STRUCTURAL SURVEY OF GOMISHAN INTERNATIONAL LAGOON USING COASTAL AND MARINE ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION STANDARD

Coastal wetlands are among the most complex environments in the transitional zone located between terrestrial ecosystems and adjacent seas .Coastal lagoons attracted more attention in recentyears due to their biodiversity, fisheries , tourism and need to protection of this valuable environments. There is an increasing need for classification of coastal and marine system due to resource management and habitat conservation goals. Many classification systems have beendeveloped for regional or local applications [1,2,3].The Coastal Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) was developed with the input of over 40 coastal and 20 marine habitat experts tomeet this need and provide a universally accepted standard classification for coastal and marinehabitats [4]. The goal of CMECS is to classify ecological and habitat units within a simple standard format thatuses a common terminology. CMECS provides a uniform protocol for identification, and characterizing ecological units which is intended to allow monitoring, protection and restoration ofunique biotic assemblages, protected species, critical habitats and important ecosystem components[5].The domain of CMECS includes tidal splash zone in the coast to the deepest part of the oceans encompassing all continental and oceanic waters. CMECS uses a uniform code structure toincorporate any type of CMECS information into one code sentence that can be consistently applied.Code labels uniquely describe classification concepts, and so the code sentence is searchable. The code allows easy updating, so that new types of spatial data can be added to existing code sentences for older data at locations[5]. Gomishan wetland which met the criteria of Romsar Convention on wetlands is one of the most important ecosystems of south Caspian Sea. This study was performed to apply CMECS for ecologically classification of Gomishan wetland to adapt this system for use in the Caspian sea which possess unique characteristics, and to create a standard database for management purposes

کلیدواژه ها:

habitat classification ، CMECS ، Gomishan lagoon ، Caspian sea