Use of autonomous reef monitoring structures to monitor changes in the marine environment in Jeju, Korea: a brief review

Abstract

Jeju Island has the highest marine biodiversity in Korea; it is a dynamic environment owing to different environmental influences such as Kuroshio currents. In the near future, these Kuroshio currents coupled with the rise in the seawater temperature of the Korean peninsula due to climate change are expected to increase the northward expansion of low-latitudinal sub-/tropical marine organisms. To monitor this expansion of marine organisms, autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS) can be employed to effectively collect cryptofauna data while reducing sampling effort, lowering costs, and habitat destruction. Moreover, ARMS are environmentally friendly, and can effectively monitor marine ecosystem changes when compared to conventional marine biodiversity research methods. According to the Natural Geography in Shore Areas project, Korea has the highest marine biodiversity (32.3 species per seabed area km2) in the world. Jeju Island hosts more than half of the marine organisms in the Korean peninsula, yet recent climate change has not only revealed an increase in various sub-/tropical species but also new species around Jeju Island. Furthermore, the marine benthic ecosystem of the Jeju Island has changed from seaweed habitat to coral reef habitat owing to climate change. Consequently, it is ever essential to monitor the marine organism influx driven by climate change, as habitat changes caused by subtropicalization leads to changes in future fishery resources. Thus, ARMS are an essential tool to monitor benthic ecosystems, and it is expected to be used as a model-tool to observe the long-term changes of marine ecosystems due to climate change.