Combining geomorphologic, biological and accessibility values for marine natural heritage evaluation and conservation. Rovere, A., Parravicini, V., Firpo, M., Morri, C., & Nike Bianchi, C. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 21(6):541-552, Wiley Online Library, 2011.
Combining geomorphologic, biological and accessibility values for marine natural heritage evaluation and conservation [pdf]Paper  Combining geomorphologic, biological and accessibility values for marine natural heritage evaluation and conservation [link]Website  doi  abstract   bibtex   
1. Natural heritage is the complex of geomorphologic and biological elements worthy of conservation. 2. Especially in the marine environment, conservation effort is often focused on the biological elements only, while multi-disciplinary approaches, including abiotic elements and social issues, are needed. 3. A procedure to evaluate the Marine Natural Heritage (MNH) as a whole, integrating geomorphology and biology, was tested in two coastal areas in the Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean): Punta Manara, a European Site of Community Interest (SCI), and Finale – Vado Ligure (non-SCI). In each area, scuba surveys were carried out at six sites to categorize subtidal landforms and habitats, and these were then used as evaluation units for assigning scores to subcategories of both geomorphological (Integrity, Representativeness, Rarity, Paleogeographic, Aesthetic) and biological (Naturalness, Vulnerability, Rarity, Economic, Aesthetic) categories. 4. Four sites in the area of Punta Manara obtained high scores, thus fully justifying the special management measures required for SCI implementation. However, two sites in the Finale – Vado Ligure area exhibited biological heritage values higher than those of Punta Manara, while a third site exhibited values comparable with those of Punta Manara when considering both biology and geomorphology. This highlighted the presence of features worth conserving also in non-SIC situations. 5. Accessibility to scuba divers was evaluated by means of a simple scheme, and added information on the perception of MNH in the study sites. 6. It is suggested that the evaluation system may be used, with appropriate benchmarking, in other areas for the selection of sites proposed for legal protection or special management measures, based on their natural heritage values.

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