3.3.2 Habitats-functions-services relationship assessment

In most cases, Marine Ecosystem Services Assessment is required in the context of a marine policy which may target the protection of marine habitats and biodiversity. Such policies are better informed by assessments which highlight the most important habitats or the key ecological functions for delivering ecosystem services.

However, even if it is often referred to in the “cascade approach”, the relationships between habitat, functions and services within marine ecosystems are not well known and understood.

A step forward in that direction was attempted in the Golfe Normand-Breton study site, which proposed a first overview of the services delivered by the diverse habitats of this site in the prospect of the creation of new Marine Protected Area.

[ Find out more  ]