Multi‐scale marine biodiversity patterns inferred efficiently from habitat image processing

Mellin, Camille; Parrott, Lael; Andréfouët, Serge; Bradshaw, Corey J. A.; MacNeil, M. Aaron; Caley, M. Julian

doi:10.1890/11-2105.1

Cited by 24 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…This is exemplified by recommendations to include every habitat type within networks of marine reserves in order to maximise the chances of including every species [266]. Benthic and fish communities clearly vary among both geomorphological zones and habitat types on reefs (e.g., [267]), but there are surprisingly few studies explicitly addressing the use of maps from remotely sensed imagery as surrogates of biodiversity [268]. In Panama, Andréfouët and Guzman [269] mapped geomorphological zones with Landsat and demonstrated a weak positive correlation between benthic diversity and the number of geomorphological zones in an area, and suggested habitats would be a better surrogate.…”

Section: Mapping Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Sensing of Coral Reefs for Monitoring and Management: A Review

Hedley¹,

et al. 2016

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Coral reefs are in decline worldwide and monitoring activities are important for assessing the impact of disturbance on reefs and tracking subsequent recovery or decline. Monitoring by field surveys provides accurate data but at highly localised scales and so is not cost-effective for reef scale monitoring at frequent time points. Remote sensing from satellites is an alternative and complementary approach. While remote sensing cannot provide the level of detail and accuracy at a single point than a field survey, the statistical power for inferring large scale patterns benefits in having complete areal coverage. This review considers the state of the art of coral reef remote sensing for the diverse range of objectives relevant for management, ranging from the composition of the reef: physical extent, benthic cover, bathymetry, rugosity; to environmental parameters: sea surface temperature, exposure, light, carbonate chemistry. In addition to updating previous reviews, here we also consider the capability to go beyond basic maps of habitats or environmental variables, to discuss concepts highly relevant to stakeholders, policy makers and public communication: such as biodiversity, environmental threat and ecosystem services. A clear conclusion of the review is that advances in both sensor technology and processing algorithms continue to drive forward remote sensing capability for coral reef mapping, particularly with respect to spatial resolution of maps, and synthesis across multiple data products. Both trends can be expected to continue.

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Section: Mapping Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Sensing of Coral Reefs for Monitoring and Management: A Review

Hedley¹,

et al. 2016

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“…In a heterogeneous environment, a higher number of niches are available -which allows re source partitioning to occur, thereby reducing competitive exclusion between species (Williams 1964). The hypothesis that increased spatial heterogeneity leads to higher species richness has been examined in terrestrial (Pickett & Cadenasso 1995, Tews et al 2004) and shallow water environments (Hewitt et al 2005, Mellin et al 2012, but for many deep-sea areas, spatial heterogeneity has not yet been mapped at sufficient resolution to represent fine-scale bio diversity patterns over large spatial extents (Thrush et al 2008, Levin & Sibuet 2012). Yet this information would confer a significant advantage for the implementation of management measures, where precautionary decisions may have to be made based on limited evidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Megafaunal distribution and biodiversity in a heterogeneous landscape: the iceberg-scoured Rockall Bank, NE Atlantic

Robert

Jones²,

Huvenne³

2014

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Species distributions are influenced by spatial structure in environmental factors, but the scales at which these dependencies occur and the effect of habitat patch diversity, connectivity and spatial arrangement have rarely been investigated in deep-sea settings. In this study, spatially limited photographic transects collected from Rockall Bank, NE Atlantic, were combined with sidescan and multibeam sonar maps to model spatial patterns in species distribution and biodiversity. Sediment interpretation maps were created and canonical ordination techniques were used to examine relationships between fine-scale sediment characteristics extracted from the digital stills as well as landscape metrics describing the patch mosaic structure of the surrounding areas. Fine-scale sediment characteristics explained 45.1 and 63.8% of the variation in species composition and biodiversity, respectively. This survey effectively captured variation in species distribution resulting from iceberg ploughmarks, occurring at a scale of < 50 m -which would normally go undetected by traditional ship-based studies. Our study suggests that fine-scale environmental information is required to capture the spatial heterogeneity of complex seafloor areas in sufficient detail to model species distributions and biodiversity.

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“…Mellin et al . ()'s study suggests that a spatially structured design including replicates of laser line measurements and MIG indices from larger scale images could be used to improve the predictive power of our index of complexity in temperate sand, gravel, cobble and rock habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This method has recently been used to describe the complexity of coral reef habitat at different spatial scales (Mellin et al . ). Both methods are cost effective as they do not require the collection and identification of fauna.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A comparison of two techniques for the rapid assessment of marine habitat complexity

et al. 2012

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Monitoring and assessment of the status and distribution of marine seabed habitats is needed to support existing and emerging environmental policy commitments. Traditional monitoring of habitats and associated species using grabs and trawls is costly and labour intensive and might usefully be complemented by cheaper and more readily automated methods that can be used at higher frequencies and/or on larger spatial scales. We develop and apply two methods to measure seabed habitat complexity and demonstrate how they can be used to describe impacts (e.g. fishing gear impacts) and monitor recovery. The first method relies on the analysis of deviations in a laser line projected on the seabed. The second method is based on the pixel value distribution in seabed photographs. We use both methods to quantify the complexity created by different substrates and habitat-forming species and to establish links between habitat complexity and faunal diversity (richness) and abundance. The habitat complexity index calculated with the laser line method provided a reliable index of complexity across a range of habitat types, showing a monotonic increase with coarseness of the substratum and the abundance of sessile epifauna. Pixel value distributions in the photographs did not reflect the increase in complexity due to sessile epifauna but only reflected substratum differences. Results suggested that the laser line method would be suitable for monitoring the effect of disturbance on habitats ranging from gravelly sands to rock, and their subsequent recovery. The photographic method would be better suited to assessing complexity and heterogeneity of the substratum. Both methods complement conventional biological sampling and can be used at higher frequencies and/or on larger spatial scales per unit cost. The laser line method has considerable potential to support demands for frequent monitoring of seabed habitats and human impacts at a range of spatial scales. It is less costly and labour intensive than existing approaches and can be deployed from vessels of many sizes. © 2012 British Ecological Society

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Multi‐scale marine biodiversity patterns inferred efficiently from habitat image processing

Cited by 24 publications

References 53 publications

Remote Sensing of Coral Reefs for Monitoring and Management: A Review

Remote Sensing of Coral Reefs for Monitoring and Management: A Review

Megafaunal distribution and biodiversity in a heterogeneous landscape: the iceberg-scoured Rockall Bank, NE Atlantic

A comparison of two techniques for the rapid assessment of marine habitat complexity

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