You are here

Improved methods for visual and photographic benthic surveys

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
1993
Title: Improved methods for visual and photographic benthic surveys.
90 views
20 downloads
Name(s): Tusting, Robert F.
Davis, D. L.
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Article
Date Issued: 1993
Publisher: American Academy of Underwater Sciences
Place of Publication: Costa Mesa, CA
Physical Form: pdf
Extent: 17 p.
Language(s): English
Identifier: FA00007307 (IID)
Note(s): As funding for field work becomes more competitive, it is increasingly important to produce cost effective quantitative results using calibrated methods. Much effort is devoted to visual and photographic surveys which are routinely employed to determine the density and distribution of animals or other organisms, the type and abundance of biological ground cover, and geological features near or on the ocean bottom. A number of techniques have been developed for estimating the scale of the study site and the size of individual specimens so that the observations can produce quantitative data for numerical analyses and comparative studies. This paper will review some of the more commonly employed methods and will present recently-developed, laser-based approaches to quantify visual and photographic images. The techniques to be discussed involve the projection of small light spots as fiducials onto the surface to be surveyed, so that the observer or camera can record absolute scale information. Demonstrated applications and proposed methods will be described.
Florida Atlantic University. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute contribution 961
This manuscript is an author version with the final publication available and may be cited as: Tusting, R. F., & Davis, D. L. (1993). Improved methods for visual and photographic benthic surveys. In J. N. Heine & N. L. Crane (Eds.), Diving for science…1993: proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences thirteenth annual Scientific Diving Symposium (pp. 157-172). Nahant, MA: American Academy of Underwater Sciences
Subject(s): Benthos--Research--Methodology
Photographic surveying
Lasers
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00007307
Host Institution: FAU