ShoreZone Habitat Capability Modeling

This study's principal objective is to develop a habitat capability model that appraises the sensitivity of coastal environments to colonization by the non-native European green crab Carcinus maenas. In our usage, habitat is a spatial entity that possesses physical and biological attributes that support particular organisms or communities.

This approach is based on the rationale that successful colonization of the green crab in the coastal zone is related to habitat attributes (such as geomorphology, wave exposure, sediment grain size, and tidal elevation) that can be distinguished, rated in terms of their importance in the crab’s life-history strategy, and enumerated in the ShoreZone coastal mapping data. Critical green crab habitat attributes are identified and ranked on the basis of scientific literature review and a “delphi” approach to collecting the knowledge of experts through interviews. Queries of the ShoreZone database are performed using these attributes to identify shorelines that meet the criteria for supporting green crab colonization.