Marine ecosystem-based management requires good spatial information on the distribution of marine species and habitats. Often, such information is limited to a few sampled locations, but modelling techniques can be applied to produce predictive distribution maps. A harmonized broad-scale seabed habitat map was recently produced for the archipelagos of Macaronesia under the EMODnet Seabed Habitats Programme. We use this new information to produce an extent-based evaluation of the representativeness and level of protection conferred by the current set of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Azores to the variety of benthic marine habitats found in this oceanic region. A more objective assessment of the protection effectively provided to the habitats is obtained by applying a scoring system to the MPAs based on the number of allowed extractive and non-extractive human activities and their potential impact on marine biodiversity and habitats. Results show that Azorean habitats within the MPAs are nearly entirely classified as highly protected. In total, 26 habitats (7 of which are endangered and 2 are rare) have at least 10% of their extent in the Azores EEZ protected by MPAs, but another 29 fail to meet this target (4 on-shelf habitats and 25 deep-sea habitats), highlighting the need to extend current protection of bathyal and abyssal habitats and applying adequate ecological coherence criteria. This approach sets a standard that can be used wherever similar information is available, be it in other European regions or beyond.

中文翻译：

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评估大西洋中脊上不同海洋保护区中海底栖息地的代表性

基于海洋生态系统的管理需要有关海洋物种和栖息地分布的良好空间信息。通常，此类信息仅限于少数几个采样位置，但是可以将建模技术应用于生成预测性分布图。根据EMODnet海床生境计划，最近为马卡罗尼西亚群岛制作了统一的大规模海床生境图。我们使用这一新信息对亚速尔群岛当前海洋保护区（MPA）赋予该海洋区域各种底栖海洋生境所赋予的代表性和保护水平进行基于程度的评估。通过基于允许的采掘和非采掘人类活动的数量及其对海洋生物多样性和栖息地的潜在影响，对海洋保护区应用评分系统，可以对有效地提供给栖息地的保护进行更客观的评估。结果表明，MPA中的亚速尔群岛栖息地几乎被完全归类为高度保护。共有26个栖息地（其中7个濒临灭绝，其中2个是罕见的）在MPAs保护的亚速尔群岛专属经济区中至少占其范围的10％，但另外29个未能达到此目标（4个现成栖息地和25个深层栖息地）。海洋生境），强调需要扩大对海底和深海生境的现有保护，并应用适当的生态一致性标准。这种方法设置了可以在类似信息可用的地方使用的标准，