Article
Environmental Sciences
Jiwei Li, Gregory P. Asner
Summary: Three-dimensional shallow benthic complexity provides valuable information for coral reef conservation and management, as it reflects the physical conditions and biodiversity of shallow coral reef environments. This study mapped global shallow water benthic complexity using satellite images and found that high complexity regions are mainly concentrated in areas with high benthic biodiversity. However, a significant portion of coral reef regions with high benthic complexity remains unprotected. The global coral reef benthic complexity map generated in this study can contribute to improving marine protected areas, reef conservation, and management.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Wei Huang, Jun Zhao, Bin Ai, Shaojie Sun, Nanyang Yan
Summary: This study modified and applied the M-HOPE method to obtain bathymetry and benthic habitat information in shallow waters in Xisha Island, China. The results showed good performance of M-HOPE in both bathymetry estimation and benthic classification, but uncertainties still exist.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Michael J. Williamson, Emma J. Tebbs, Terence P. Dawson, Henry J. Thompson, Catherine E. Head, David M. P. Jacoby
Summary: This study utilizes satellite remote sensing to collect data on coral reefs' exposure to multiple environmental stressors and develops a toolbox for monitoring such exposure. Through an analysis of coral reefs worldwide, the study identifies factors such as depth, current, and sea surface temperature that contribute to environmental stress exposure.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Chris M. Roelfsema, Mitchell B. Lyons, Carolina Castro-Sanguino, Eva M. Kovacs, David Callaghan, Magnus Wettle, Kathryn Markey, Rodney Borrego-Acevedo, Paul Tudman, Meredith Roe, Emma Kennedy, Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero, Nicholas Murray, Stuart R. Phinn
Summary: The geomorphic and benthic composition of Australia's Great Barrier Reef are understudied, but crucial for understanding disturbance impacts and recovery potential. Through new research methods and high-resolution maps, there is now a more comprehensive understanding of the spatial extent and ecological characteristics of the Great Barrier Reef.
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Miriam Reverter, Stephanie B. Helber, Sven Rohde, Jasper M. de Goeij, Peter J. Schupp
Summary: Non-random community changes are becoming more frequent in many ecosystems, with coral reefs experiencing shifts towards communities dominated by other than hard corals. Despite the existence of various alternative communities, knowledge remains scattered on the global diversity and functioning of alternative coral reef benthic communities.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Selim Amrari, Emmanuel Bourassin, Serge Andrefouet, Benoit Soulard, Hugues Lemonnier, Romain Le Gendre
Summary: A new IMBR algorithm was tested for high accuracy bathymetry retrieval in a lagoon, showing better performance compared to MBR and SBR algorithms. IMBR achieved high accuracy by defining depth threshold with training datasets, outperforming MBR and SBR algorithms.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Marcello de Michele, Daniel Raucoules, Deborah Idier, Farid Smai, Michael Foumelis
Summary: This study introduces a new method called BathySent to retrieve shallow bathymetry using ocean wave celerity and wavelength measurements from Sentinel 2 data. The method is based on the linear dispersion law and has shown good results in both simulated and real datasets.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lorna Howlett, Emma F. Camp, John Edmondson, Russell Hosp, Ben Taylor, Philip Coulthard, David J. Suggett
Summary: Tourism-led stewardship projects in the Great Barrier Reef have implemented coral propagation and out-planting practices to improve ecosystem function. Benthic surveys conducted over a 24-month period showed significant increases in hard coral cover at some out-planting sites, particularly for commonly out-planted genera. Despite variations in coral community responses, this tourism-led approach has demonstrated potential for increasing hard coral cover through coral propagation.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Julia W. Johnstone, Rhian G. Waller, Robert P. Stone
Summary: Recent studies suggest that deep-water emerged coral populations show fully developed sperm, while shallow-water populations experience premature sperm development halting, likely due to differing temperature regimes. The increased thermal variability and suspected near-lethal temperature spikes in shallow populations may interrupt the production of viable gametes, highlighting potential impacts of environmental conditions on coral reproduction.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Julia Caon Araujo, Jose Carlos Sicoli Seoane, Gislaine Vanessa Lima, Erandy Gomes da Silva, Luis Guilherme Franca, Elisa Elena de Souza Santos, Iago Mendes de Oliveira, Pedro Henrique Cipresso Pereira
Summary: Mapping the geomorphology of Brazilian coral reefs is essential for analyzing benthic habitats, but remote sensing in coastal areas and lack of depth data pose challenges in Brazil. This study utilized satellite imagery and field samples to extract bathymetry in murky waters and present the first detailed geomorphological map of the largest marine coastal protected area in Brazil. The mapped coral reefs cover a significant portion of the total area and can contribute to conservation efforts and prioritizing remedial actions.
