Abstract Summary
Defining the location and condition of coastal habitats, including coral reef, mangroves, and seagrass, is essential for effective protection and management of these invaluable ecosystems. Producing detailed habitat maps over large spatial scales, however, has traditionally required large capital investments and the deployment of highly skilled local practitioners to remote geographies. We are bridging this critical knowledge gap by leveraging recent advances in remote sensing technologies and partnering with the organizations at the forefront of this rapidly developing field. In collaboration with Planet, whose fleet of around 200 satellites collects global data on a daily time step, and the Carnegie Airborne Observatory, whose high-fidelity imaging spectrometers and multiple laser scanners provide high fidelity habitat differentiation, we are pioneering coastal monitoring approaches to provide spatial, temporal, and taxonomic resolutions never before possible. eCognition, an object-oriented approach, is being used to delineate benthic habitats throughout the Caribbean using the Planet satellite imagery. In contrast to pixel-based classification methods, object-oriented image analysis segments satellite data into seascape objects that have ecologically-meaningful shapes, and classifies the objects across spatial, spectral, and textural scales. These objects represent distinct patches of uniform benthic habitat and are classified based on both spectral and non-spectral attributes of the imagery which include bathymetry, geomorphic zones, and corresponding texture, spatial, and contextual information. We integrated thousands of GPS-referenced field video transects, drone, and scuba diver data collected throughout the area to train the classification algorithm. This innovative, scalable approach to coastal ecosystem mapping and monitoring will provide the data needed to target coastal conservation actions to provide maximum human benefit, including ecosystem valuation, targeted conservation and habitat restoration, and effective marine spatial planning.
