| Title | The use of 3D photogrammetry to investigate cold-water coral habitat structure and the spatial distribution of associated communities |
| Download | Download (whole publication) |
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| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Price, D M; Robert, K; Huvenne, V A I; Bates, A; Lo Lacono, C; Hall, R; Callaway, A |
| Source | Program and abstracts: 2017 GeoHab Conference, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada; by Todd, B J ; Brown, C J; Lacharité, M; Gazzola, V; McCormack, E; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8295, 2017 p. 96, https://doi.org/10.4095/305914  Open Access |
| Links | GeoHab 2017
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| Year | 2017 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Meeting | 2017 GeoHab: Marine Geological and Biological Habitat Mapping; Dartmouth, NS; CA; May 1-4, 2017 |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| Related | This publication is contained in Program and abstracts: 2017
GeoHab Conference, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| File format | pdf |
| Subjects | marine geology; surficial geology/geomorphology; environmental geology; geophysics; mapping techniques; oceanography; marine environments; coastal studies; conservation; marine organisms; marine
ecology; resource management; biological communities; environmental studies; ecosystems; reefs; geophysical surveys; acoustic surveys, marine; sonar surveys; photogrammetric techniques; photography; bathymetry; software; modelling; Corals;
Biology |
| Program | Offshore Geoscience |
| Released | 2017 09 26 |
| Abstract | Seafloor mapping at different scales via multibeam echosounder (MBES) has become a prominent tool for characterizing marine habitats. Cold-water coral reefs, for example, have been mapped from
shipboard, AUV and ROV mounted MBES systems, providing increasing clarity into their spatial extent and habitat heterogeneity. Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques which create high-resolution 3D models of habitats are being increasingly utilised,
in tandem with the potential for 3D spatial analysis in ecological research. This tool is becoming especially common for surveying shallow water coral reefs. Here we provide 3D reconstructions of a cold-water coral reef, located at 750m water depth
in the Explorer Canyon, a tributary of the Whittard Canyon, NE Atlantic - England's only known living coral reef.
ROV video data were collected during the JC125 expedition, funded by the ERC CODEMAP project (Starting Grant no 258482) and the NERC
MAREMAP programme. These data were processed with Agisoft Photoscan software to reconstruct 3D point-cloud models for an area covering 11.3mx8.7m of the reef. Digital elevation models derived from the 3D reconstruction allowed for spatial terrain
analysis. Rugosity and slope clearly relates to reef patches as expected, showcasing the habitat complexity that coral adds to the environment, and rugosity values were comparable to tropical coral reefs. Viewing the reef from different angles
revealed the presence of individual organisms that would have otherwise been missed by a typical linear transect. Using the raw video data and 3D model, we were able to plot the fine scale distribution of reef inhabitants. The use of habitat
suitability modelling with the 3D reconstructions provided promising insights into what drives fine-scale species distribution and biodiversity within reef habitats. Ultimately, analysing fine-scale parameters of cold-water coral reefs in 3D provides
novel and detailed information about reef communities. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
The sixteenth annual GeoHab Conference was held this year (2017) at the Waterfront Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia,
Canada. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 305914 |
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