Despite being recognized as a key component of shallow-water ecosystems, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) remains difficult to monitor over large spatial scales. Because of SAV’s structuring capabilities, high-resolution monitoring of submerged landscapes could generate highly valuable ecological data. Until now, high-resolution remote sensing of SAV has been largely limited to applications within costly image analysis software. In this paper, we propose an example of an adaptable open-sourced object-based image analysis (OBIA) workflow to generate SAV cover maps in complex aquatic environments. Using the R software, QGIS and Orfeo Toolbox, we apply radiometric calibration, atmospheric correction, a de-striping correction, and a hierarchical iterative OBIA random forest classification to generate SAV cover maps based on raw DigitalGlobe multispectral imagery. The workflow is applied to images taken over two spatially complex fluvial lakes in Quebec, Canada, using Quickbird-02 and Worldview-03 satellites. Classification performance based on training sets reveals conservative SAV cover estimates with less than 10% error across all classes except for lower SAV growth forms in the most turbid waters. In light of these results, we conclude that it is possible to monitor SAV distribution using high-resolution remote sensing within an open-sourced environment with a flexible and functional workflow.

Boreal forests provide important ecosystem services, most notably being the mitigation of increasing atmospheric CO₂ emissions. Microbial biodiversity, particularly the local diversity of fungi, has been shown to promote multiple functions of the boreal forests of Northeastern China. However, this microbial biodiversity-multifunctionality relationship has yet to be explored in Northeastern Canada, where historical environment have shaped a different regional pool of microbial diversity. This study focuses on the relationship between the soil microbiome and ecosystem multifunctionality, as well as the influence of pH and redox potential (Eh) on the regulation of such relationship. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to explore the different causal relationships existing in the studied ecosystems. In a managed part of the Canadian boreal forest, 156 forest polygons were sampled to (1) estimate the α- and β-diversity of fungal and bacterial communities and (2) measure 12 ecosystem functions mainly related to soil nutrient storage and cycling. Both bacteria and fungi influenced ecosystem multifunctionality, but on their own respective functions. Bacterial β-diversity was the most important factor increasing primary productivity and soil microbial biomass, while reducing soil emitted atmospheric CO₂. Environmental characteristics, particularly low levels of organic matter in soil, were shown to have the strongest positive impact on boreal ecosystem multifunctionality. Overall, our results were consistent with those obtained in Northeastern China; however, some differences need to be further explored especially considering the history of forest management in Northeastern Canada.

Cet article s’inscrit dans le contexte d’une étude plus large sur les valeurs des jeunes. Son objectif est d’explorer la valeur qu’ils accordent à l’environnement. L’article présente les résultats d’une analyse secondaire de l’ensemble des propos relatifs à l’environnement tirés de 91 entretiens qualitatifs portant sur les valeurs des jeunes Québécois ainsi que sur leurs aspirations au voyage. Les résultats révèlent des attitudes variées à l’égard de l’environnement qui sont présentées sous forme de gradient, allant de l’indifférence à l’engagement. Les conclusions mettent en lumière le caractère fragile du lien que les jeunes entretiennent avec la protection de l’environnement qui, loin d’être une valeur consensuelle, se présente plutôt comme une valeur latente trouvant difficilement écho dans les comportements.

The spatial organization of vegetation has been shown to be a strong indicator of ecological state in multiple ecosystems. In this study, we analyze the relationships between spatial complexity metrics in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) landscapes, and we explore the potential of satellite remote sensing to quantify these metrics in submerged environments. To do so, we estimated an array of complexity metrics over both simulated and real SAV landscapes of contrasted spatial organization. All these landscapes were artificially manipulated to (i) simulate remote sensing noise associated with the low signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of aquatic environments and environmental noise generated by wind and waves, and (ii) reduce their spatial resolution from very high (2 m) to medium (30 m). Among these treatments, spatial resolution and low SNR (represented by sensor noise) had the strongest impacts on the perceived spatial complexity of the landscapes, while the impact of environmental noise was highly dependent on resolution. Although single metrics were deemed insufficient to characterize the spatial complexity of a landscape, a combination of informational complexity metrics such as the clumpy index, mean information gain, landscape shape index, and edge density provided a robust explanation of variation in the real and simulated datasets. These findings suggest that remote sensing has a strong potential for the ecological monitoring of SAV by contributing to establishing the link between SAV spatial structure and ecological status.

Macrophytes are foundation species whose use as nature‐based solution (NbS) in aquatic ecosystems can help reduce climate change impacts while mitigating biodiversity loss. The discrepancy in research and application of macrophytes as NbS across inland and marine coastal ecosystems is an opportunity to expand the concept and learn from different approaches. We report on an initiative uniting marine and freshwater scientists that compared knowledge on macrophytes as NbS across realms, identified advances and gaps in their use, and synthesized challenges and opportunities for application. We conducted a bibliometric analysis and an expert participatory exercise around recent review papers. We reveal that most NbS papers on macrophytes are marine‐focused, with distinct topics emphasized across realms, highlighting complementarity of expertise and potential extension to inland waters. We provide recommendations to encourage researchers and stakeholders to embrace the value of macrophytes across a broad range of contexts for a more sustainable future.