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https://theconversation.com/using-photos-to-create-3d-models-is-helping-us-understand-and-protect-complex-marine-environments-221111>
"Measuring the impact of different events, such as marine heatwaves, on the
abundance of marine organisms is not easy. Biological communities naturally
change over time and between different locations.
Scientists need to untangle these natural changes from those caused by humans
and come up with a new approach to do this.
Marine biologists have traditionally monitored underwater cliffs or coral reefs
by estimating population sizes in just a small area of those environments.
One traditional method involves laying a tape measure on the reef and
determining what was under the tape at regular intervals. Another is to take
pictures of “quadrats” – squares of a known area – and working out the area
covered by different organisms later.
However, these methods only provide an estimate for a very small area of the
total reef, covering a limited proportion of the animals and plants present.
They also provide limited information on the three-dimensional (3D) reef
complexity and structure created by reef organisms, such as corals and sponges,
which are key to supporting high biodiversity.
Our new research shows how modern photographic methods can be used to measure
coral reef habitat complexity, and the 3D nature of reefs.
This information was then used to assess the impacts of changes from
coral-dominated reefs to sponge-dominated reefs on the spaces available for
fish and other organisms to live.
Here’s how it works."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
