Predicting spatially explicit coral reef fish abundance, richness and Shannon–Weaver index from habitat characteristics

Abstract

The assessment of biodiversity in coral reefs requires the application of geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing and analytical tools in order to make cost-effective spatially explicit predictions of biodiversity over large geographic areas.Here we present a spatially explicit prediction for coral reef fish diversity index, as well as habitat classification according to reef fish diversity index values in Chinchorro Bank Biosphere Reserve, one of the most important plain/atoll type reef systems in the Caribbean. We have used extensive ecological data on depth, fish and habitat characteristics to perform such prediction. Fish species assemblages and different biotic variables of benthic organisms were characterized using visual censuses and video-transects, respectively at 119 sampling stations. The information was integrated in a GIS, along with satellite imagery (LANSDAT 7 ETM?) and a digital bathymetric model. From the recorded data and a hierarchical classification procedure, we obtained nine different classes of habitats. We used a generalized regression analysis and spatial prediction methodology to create predictive maps (GIS layers) of the different reef benthic components, and a second modeling run produced predictive maps of coral reef fish diversity index. Predictive accuracy of the diversity index map presented a good correlation coefficient (r = 0.87), with maximum diversity index values en reefscapes composed of aggregation of coral colonies with seagrass beds. The implementation of our application was successful for the prediction of fish diversity hot spots and surrogate habitats.

Additive Diversity Partitioning of Fish in a Caribbean Coral Reef Undergoing Shift Transition

“…The benthic community was surveyed by recording it using an underwater video camera at a distance of 40 cm above the substrate along each 50 m transect [37]. The camera was held approximately 50 cm to the side of the tape and approximately perpendicular to the substrate.…”

“…This shift transition may result in habitat and rugosity homogenization, particularly represented by a loss of cover or the erosion of mound corals such as the Montastraea complex [36]. This may drive spatiotemporal changes in coral reef fish species composition, as it has been observed in multiple studies that fish diversity is strongly related to coral cover [5], [10], [11], [37] and habitat complexity [7], [11], [38]–[40]. Although multiple studies have focused on the causal forces that produce a shift transition (e.g.…”

Remote sensing for biodiversity monitoring: a review of methods for biodiversity indicator extraction and assessment of progress towards international targets

“…Airborne LiDAR data have also been used to model the presence of invertebrates spider (Vierling et al 2011) and beetle (Müller and Brandl 2009), using Constrained Redundancy Analysis (CRA), and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) and Multiple Linear Regression Models (MLRM), respectively. Other passive data, such as MODIS (Kumar et al 2009;Yen et al 2012), VEGETATION (Pittiglio et al 2012), Landsat (Arias-González et al 2011;Koy et al 2005), or Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission's Microwave Imager (TRMM/TMI) and Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) (Zainuddin et al 2006) have been used in different animal abundance modelling studies with satisfactory accuracies, employing mainly a plethora of regression techniques.…”

Quantifying the reefscape transformation of a coastal Caribbean coral reef during a phase shift and the associated coastal landscape change

“…An underwater video camera was used to record approximately 40 cm to the side of the transect line and approximately normal to the substrate at a height of 40 cm (Aronson & Swanson 1997;Arias-Gonz alez et al 2012). Each video transect was then divided into 40 frames.…”