Benthic mapping

Summary

Habitat mapping is crucial for understanding habitat connectivity and for spatial planning, environmental management, conservation, and targeted research, including long-term change monitoring. However, such information has been lacking for many Dutch Caribbean islands, especially regarding marine habitats. This study used 2144 georeferenced images from different surveys to develop habitat models predicting the distribution of habitat types within the Saba Bank National Park. The habitat models link environmental factors to species or habitat occurrence, enabling predictions in unsurveyed areas with known covariates. Machine learning techniques (Random Forests, Gradient Boosting, and weighted K Nearest Neighbor) were applied to interpret and predict ten habitat types over the Bank. Three models were created for each technique: 1) utilizing only geographic coordinates; 2) incorporating covariables such as depth, distance to the edge of the Bank, Topographic Position Index (TPI), and Terrain Ruggedness index (TRI); 3) a combination of the previous two models. All models performed well, accurately predicting habitat types between 67 and 74% of the georeferenced images. However, the most natural representation occurred with models combining geographic and covariate variables. Predicted habitats include coral reef, patch reef, gorgonian reef, sargassum fields, cyanobacteria-dominated fields, Lobophora fields, Neogoniolithon- Lyngbya habitat, other macroalgae fields, sand with a mix of species, and bare sand. Habitat distribution appears to be related to the main currents in the area and depth, with coral reefs occurring mainly along the southern and eastern edge of the Bank, with gorgonians and other soft corals dominating there the shallow areas. Macroalgae, including fields of Sargassum, dominate the back-reef area. Extensive sand plains dominate the center of the Bank, and along the north-western and northern edge of the Bank, between 40 and 60m depth Lobophora fields can occur. In the south-eastern back reef area a number of mounds built up by the coralline alga Neogoniolithon occur. The Luymes Bank, the northeastern part of the Saba Bank, was the only area that was not correctly predicted, indicating that additional field-based observations are needed to refine results in this area.
 

In this research benthic habitats of the Saba Marine Park were mapped. There were several reasons for an updated benthic habitat map: (1) to compare the current situation to the baseline study carried out in 1992 and identify habitat changes in the past 21 years; (2) to review the zoning plan of the Saba Marine Park for which an accurate habitat map is required to identify suitable zones for marine reserves, anchoring, diving and fishing; (3) to support stratification in fisheries research such as lobster, conch and fish population studies; and (4) to produce value maps as part of the economic valuation study currently taking place on Saba and Sint Eustatius (What’s Saba and Sint Eustatius Nature Worth?) for which habitat maps are necessary to assign monetary value at a spatial scale.
The research questions answered in this study were: (1) which benthic habitats are located where; (2) what are the rough species compositions in these habitats; and (3) what is the structural complexity in these habitats.
Data were collected from video images made with a HD camera, which was dropped from the marine park boat at 276 sample sites. A 150x150m grid was used to select sample sites at regular distances from the shore to the outer boundaries of the marine park. During data analysis three substrate types (sand, rubble and rock) and six benthic species groups (macro algae, sargassum, sea grass, corals, gorgonians and sponges) were identified and percentage coverage of these substrates and benthos were estimated. These percentage coverage were used to classify the samples into ten habitat types according to a pre-defined quantitative classification scheme based on the classification scheme of Caribbean coral reefs by Mumby PJ and Harborne AR (1999)
The resulting habitat map shows that of these ten habitat types only 7 occurred on Saba: bare sand, bare rock, diffuse patch reef, dense patch reef, coral reef, sea grass beds and algae fields. Sargassum fields did not occur, as this species of algae was not found on Saba. Gorgonian reef did not occur, although gorgonians were commonly present at other habitat types, i.e. patch and coral reefs. Bare rubble habitats did also not occur.
Besides the benthic habitat map, two other habitat maps were produced. A reef habitat map including the current zoning plan was produced to compare the zoning system of the Marine Park with the reefs identified in the study. A sand habitat map was produced to further specify the large number of sand habitats in two: bare sand and sand covered with algal and/or cyanobacteria mats. The sand habitat map revealed that sand habitats covered with algal and/or cyanobacteria mats were present around the entire island further ashore, of which the majority was at 30-50 meter depth

