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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">1812-0822</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2025-1547</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Mapping benthic marine habitats: a new protocol functional to geobiological researches</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Maruca</surname>
<given-names>Giuseppe</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cipriani</surname>
<given-names>Mara</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9643-0643</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Dominici</surname>
<given-names>Rocco</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Imbrogno</surname>
<given-names>Gianpietro</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9257-2701</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Vespasiano</surname>
<given-names>Giovanni</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9615-9347</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Apollaro</surname>
<given-names>Carmine</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Perri</surname>
<given-names>Francesco</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bruno</surname>
<given-names>Fabio</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Lagudi</surname>
<given-names>Antonio</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Severino</surname>
<given-names>Umberto</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bracchi</surname>
<given-names>Valentina A.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9918-7079</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Basso</surname>
<given-names>Daniela</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9352-3569</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cellini</surname>
<given-names>Emilio</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Mauri</surname>
<given-names>Fabrizio</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rosso</surname>
<given-names>Antonietta</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5565-9513</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sanfilippo</surname>
<given-names>Rossana</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6154-8027</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Guido</surname>
<given-names>Adriano</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0413-3620</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036, Rende, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036, Rende, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano–Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Regional Agency for the Environment (ARPACAL), Regional Marine Strategy Centre (CRSM), 8890, Crotone Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, 95129, Catania, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>16</day>
<month>04</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2025</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>26</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2025 Giuseppe Maruca et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2025</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1547/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1547/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1547/egusphere-2025-1547.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1547/egusphere-2025-1547.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Seabed mapping represents a very useful tool for seascape characterization and benthic habitat study, and requires advanced technologies for acquiring, processing and interpreting remote data. Particularly, acoustic instruments, such as high-resolution swath bathymetry sounder (i.e., Multibeam Echosounder: MBES), allows to recognize, identify and map the extension of benthic habitats without applying invasive mechanical procedures. Bathymetry and backscatter (BS) data are crucial to perform modern habitat mapping, however they require careful end-product development and, to date, no standardized procedure exists. In this work, a protocol for benthic habitat mapping, with focus on coralligenous bioconstructions, was developed using the open-source software QGIS. This protocol, tested within the Isola Capo Rizzuto Marine Protected Area (Calabria, Italy), is designed to be freely reproducible by researchers working in the field of marine ecosystem monitoring and conservation. Through the proposed mapping procedure, it is possible to: i) identify benthic habitats on selected study areas by combining bathymetry and BS data with geomorphological indices performed in QGIS; ii) quantitatively define the 2D and 3D distribution of coralligenous bioconstructions in terms of surface covered, thickness and volume. Moreover, the statistical analysis of quantitative morphometric data allowed for comparison of geometric characteristics of different coralligenous morphotypes. The obtained results, combined with improvement of minimally invasive sampling and geobiological&amp;ndash;geochemical characterization, can contribute to the development of protocols aimed at monitoring marine bioconstructed ecosystems, many of which protected by national and international regulations due to their importance for Mediterranean biodiversity preservation, and plan actions for their protection and persistence.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="26"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>NextGenerationEU</funding-source>
<award-id>H23C22000370006</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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<back>
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</article>