Linking Ecological and Perceptual Assessments for Environmental Management: a Coral Reef Case Study

Dinsdale, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.5751/es-03014-140228

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The connection between reef degradation and loss of aesthetic value for humans seems intuitive but initially hard to capture with objective mathematical approaches. Dinsdale (2009) showed that human visual evaluations provided consistent judgment of coral reef status regardless of their previous knowledge or exposure to these particular ecosystems. The most important cue was the perceived health status of the system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Linking aesthetic values to cultural benefits and ultimately revenue for the entire community may be an incentive to further establish and implement protection measurements and could help to evaluate the success and the value to the community of existing conservation efforts. Using monitoring cues that directly address inherent human emotions will more likely motivate and sustain changes in attitude and behavior towards a more sustainable usage of the environmental resources than technical terms and data that carry no local meaning ( Carr, 2002 ; Dinsdale, 2009 ). Quantifying the aesthetic appearance of these ecosystems targets on one of the most important socioeconomic values of these ecosystems, which are directly tied to culture and the revenue of its local population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics

Haas

Guibert

Foerschner

et al. 2015

PeerJ

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The natural beauty of coral reefs attracts millions of tourists worldwide resulting in substantial revenues for the adjoining economies. Although their visual appearance is a pivotal factor attracting humans to coral reefs current monitoring protocols exclusively target biogeochemical parameters, neglecting changes in their aesthetic appearance. Here we introduce a standardized computational approach to assess coral reef environments based on 109 visual features designed to evaluate the aesthetic appearance of art. The main feature groups include color intensity and diversity of the image, relative size, color, and distribution of discernable objects within the image, and texture. Specific coral reef aesthetic values combining all 109 features were calibrated against an established biogeochemical assessment (NCEAS) using machine learning algorithms. These values were generated for ∼2,100 random photographic images collected from 9 coral reef locations exposed to varying levels of anthropogenic influence across 2 ocean systems. Aesthetic values proved accurate predictors of the NCEAS scores (root mean square error < 5 for N ≥ 3) and significantly correlated to microbial abundance at each site. This shows that mathematical approaches designed to assess the aesthetic appearance of photographic images can be used as an inexpensive monitoring tool for coral reef ecosystems. It further suggests that human perception of aesthetics is not purely subjective but influenced by inherent reactions towards measurable visual cues. By quantifying aesthetic features of coral reef systems this method provides a cost efficient monitoring tool that targets one of the most important socioeconomic values of coral reefs directly tied to revenue for its local population.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics

Haas

Guibert

Foerschner

et al. 2015

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Manuscript to be reviewed of existing conservation efforts. Using monitoring cues that directly address inherent human emotions will more likely motivate and sustain changes in attitude and behavior towards a more sustainable usage of the environmental resources than technical terms and data that carry no local meaning (Carr, 2002;Dinsdale, 2009). Quantifying the aesthetic appearance of these ecosystems targets on one of the most important socioeconomic values of these ecosystems, which are directly tied to culture and the revenue of its local population.…”

Section: Socioeconomic Assessment For Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #1 of "Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics (v0.1)"

Stoeckl¹

2015

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The natural beauty of coral reefs attracts millions of tourists worldwide resulting in substantial revenues for the adjoining economies. Although their visual appearance is a pivotal factor attracting humans to coral reefs current monitoring protocols exclusively target biogeochemical parameters, neglecting changes in their aesthetic appearance. Here we introduce a standardized computational approach to assess coral reef environments based on 109 visual features designed to evaluate the aesthetic appearance of art. The main feature groups include color intensity and diversity of the image, relative size, color, and distribution of discernable objects within the image, and texture. Specific coral reef aesthetic values combining all 109 features were calibrated against an established biogeochemical assessment (NCEAS) using machine learning algorithms. These values were generated for ~2100 random photographic images collected from 9 coral reef locations exposed to varying levels of anthropogenic influence across 2 ocean systems. Aesthetic values proved accurate predictors of the NCEAS scores (root mean square error < 5 for N ≥ 3) and significantly correlated to microbial abundance at each site. This shows that mathematical approaches designed to assess the aesthetic appearance of photographic images can be used as an inexpensive monitoring tool for coral reef ecosystems. It further suggests that human perception of aesthetics is not purely subjective but influenced by inherent reactions towards measurable visual cues. By quantifying aesthetic features of coral reef systems this method provides a cost efficient monitoring tool that targets one of the most important socioeconomic values of coral reefs directly tied to revenue for its local population.

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“…Some reef stressors can, however, skew diver and snorkeler perception of coral reef health, which usually matches remarkably well ecological measures of integrity (Uyarra et al, 2005;Dinsdale, 2009;Gill et al, 2015;Haas et al, 2015;Rodrigues et al, 2015). This is the case of invasive species, which can change local species composition, alter ecosystem processes, and negatively affect ecosystem services (Andersen et al, 2004;Blackburn et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whatever the cause of stress, degraded coral reefs (i.e., reefs with reduced biological diversity, coral cover and structural complexity) have lower esthetic value (Dinsdale, 2009;Gill et al, 2015;Haas et al, 2015). This change can adversely impact non-extractive ecotourism activities, such as recreational snorkeling and diving, which depend on the "beauty" of coral reefs (Cesar et al, 2003;Charles and Dukes, 2007;Pejchar and Mooney, 2009), particularly in small-island states where tourism can generate up to 50% of gross domestic product (European Commission, 2002;Cesar et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneous Attitudes of Tourists toward Lionfish in the Mexican Caribbean: Implications for Invasive Species Management

et al. 2017

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Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) are invasive predators established throughout the Wider Caribbean. They have already caused significant ecological impacts and have the potential to affect local economies that depend on coral reefs. Snorkeling and scuba diving are important activities that rely on esthetically pleasant reefs. We asked whether lionfish-invaded reefs have lower esthetic value and whether fees to help control the invasion might be acceptable to recreational divers and snorkelers in the Mexican Caribbean. To do so, we conducted a choice experiment in which tourists were asked to indicate their preferences for coral reef images with varying attributes that can be affected by lionfish. We specified a priori two classes of respondents, i.e., snorkelers and divers, but two latent classes of recreational divers (casual vs. committed) emerged on the basis of their preferences. Tourist age, commitment to snorkeling/diving, and lionfish awareness explained class membership. Casual divers and snorkelers preferred reefs with lionfish and accepted their impacts on the reefs. In contrast, committed divers disliked lionfish and associated impacts, and would elect to dive elsewhere if such impacts were high. Casual divers and snorkelers preferred options with low lionfish control fees, while committed divers were willing to pay high fees. Our results indicate potential economic impacts of the lionfish invasion in regions that depend on reef-related tourism, and that lionfish control fees might be acceptable to some but not all recreational users. However, because all tourists favored to a greater extent reef features that can be affected detrimentally by lionfish than they favored lionfish themselves, we predict that managing the lionfish invasion should be beneficial to the local reef tourism industry.

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Linking Ecological and Perceptual Assessments for Environmental Management: a Coral Reef Case Study

Cited by 9 publications

References 26 publications

Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics

Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics

Peer Review #1 of "Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics (v0.1)"

Heterogeneous Attitudes of Tourists toward Lionfish in the Mexican Caribbean: Implications for Invasive Species Management

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