Anthropogenic impacts in distribution and health of the seagrass meadows around Limnos, Greece
Turtinen, Noora (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025060420427
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025060420427
Tiivistelmä
The seagrass meadows around the world are threatened by natural and anthropological impacts. Seagrass species, Posidonia oceanica, is especially vulnerable to human disturbance due to its slow recovery. The biggest seagrass meadow in the Aegean Sea is estimated to be around the island of Limnos in Greece.
The objective of the study was to evaluate the distribution of seagrass meadows in the coasts of Limnos based on the drone imagery collected there in November 2024. Moreover, the potential anthropogenic impacts on seagrass were assessed. The aim was to provide information which could support the conservation actions in Limnos.
Collected and pre-processed drone imagery data was analysed in geographical information system (GIS) application to produce quantitative information about seagrass distribution. Data analysis methods, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and image classification were used. The dataset visualizing seagrass meadows and their patchiness was generated. The distribution and shapes of fragmentations were assessed to identify possible anthropogenic impacts.
Seagrass distribution correlates with the previous studies. Seagrass coverage in the survey sites was generally high. Only small patches of seagrass were present in the sites with coastal infrastructures indicating possible impacts of human activities. More extensive information about the impacts and the health of the meadows could be obtained by combining the ground-truth data with remote sensing.
Keywords: seagrass, distribution, anthropogenic, impact, anchorage
The objective of the study was to evaluate the distribution of seagrass meadows in the coasts of Limnos based on the drone imagery collected there in November 2024. Moreover, the potential anthropogenic impacts on seagrass were assessed. The aim was to provide information which could support the conservation actions in Limnos.
Collected and pre-processed drone imagery data was analysed in geographical information system (GIS) application to produce quantitative information about seagrass distribution. Data analysis methods, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and image classification were used. The dataset visualizing seagrass meadows and their patchiness was generated. The distribution and shapes of fragmentations were assessed to identify possible anthropogenic impacts.
Seagrass distribution correlates with the previous studies. Seagrass coverage in the survey sites was generally high. Only small patches of seagrass were present in the sites with coastal infrastructures indicating possible impacts of human activities. More extensive information about the impacts and the health of the meadows could be obtained by combining the ground-truth data with remote sensing.
Keywords: seagrass, distribution, anthropogenic, impact, anchorage