An ecological connectivity dataset for Black Sea obtained from sea currentsZenodo

Incorporating ecological connectivity into spatial conservation planning is increasingly recognized as a key strategy to facilitate species movements, especially under changing environmental conditions. However, obtaining connectivity data is challenging, especially in the marine realm. Sea currents...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nikolaos Nagkoulis, Christos Adam, Ioannis Mamoutos, Stelios Katsanevakis, Antonios D. Mazaris
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-02-01
Series:Data in Brief
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340924012307
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832576457101017088
author Nikolaos Nagkoulis
Christos Adam
Ioannis Mamoutos
Stelios Katsanevakis
Antonios D. Mazaris
author_facet Nikolaos Nagkoulis
Christos Adam
Ioannis Mamoutos
Stelios Katsanevakis
Antonios D. Mazaris
author_sort Nikolaos Nagkoulis
collection DOAJ
description Incorporating ecological connectivity into spatial conservation planning is increasingly recognized as a key strategy to facilitate species movements, especially under changing environmental conditions. However, obtaining connectivity data is challenging, especially in the marine realm. Sea currents are essential for exploring marine structural connectivity, but transforming sea current data into spatial connectivity matrices involves complex and resource-intensive processing steps to ensure accuracy and usability. Here, an applied a graph-based methodology has been developed to transform current data into formats suitable for delineating ecological corridors and applied to Black Sea. The dataset produced can be integrated to spatial conservation prioritization tools to incorporate connectivity in the analysis. This approach involved converting current centroids into points and projecting current directions and magnitudes onto a nearest-neighbour graph connecting these points. Using open-source data from the Copernicus Black Sea Physics Reanalysis dataset from 1993 to 2023, a high-resolution dataset of graph objects (edge lists) and shapefiles (points and edges) for the Black Sea has been created. Analyses were conducted in R, and the algorithm developed to produce the data is accessible on Zenodo. The resulting datasets are compatible with multiple software platforms (e.g., R, Python, and QGIS). A total of 17 datasets are provided from 1993 to 2023: twelve for monthly, four for seasonal, and one for yearly aggregation, supporting diverse spatial and temporal analysis needs. Overall, the datasets can be used to analyse connectivity patterns across the entire Black Sea or focus on specific regions, particularly useful for ecological modelling, and environmental protection purposes.
format Article
id doaj-art-1428a3698dcc4a62bbee40dcce3d39e4
institution Kabale University
issn 2352-3409
language English
publishDate 2025-02-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Data in Brief
spelling doaj-art-1428a3698dcc4a62bbee40dcce3d39e42025-01-31T05:11:45ZengElsevierData in Brief2352-34092025-02-0158111268An ecological connectivity dataset for Black Sea obtained from sea currentsZenodoNikolaos Nagkoulis0Christos Adam1Ioannis Mamoutos2Stelios Katsanevakis3Antonios D. Mazaris4Department of Ecology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece; Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, 81100 Mytilene, Greece; Corresponding author at: Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, 81100 Mytilene, Greece.Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, 81100 Mytilene, GreeceDepartment of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, 81100 Mytilene, GreeceDepartment of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, 81100 Mytilene, GreeceDepartment of Ecology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GreeceIncorporating ecological connectivity into spatial conservation planning is increasingly recognized as a key strategy to facilitate species movements, especially under changing environmental conditions. However, obtaining connectivity data is challenging, especially in the marine realm. Sea currents are essential for exploring marine structural connectivity, but transforming sea current data into spatial connectivity matrices involves complex and resource-intensive processing steps to ensure accuracy and usability. Here, an applied a graph-based methodology has been developed to transform current data into formats suitable for delineating ecological corridors and applied to Black Sea. The dataset produced can be integrated to spatial conservation prioritization tools to incorporate connectivity in the analysis. This approach involved converting current centroids into points and projecting current directions and magnitudes onto a nearest-neighbour graph connecting these points. Using open-source data from the Copernicus Black Sea Physics Reanalysis dataset from 1993 to 2023, a high-resolution dataset of graph objects (edge lists) and shapefiles (points and edges) for the Black Sea has been created. Analyses were conducted in R, and the algorithm developed to produce the data is accessible on Zenodo. The resulting datasets are compatible with multiple software platforms (e.g., R, Python, and QGIS). A total of 17 datasets are provided from 1993 to 2023: twelve for monthly, four for seasonal, and one for yearly aggregation, supporting diverse spatial and temporal analysis needs. Overall, the datasets can be used to analyse connectivity patterns across the entire Black Sea or focus on specific regions, particularly useful for ecological modelling, and environmental protection purposes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340924012307Graph theorySpeciesDistributionMarineConservation
spellingShingle Nikolaos Nagkoulis
Christos Adam
Ioannis Mamoutos
Stelios Katsanevakis
Antonios D. Mazaris
An ecological connectivity dataset for Black Sea obtained from sea currentsZenodo
Data in Brief
Graph theory
Species
Distribution
Marine
Conservation
title An ecological connectivity dataset for Black Sea obtained from sea currentsZenodo
title_full An ecological connectivity dataset for Black Sea obtained from sea currentsZenodo
title_fullStr An ecological connectivity dataset for Black Sea obtained from sea currentsZenodo
title_full_unstemmed An ecological connectivity dataset for Black Sea obtained from sea currentsZenodo
title_short An ecological connectivity dataset for Black Sea obtained from sea currentsZenodo
title_sort ecological connectivity dataset for black sea obtained from sea currentszenodo
topic Graph theory
Species
Distribution
Marine
Conservation
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340924012307
work_keys_str_mv AT nikolaosnagkoulis anecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT christosadam anecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT ioannismamoutos anecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT stelioskatsanevakis anecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT antoniosdmazaris anecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT nikolaosnagkoulis ecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT christosadam ecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT ioannismamoutos ecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT stelioskatsanevakis ecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo
AT antoniosdmazaris ecologicalconnectivitydatasetforblackseaobtainedfromseacurrentszenodo