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The NWFSC Scientific Publications Database serves as an archival repository of NWFSC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, technical memorandums, reports, or other information authored or co-authored by NWFSC or funded partners. As a repository, the SPD retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.

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CitationHeery, EC, MN Dethier, BE Feist, KP Sebens & JE Duffy (2026) A new tool for quantifying urbanization gradients across seascapes predicts habitat-forming macroalgal distribution patterns in the Salish Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 776: 1-15. DOI: 10.3354/meps14998 (10.3354/meps14998)
TitleA new tool for quantifying urbanization gradients across seascapes predicts habitat-forming macroalgal distribution patterns in the Salish Sea
Publication Year2026
Volume776
Pages1-15
Keywordsurbanization, urban ecology, kelp, biogenic habitats, foundation species
AbstractNearshore environments on all continents are being transformed by rapid urbanization, which it projected to intensify in future decades. Landscape ecologists working in terrestrial and freshwater systems have developed several quantitative tools to help identify generalizable ecological patterns and responses to urbanization. These have yet to be fully utilized in the marine realm, however, as they require standardized measures of urbanization intensity that can be easily derived across cities and regions and at multiple spatial scales that reflect the varied nature of urban stressors and biotic response across functional groups. We developed an open-source resource in R that produces standardized measures of urbanization intensity based on a single spatial data layer of population density that is available at high resolution for all parts of the world. The tool was then employed to evaluate urban-related gradients in functional composition and structural complexity of kelp-dominated m
Official CitationHeery, EC, MN Dethier, BE Feist, KP Sebens & JE Duffy (2026) A new tool for quantifying urbanization gradients across seascapes predicts habitat-forming macroalgal distribution patterns in the Salish Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 776: 1-15. DOI: 10.3354/meps14998
Links (10.3354/meps14998)