Biological data extraction from imagery - How far can we go? A case study from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
In the past few decades, hydrothermal vent research has progressed immensely, resulting in higher-quality samples and long-term studies. With time, scientists are becoming more aware of the impacts of sampling on the faunal communities and are looking for less invasive ways to investigate the vent ecosystems. In this perspective, imagery analysis plays a very important role. With this study, we test which factors can be quantitatively and accurately assessed based on imagery, through comparison with faunal sampling. Twelve instrumented chains were deployed on the Atlantic Eiffel Tower hydrothermal edifice and the corresponding study sites were subsequently sampled. Discrete, quantitative samples were compared to the imagery recorded during the experiment. An observer-effect was tested, by comparing imagery data gathered by different scientists. Most factors based on image analyses concerning Bathymodiolus azoricus mussels were shown to be valid representations of the corresponding samples. Additional ecological assets, based exclusively on imagery, were included.
Ifremer, Centre de Brest, Département Ressources physiques et Ecosystèmes de fond de Mer, Institut Carnot-EDROME, Unité de recherche EEP, Laboratoire Environnement Profond, 29280 Plouzané, France. daphne.cuvelier@ifremer.fr
Daphne
D
Cuvelier
Fanny
F
de Busserolles
Romain
R
Lavaud
Estelle
E
Floc'h
Marie-Claire
MC
Fabri
Pierre-Marie
PM
Sarradin
Jozée
J
Sarrazin
D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D018533:Biomass; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000502:physiology; D049628:Body Size; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D017753:Ecosystem; D060086:Hydrothermal Vents; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000502:physiology; D054892:Metagenome / Q000502:physiology; D008873:Mid-Atlantic Region; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014741:Video Recording / Q000592:standards*