1 1.10 Application of estuarine and coastal classifications in marine ...

Islands with a minimum mapping unit (MMU) of 1000 m 2 . The fundamental difference in the St.
John scheme is the deviation from coral-centric classification rules to a biological dominance
scheme in which benthic habitats were classified based on the dominant biological cover type
present on each mapped feature. The importance of describing the percent cover of live coral,
however, was maintained by the introduction of a new map attribute Percent Coral Cover. This
attribute describes the percent live coral cover for every feature at the scale of diver observation
in the water, with no regard to dominant biological cover (Zitello et al. 2009).
Maps of habitat structure, a relatively coarse habitat classification using dominant cover
types, was found to be most appropriate for predicting differences in fish assemblage
composition (i.e., mangrove, seagrasses/algae, colonized hardbottom and unvegetated sediments)
in SW Puerto Rico (Pittman et al. 2010) and to classify optimal seascapes for fish (Pittman et al.
2007b). When combined with information on topographic complexity of the seafloor the benthic
habitat maps at the habitat type level were able to accurately predict the spatial patterns of fish
species richness in the U.S. Virgin Islands and SW Puerto Rico (Pittman et al. 2007a).
Furthermore, in the same region, combining geomorphological zones and habitat structure
proved useful for explaining the across-shelf size dependent distributions for fish (Christensen et
al. 2003).
1.10.2 SPATIAL CHARACTERIZATION USING MARINE AND COASTAL
CLASSIFICATIONS
Classification schemes and associated maps are indispensible to environmental managers
in providing the baseline information on the distribution of natural features, including species
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