30
O. Musard et al.
The term was not, however, part of the established terminology. For over a century and before diving masks enabled scientists to observe species for themselves,
other terms were coined to understand submarine life. Scientific objectivity thus
gained recognition over the subjectivity of the human eye filled with sensitivity and
marked by excessive cultural references. These semantic and conceptual developments marked the start of Ökologie (1866) and its succession of fundamental concepts
including “biocoenosis” introduced into scientific language in 1877. Most of the concepts invented at the turn of the twentieth century were nonetheless replaced in 1935
with the emergence of a new word coined by Tansley: “ecosystem” (Dury 1999;
Drouin 1993; Deléage 1992). This strong concept of ecology was gradually shaped
by various currents to give rise to the theory of ecosystems. Other questions then
incorporated the human dimension into the ecosystem concept and examined ecology in the light of society issues (De Montgolfier and Natali 1987; Lefeuvre 1989;
Barbault 1996; Zacharias and Roff 2000).
In fact, although marine biologists had decided not to develop research on the
topic of underwater landscapes, use of the expression became necessary to refer
to the environmental deterioration caused by human activity: in 1990, a definition
was put forward, based more on “participants personal, non-written experience
than on written data” (Boudouresque (Coord.) 1990). In substance, it considers
the “underwater landscape” as a “particular aspect of a population or a set of
populations capable of being perceived as such by a non-specialist observer on a
small and medium scale”. The authors associate the “underwater landscape” with the
reign of plant life, expanding a scientific analysis of the coastal and marine zonation
(Picard 1985), from the surface down to the farthest depths. Within these zones, algal
distribution or more generally plant coverage breaks down into strata and sub-strata
and real algal “belts” or “horizons” can be seen. This analysis of the plant coverage
ties in with the concerns of biogeographers and phytosociologists thus allowing a
descriptive vocabulary, specific to landscape study, to be used; by transposition, the
notion of underwater landscape acquired scientific legitimacy, although the world
"habitat" was preferred.
3.4 Toward Global Apprehension of an Area, Between Habitat
and Ecosystem
Many inventory, mapping, study and monitoring procedures indeed developed from
the standard reference of habitat including Corine, Eunis and Natura2000. By associating biotope and biocoenosis, knowledge of the structure, distribution and
functionality of these habitats greatly improved. More complex figures such as
geomorphology and topography were thus incorporated into studies, illustrating a
multiplicity of possible combinations around questions of heterogeneity, texture and
biodiversity. Yet, these habitats tended to be studied separately, the question of assembly of habitats or more generally the representation of a mosaic of habitats being
O. Musard et al.
The term was not, however, part of the established terminology. For over a century and before diving masks enabled scientists to observe species for themselves,
other terms were coined to understand submarine life. Scientific objectivity thus
gained recognition over the subjectivity of the human eye filled with sensitivity and
marked by excessive cultural references. These semantic and conceptual developments marked the start of Ökologie (1866) and its succession of fundamental concepts
including “biocoenosis” introduced into scientific language in 1877. Most of the concepts invented at the turn of the twentieth century were nonetheless replaced in 1935
with the emergence of a new word coined by Tansley: “ecosystem” (Dury 1999;
Drouin 1993; Deléage 1992). This strong concept of ecology was gradually shaped
by various currents to give rise to the theory of ecosystems. Other questions then
incorporated the human dimension into the ecosystem concept and examined ecology in the light of society issues (De Montgolfier and Natali 1987; Lefeuvre 1989;
Barbault 1996; Zacharias and Roff 2000).
In fact, although marine biologists had decided not to develop research on the
topic of underwater landscapes, use of the expression became necessary to refer
to the environmental deterioration caused by human activity: in 1990, a definition
was put forward, based more on “participants personal, non-written experience
than on written data” (Boudouresque (Coord.) 1990). In substance, it considers
the “underwater landscape” as a “particular aspect of a population or a set of
populations capable of being perceived as such by a non-specialist observer on a
small and medium scale”. The authors associate the “underwater landscape” with the
reign of plant life, expanding a scientific analysis of the coastal and marine zonation
(Picard 1985), from the surface down to the farthest depths. Within these zones, algal
distribution or more generally plant coverage breaks down into strata and sub-strata
and real algal “belts” or “horizons” can be seen. This analysis of the plant coverage
ties in with the concerns of biogeographers and phytosociologists thus allowing a
descriptive vocabulary, specific to landscape study, to be used; by transposition, the
notion of underwater landscape acquired scientific legitimacy, although the world
"habitat" was preferred.
3.4 Toward Global Apprehension of an Area, Between Habitat
and Ecosystem
Many inventory, mapping, study and monitoring procedures indeed developed from
the standard reference of habitat including Corine, Eunis and Natura2000. By associating biotope and biocoenosis, knowledge of the structure, distribution and
functionality of these habitats greatly improved. More complex figures such as
geomorphology and topography were thus incorporated into studies, illustrating a
multiplicity of possible combinations around questions of heterogeneity, texture and
biodiversity. Yet, these habitats tended to be studied separately, the question of assembly of habitats or more generally the representation of a mosaic of habitats being