Benthic habitats (habitats occurring at the bottom of a water body) and coral reef ecosystems provide many functions. Currently, however, coral reefs are threatened by a number of factors and degrade rapidly. Benthic maps are important for management, research and planning. Coral communities in the Caribbean Dutch island of St. Eustatius are generally in a good condition, but the benthic communities around St. Eustatius have not been yet accurately mapped.
Remote sensing imagery has been found to be a very useful tool in providing timely and up-to-date information for benthic mapping and offers an effective approach to complement the limitation of field sampling. Remote sensing in water, however, presents challenges mainly due to the complex physical interactions of absorption and scattering between water and light. Shorter wavelengths (-450 nm) penetrate deepest into the water column and longer wavelengths (-500-750 nm) are more rapidly absorbed and scattered. Therefore, the potential extent of use of remote sense imagery in the oceans relies more on shorter wavelengths (blue band), which have inherently noisier signals due to atmospheric effects.
This research explores the utility of multispectral imagery to identify and classify marine benthic habitats in the Dutch Caribbean island of St Eustatius. These include the comparison of two sensors with different spatial and spectral resolution, QuickBird (2.4m, 4 bands) and WorldView-2 (2.0m, 8 bands) for mapping benthic habitats. The study first investigates the existing methodologies for benthic habitat classification. The benefits of atmospheric correction, sun glint effect correction and water column attenuation correction on the accuracy of classification maps are also assessed. Then, an object and pixel based supervised classifications for the characterization of sea grass, sand and coral are performed. This research also evaluates the possibility to extract water depth from multispectral satellite imagery by the use of a ratio transform method. Bathymetric data is important for water column correction, to improve the classification accuracy and for the study of the ecology of the habitats.
Results showed that the best results for pixel-based image classification in QuickBird and WoldView-2 imagery were obtained after deglinting the image, with accuracies of 49.3% and 51.9% respectively. The sunglint removal method improved the total accuracy of benthic habitat mapping, by increasing before and after deglinting 3.4% for QuickBird and 6.3% for WorldView-2. Object-based classification provided slightly better classification results, with a 53.7% accuracy for QuickBird and 56.9% accuracy for WorldView-2. Therefore, it can be concluded that an object-oriented approach to image classification shows potential for improving benthic mapping. The classification accuracy did not increase after compensation for water column effects.
The effectiveness of the ratio method to calculate the bathymetry using multispectral imagery has been confirmed. The coefficients of determination (r2) achieved are statistically significant, 0.66 for QuickBird, and 0.41 for WorldView-2 (BG ratio) for a linear relation. The root mean square errors are 4.02 m for QuickBird and 5.11 m for WorldView-2. It has been proved that this method works better for shallow areas, with a root mean square error of 2.32 m and 2.47 m, respectively. Results also indicate that the ratio method is sensitive to variable bottom type. Overall, better bathymetric values were obtained with QuickBird than with WorldView-2.
This research provides a baseline for future benthic habitat classification of the Dutch Caribbean islands using remote sensing. The results of this study are a good example of how remote sensing data can be a useful and cost effective method to map benthic habitats and calculate bathymetry.

Marine habitat map of Saba (GIS)
 

See this report for more info.

Quantitative habitat mapping and description form the basis for understanding the provisioning of ecosystem services and habitat connectivity, and hence provide an essential underpinning for marine spatial planning, management and conservation. Based on 869 video stations in a 150 x 200 m grid, we mapped 25.3 km2 of the near-shore island shelf of St. Eustatius at depths ranging 5-30 m. This yielded a coarse-grained map of the principal habitat classes of St. Eustatius’ seascapes. A total of nine principal seafloor habitats were distinguished. Gorgonian reefs amounted to 22% of the Statia Marine Park habitats sampled and were concentrated in the shallow wave-exposed eastern parts of the island (7.7 m average depths). The densest coral “scapes” and seagrass beds of St. Eustatius were concentrated at depths of about 24 m and only amounted to 4 and 5 percent resp. of the island shelf habitats studied. Whereas coral areas were essentially limited to the southern and south-western island shelf areas, seagrass beds were confined to the northern island shelf area. Including patch reef habitats, total hard coral-scape habitat for the St. Eustatius Marine Park amounted to about 19% of the area surveyed and about 475 ha of habitat. Sargassum reef habitat typically occurred at the seaward edge of communities dominated by hard coral growth.

Benthic habitats (habitats occurring at the bottom of a water body) and coral reef ecosystems provide many functions. Currently, however, worldwide coral reefs are threatened by a number of factors and are degrading rapidly. Benthic maps are important for management, research and planning, but the benthic communities around St. Eustatius have not yet been accurately mapped or described.
Remote sensing imagery has been found to be a useful tool in providing timely and up-to-date information for benthic mapping and offers an approach that may complement the limitations of field sampling. Remote sensing in water, however, presents challenges mainly due to the complex physical interactions of absorption and scattering between water and light. Shorter wavelengths (-450 nm) penetrate deepest into the water column and longer wavelengths (-500-750 nm) are more rapidly absorbed and scattered. Therefore, the potential extent of use of remote sense imagery in the oceans relies more on shorter wavelengths (blue band), which have inherently noisier signals due to atmospheric effects.
This research explores the utility of multispectral imagery to identify and classify marine benthic habitats in the Dutch Caribbean island of St Eustatius. These include the comparison of two sensors with different spatial and spectral resolution, QuickBird (2.4m, 4 bands) and WorldView-2 (2.0m, 8 bands) for mapping benthic habitats. The study first investigates the existing methodologies for benthic habitat classification. The benefits of atmospheric correction, corrections for sun-glint effect and water column attenuation on the accuracy of classification maps are also assessed. Then, an object and pixel-based supervised classifications for the characterization of sea grass, sand and coral are performed. This research also evaluates the possibility to extract water depth from multispectral satellite imagery by the use of a ratio transform method. Bathymetric data is important for water column correction, to improve the classification accuracy and for the study of the ecology of the habitats.

This month’s issue focuses attention on a very important species group – butterflies. Due to their sensitivity to environmental conditions, butterflies may serve as bioindicators for local and global environmental change. In addition to butterfly inventories and research across our islands, five years of butterfly monitoring on St. Eustatius is beginning to produce clear trends that indicate broader ecosystem change.

Also in this issue, on Saba the seafloor of the well-known site ‘The Pinnacles’ has been surveyed for the third time since 1991, resulting in the most detailed map of the seabed to date, demonstrating the benefit of improving technology for nature conservation(ists).

• ‘Research of the Month‘: Butterflies of the Windward Islands
• Butterflies as Beautiful Bio-indicators
• Butterfly Monitoring Programme on Statia
• Underwater Mapping on Saba
• Overview of Research and Monitoring Efforts
• Calendar of Upcoming Events, Meetings and Workshops