mercator projection. The most important process on this step is concordance of layers. Particular attention must be applied to the geometrical and geographical correspondance of layers. Black Sea GIS allows to study any pair of maps by overlay. That's why it would be useful to study maps of hydrological and hydrochemical features together with maps of distribution and migrations of sea organisms for accuracy of drawing areas.
Researchings of plankton community took place during routes of RV (research vessels) "Vityas", "Akvanaut", "Yantar", "Bilim" in 1992-96. Investigations produced on standard station network that was established by COMSBlack international pragramme. The result of this researching was data of distribution of Mnemiopsis leydei and Calanus euxinus biomass (gramm/m2) and data of density of sprat and anchovy eggs and larvae (number per m2). Digital models were created on the base of these data and then some errors were edited with help of oceanographers.
Maps of hydrophysical and hydrochemical characteristics were created with help of data of Marine Hydrophysical Institute of Ukranian Academy of Sciences. That was result of investigations of sea water features on RVs in Black sea water surface on different depths. Digital models of these characteristics were included in Black Sea GIS as thematic layers. The less density of stations, the more errors on the maps, particularly in southern regions. There were data from State Oceanograhical Institute too. These data were results of annual measurements of hydrological and hydrochemical characteristics per months for many years. Map of bathymetry also was very useful.
Finally following maps were prepared for Black Sea GIS as thematic layers that characterising biological resources:
All these maps were edited and included in thematic sections "Fishery" and "Biology" of Black Sea GIS. Sections were approved by experts from international and scientific organisations. Black Sea GIS was issued as CD-ROM and now is distributing among specialists and experts. It would be worthwhile to use capabilities of Black Sea GIS for mathematical cartographical analysis of thematic layers correlation, for example, correlation of biological and hydrochemical features. This work would be useful for studying of Mnemiopsis leydei because its impact on Black sea ecosystem is considerable and nature conditions that determine Mnemiopsis leydei distribution are still unknown.
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