title: Automated image analysis for the detection of benthic crustaceans and bacterial mat coverage using the VENUS undersea cabled network.
abstract: The development and deployment of sensors for undersea cabled observatories is presently biased toward the measurement of habitat variables, while sensor technologies for biological community characterization through species identification and individual counting are less common. The VENUS cabled multisensory network (Vancouver Island, Canada) deploys seafloor camera systems at several sites. Our objective in this study was to implement new automated image analysis protocols for the recognition and counting of benthic decapods (i.e., the galatheid squat lobster, Munida quadrispina), as well as for the evaluation of changes in bacterial mat coverage (i.e., Beggiatoa spp.), using a camera deployed in Saanich Inlet (103 m depth). For the counting of Munida we remotely acquired 100 digital photos at hourly intervals from 2 to 6 December 2009. In the case of bacterial mat coverage estimation, images were taken from 2 to 8 December 2009 at the same time frequency. The automated image analysis protocols for both study cases were created in MatLab 7.1. Automation for Munida counting incorporated the combination of both filtering and background correction (Median- and Top-Hat Filters) with Euclidean Distances (ED) on Red-Green-Blue (RGB) channels. The Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) features and Fourier Descriptors (FD) of tracked objects were then extracted. Animal classifications were carried out with the tools of morphometric multivariate statistic (i.e., Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis; PLSDA) on Mean RGB (RGBv) value for each object and Fourier Descriptors (RGBv+FD) matrices plus SIFT and ED. The SIFT approach returned the better results. Higher percentages of images were correctly classified and lower misclassification errors (an animal is present but not detected) occurred. In contrast, RGBv+FD and ED resulted in a high incidence of records being generated for non-present animals. Bacterial mat coverage was estimated in terms of Percent Coverage and Fractal Dimension. A constant Region of Interest (ROI) was defined and background extraction by a Gaussian Blurring Filter was performed. Image subtraction within ROI was followed by the sum of the RGB channels matrices. Percent Coverage was calculated on the resulting image. Fractal Dimension was estimated using the box-counting method. The images were then resized to a dimension in pixels equal to a power of 2, allowing subdivision into sub-multiple quadrants. In comparisons of manual and automated Percent Coverage and Fractal Dimension estimates, the former showed an overestimation tendency for both parameters. The primary limitations on the automatic analysis of benthic images were habitat variations in sediment texture and water column turbidity. The application of filters for background corrections is a required preliminary step for the efficient recognition of animals and bacterial mat patches.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Paseo Marítimo de la Barceloneta 37-49, Barcelona 08003, Spain. jaguzzi@cmima.csic.es
authors.forename: Jacopo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aguzzi
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Katleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.forename: Marjolaine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matabos
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Antonucci
authors.forename: S Kim
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Juniper
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Menesatti
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D033381:Anomura / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D061006:Bays / Q000382:microbiology; D053524:Beggiatoa / Q000254:growth & development*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D002170:Canada; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D017709:Fractals; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D011156:Population Density; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014742:Videodisc Recording / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*