With Gulf of Mexico Program support, FWRI has worked on
reviewing habitat-classification systems used within Florida and
throughout the world in an attempt to recommend one system as a
State of Florida standard.
The intent is to create a system that will provide a common
terminology for the description and consistent inventory and
reporting of Florida's estuarine and marine benthic habitats.
More than 15 benthic-habitat-classification systems have been
used in Florida within the past 25 years, and various other systems
are in use throughout the other Gulf of Mexico states. Such a
variety of classification systems makes comparison of mapping
results and compilation of regional maps for statewide or gulf-wide
reporting difficult. Evidence of the desire for a standardized,
hierarchical classification system was gained from results of a
1998 workshop in which researchers and marine-resource managers
ranked creation of standard mapping protocols and a hierarchical
classification system as the top two priorities (FMRI, Seagrass and
Aquatic Habitat Workshop Summary 1998).
In Florida, habitat mapping and inventorying is performed by a
variety of government agencies at state, federal, and local levels
as well as by private industry. The methods employed have varied
and changed through time as technology and knowledge of the coastal
systems has advanced. Interpretation of aerial photography is the
most common method of regional-scale habitat inventorying in
nearshore waters, although underwater videography, snorkeling or
SCUBA diving, singlebeam and multi-beam acoustic sensors,
hyperspectral and multispectral imaging, and LIDAR (Light Detection
and Ranging) have played roles in benthic-habitat
interpretation.
View the preliminary Florida System for
Classification of Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments
(SCHEME) (1MB PDF)
Prior to July1, 2004, the Fish and Wildlife Research
Institute (FWRI) was known as the Florida Marine Research Institute
(FMRI).
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