A quantitative comparison of towed-camera and diver-camera transects for monitoring coral reefs

Cresswell AK; Ryan NM; Heyward AJ; Smith ANH; Colquhoun J; Case M; Birt MJ; Chinkin M; Wyatt M; Radford B; Costello P; Gilmour JP

A quantitative comparison of towed-camera and diver-camera transects for monitoring coral reefs

dc.citation.volume	9
dc.contributor.author	Cresswell AK
dc.contributor.author	Ryan NM
dc.contributor.author	Heyward AJ
dc.contributor.author	Smith ANH
dc.contributor.author	Colquhoun J
dc.contributor.author	Case M
dc.contributor.author	Birt MJ
dc.contributor.author	Chinkin M
dc.contributor.author	Wyatt M
dc.contributor.author	Radford B
dc.contributor.author	Costello P
dc.contributor.author	Gilmour JP
dc.contributor.editor	Toonen R
dc.coverage.spatial	United States
dc.date.accessioned	2024-01-04T01:38:54Z
dc.date.accessioned	2024-07-25T06:46:58Z
dc.date.available	2021-04-14
dc.date.available	2024-01-04T01:38:54Z
dc.date.available	2024-07-25T06:46:58Z
dc.date.issued	2021
dc.description.abstract	Novel tools and methods for monitoring marine environments can improve efficiency but must not compromise long-term data records. Quantitative comparisons between new and existing methods are therefore required to assess their compatibility for monitoring. Monitoring of shallow water coral reefs is typically conducted using diver-based collection of benthic images along transects. Diverless systems for obtaining underwater images (e.g. towed-cameras, remotely operated vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles) are increasingly used for mapping coral reefs. Of these imaging platforms, towed-cameras offer a practical, low cost and efficient method for surveys but their utility for repeated measures in monitoring studies has not been tested. We quantitatively compare a towed-camera approach to repeated surveys of shallow water coral reef benthic assemblages on fixed transects, relative to benchmark data from diver photo-transects. Differences in the percent cover detected by the two methods was partly explained by differences in the morphology of benthic groups. The reef habitat and physical descriptors of the site-slope, depth and structural complexity-also influenced the comparability of data, with differences between the tow-camera and the diver data increasing with structural complexity and slope. Differences between the methods decreased when a greater number of images were collected per tow-camera transect. We attribute lower image quality (variable perspective, exposure and focal distance) and lower spatial accuracy and precision of the towed-camera transects as the key reasons for differences in the data from the two methods and suggest changes to the sampling design to improve the application of tow-cameras to monitoring.
dc.description.confidential	false
dc.format.pagination	e11090-
dc.identifier.author-url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33954031
dc.identifier.citation	Cresswell AK, Ryan NM, Heyward AJ, Smith ANH, Colquhoun J, Case M, Birt MJ, Chinkin M, Wyatt M, Radford B, Costello P, Gilmour JP. (2021). A quantitative comparison of towed-camera and diver-camera transects for monitoring coral reefs.. PeerJ. 9. (pp. e11090-).
dc.identifier.doi	10.7717/peerj.11090
dc.identifier.eissn	2167-8359
dc.identifier.elements-type	journal-article
dc.identifier.issn	2167-8359
dc.identifier.number	ARTN e11090
dc.identifier.pii	11090
dc.identifier.uri	https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/70861
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	PeerJ Inc.
dc.publisher.uri	https://peerj.com/articles/11090/
dc.relation.isPartOf	PeerJ
dc.rights	(c) 2021 The Author/s
dc.rights	CC BY 4.0
dc.rights.uri	https://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject	Benthic
dc.subject	Coral reef monitoring
dc.subject	Image analysis
dc.subject	Mapping
dc.subject	Methodology
dc.subject	Methods comparison
dc.subject	Technology
dc.subject	Towed video
dc.title	A quantitative comparison of towed-camera and diver-camera transects for monitoring coral reefs
dc.type	Journal article
pubs.elements-id	444878
pubs.organisational-group	Other