JOURNAL OF SEA RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mark Borrelli, Theresa L. Smith, Stephen T. Mague
Summary: Coastal areas pose challenges for collecting consistent, high-resolution bathymetric data, but phase-measuring sidescan sonars offer a solution particularly in shallow waters. These instruments provide large effective swath widths and are ideal for shallow water mapping operations, despite requiring higher levels of noise and processing compared to multibeam data. The co-location of sidescan backscatter and bathymetric data allows for unique uses and analyses not feasible with other data sets.
ESTUARIES AND COASTS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Michael A. Merchant
Summary: In this study, satellite data and machine learning algorithms were used to simulate and predict water depths in the Arctic region. The results showed that the random forest algorithm performed well in predicting water depths with high accuracy and stability. This study highlights the potential of machine learning in the field of geospatial information and demonstrates the value of satellite data.
ADVANCES IN SPACE RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Heidi Ranndal, Philip Sigaard Christiansen, Pernille Kliving, Ole Baltazar Andersen, Karina Nielsen
Summary: The study introduces and validates a simple empirical method for obtaining bathymetry profiles using geolocated photon data from the ICESat-2 mission. Comparisons with different measurement points show that the method can achieve median absolute deviations and Root Mean Square Errors within acceptable ranges.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kwee Siong Tew, Jimmy Kuo, Jing-O Cheng, Fung-Chi Ko, Pei-Jie Meng, Anderson B. Mayfield, Pi-Jen Liu
Summary: Seagrass has a positive impact on microalgal assemblages, enhancing benthic primary productivity, decreasing parasitic dinoflagellate abundance, and possibly increasing the presence of symbiotic dinoflagellates.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biology
Sterling B. Tebbett, Samantha K. Crisp, Richard D. Evans, Christopher J. Fulton, Albert Pessarrodona, Thomas Wernberg, Shaun K. Wilson, David R. Bellwood
Summary: Different definitions of dominance can greatly influence the understanding of ecosystem shifts, as exemplified by coral reefs. Exclusion of crucial algal groups and variations in categorizing other benthic communities can alter perceptions of coral dominance and the detection of ecosystem phase shifts. Therefore, consensus on the application of dominance concepts is needed to gain a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem changes in aquatic and terrestrial settings.
Article
Ecology
Phillip B. McKenna, Alex M. Lechner, Lorna Hernandez Santin, Stuart Phinn, Peter D. Erskine
Summary: This paper evaluates the capability of remote sensing data for monitoring ecosystem restoration and proposes a combination of remote sensing with the ecological recovery wheel (ERW) for improved restoration outcomes.
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Konrad Wessels, Xiaoxuan Li, Alexandre Bouvet, Renaud Mathieu, Russell Main, Laven Naidoo, Barend Erasmus, Gregory P. Asner
Summary: Global savannas, as the third largest carbon sink, are facing rapid changes. This study tested the ability of L-band SAR to track changes in savanna vegetation structure and found that it has a higher sensitivity than previous studies suggested.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Aaron Aeberli, Stuart Phinn, Kasper Johansen, Andrew Robson, David W. Lamb
Summary: Traditional methods of phenological monitoring for banana plantations are labor-intensive and time-inefficient. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing technology can provide high-resolution individual plant monitoring, facilitating the determination of banana plant growth stages and yield forecasting.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Bing Lin, Yiwen Zeng, Gregory P. P. Asner, David S. S. Wilcove
Summary: By combining Instagram data from tourists and live coral cover maps in Hawaii, this study reveals that coral reefs both attract and suffer from coastal tourism. Higher live coral cover attracts more visitors, but their visitation contributes to subsequent reef degradation. This finding highlights the economic value of coral reefs and the importance of effective conservation management.
