Examination of the HSI model applicability for seaweed habitat suitability

The availability of the HSI model the authors attempted to examine for quantitative estimation of seaweed bed. The environmental factors used in the HSI model were five items such as water depth, wave height, bottom flow velocity, light intensity and bottom sediment type. The model testing was carried out for examination of habitat suitability of Ecklonia kurome and Sargassum spp. beds on the coast of Kunda Cove in the western part of Wakasa Bay. HSI model results have seen approximately reproduced by the scuba diving observations of seaweed coverage. It seemed that the HSI model would be applicable to estimation of the seaweed habitat suitability by using appropriate environmental factors. And it would be possible to improve the model applicability by defining the relation of each environmental factor more precisely.