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
M. M. Seeley, E. A. Stacy, R. E. Martin, G. P. Asner
Summary: Imaging spectroscopy can be used to map closely related plant species at a larger scale. This research focused on understanding the differences in spectral reflectance between genotypes of a single species, Metrosideros polymorpha, and its hybrids. The study found that leaf reflectance patterns successfully distinguished different varieties of M. polymorpha on Hawaii Island and populations of the same variety on different islands. The findings contribute to the use of imaging spectroscopy in biodiversity studies at the genetic level.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Megan M. Seeley, Roberta E. Martin, Nicholas R. Vaughn, David R. Thompson, Jie Dai, Gregory P. Asner
Summary: Imaging spectroscopy is a useful tool for studying ecosystem functioning, but its application in assessing intra-specific trait variation across environmental gradients needs more testing. Selection of specific genotypes and their effects on trait variation and functional diversity are unclear.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ricardo A. Aravena, Mitchell B. Lyons, David A. Keith
Summary: A remote sensing method combining virtual sampling and formalized visual interpretations was proposed to improve the accuracy and scalability of land cover mapping. Through a decision matrix framework, the performance of existing and newly developed indices was compared and evaluated, resulting in the identification of effective indices for global inter-seasonal surface water extent mapping. CAWI, CATWIC, and NDCHRWI were found to be the best-performing indices, with accuracies of 94.97%, 94.51%, and 94.85% respectively.
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Bagus Setiabudi Wiwoho, Stuart Phinn, Neil McIntyre
Summary: This study investigates the land-use changes in Java's Brantas River Basin, showing that major transitions occurred from forest to shrubs, dryland agriculture, and urban areas during 1995-2015. The drivers of these changes include economic, social, technological, and biophysical attributes, as indicated by land-user questionnaires. The heterogeneity and scale-dependence of the land-use change process are highlighted by the combination of these two approaches.
ISPRS INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEO-INFORMATION
(2023)
Correction
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Bing Lin, Yiwen Zeng, Gregory P. Asner, David S. Wilcove
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Studies
Andrew Clark, Stuart Phinn, Peter Scarth
Summary: Data pre-processing is important for developing a generalised land use and land cover (LULC) deep learning model using earth observation data. This paper trialled different methods of data preparation for Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) training and achieved accurate classification of LULC features in aerial photography. The results suggest that stratified random sampling, smaller batch sizes, data augmentations, scaling, and averaging multiple grids of patches improved the model accuracy and aesthetic result.
Article
Remote Sensing
Emily Adria Peterson, Lisa Carne, Jamani Balderamos, Victor Faux, Arthur Gleason, Steven R. Schill
Summary: As coral reef ecosystems continue to decline under anthropogenic activity and climate change, there is a growing need for improved techniques to monitor coral reef restoration. Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UASs) prove to be an ideal platform for monitoring the survival and spread of outplanted coral fragments. By combining UAS data with object-oriented segmentation techniques and open-source GIS analysis, our study quantified the species-specific coverage of restored coral reefs in Laughing Bird Caye National Park, providing insights into coral growth patterns and informing adaptive management practices for future restoration actions.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Nadine Keller, Ilja van Meerveld, Christopher David Philipson, Gregory P. Asner, Elia Godoong, Hamzah Tangki, Jaboury Ghazoul
Summary: As secondary tropical forests grow, the changes in canopy structure and density affect the interception loss. However, the effects of tropical forest regeneration on mean throughfall are poorly studied. This hampers the estimation of interception loss for regenerating forests.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Megan M. Seeley, Gregory P. Asner
Summary: The role of intraspecific trait variation in functional ecology has gained attention in recent years. This study used remote sensing data of the tree species Metrosideros polymorpha to quantify the environmental controls on intraspecific trait variation. The results showed that elevation was the most important predictor for all canopy traits.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Megan M. Seeley, Nicholas R. Vaughn, Brennon L. Shanks, Roberta E. Martin, Marcel Konig, Gregory P. Asner
Summary: This study provides accurate and high-resolution spatial data on the keystone species Metrosideros polymorpha in Hawai'i Island, using airborne imaging spectroscopy and LiDAR. The study compares two tree species classification techniques and finds that the support vector machine (SVM) model better reproduces the spatial distribution of M. polymorpha than spectral mixture analysis (SMA) model.
Article
Biology
Bridget F. F. Shayka, Maximilian H. K. Hesselbarth, Steven R. R. Schill, William S. S. Currie, Jacob E. E. Allgeier
Summary: Seagrass beds provide valuable services to society, including carbon storage for climate change mitigation. Prioritizing their conservation and including them in global carbon markets can help protect these ecosystems and achieve climate goals.
