Video multitracking of fish behaviour: a synthesis and future perspectives

Abstract

With the development of digital imaging techniques over the last decade, there are now new opportunities to study complex behavioural patterns in fish (e.g. schooling behaviour) and to track a very large number of individuals. These new technologies and methods provide valuable information to fundamental and applied science disciplines such as ethology, animal sociology, animal psychology, veterinary sciences, animal welfare sciences, statistical physics, pharmacology as well as neuro‐ and ecotoxicology. This paper presents a review of fish video multitracking techniques. It describes the possibilities of tracking individuals and groups at different scales, but also outlines the advantages and limitations of the detection methods. The problem of occlusions, during which errors of individual identifications are very frequent, is underlined. This paper summarizes different approaches to improving the quality of individual identification, notably by the development of three‐dimensional tracking, image analysis and probabilistic applications. Finally, implications for fish research and future directions are presented.

Amphibians breeding in refuge habitats have larvae with stronger antipredator responses

“…This software automatically detected salamander larvae on the basis of their contrast with the background and gave them a position over time (25 images/s over 7 min/trial in our setting; Delcourt, Deno€ el, Ylieff, & Poncin, 2013). By using this automated method, it was possible to obtain accurate locations of salamander larvae across time without any observer effect (Delcourt et al, 2013). As a behavioural parameter, we considered the total distance moved by the larva, since it represents a valuable indicator of the activity rate of amphibian larvae (Deno€ el et al, 2010;Uiblein, Durand, Juberthie, & Parzefall, 1992;Uiblein et al, 1995) and strongly influences feeding performance, as larvae that move greater distances have better feeding success (Manenti, Deno€ el, et al, 2013).…”

Posture tracking of multiple individual fish for behavioral monitoring with visual sensors

“…With the vast improvements in the computational capability of personal computers and the implementation of reliable image processing techniques, the visual monitoring of fish behavior has becomes a common tool for biological and environmental studies, e.g., exploiting the fish behavior for environmental risk assessments and their responses under specific stimulation, such as chemical stress analysis (Barry, 2012;Kane et al, 2004;Ma et al, 2010). A number of video surveillance systems have been developed for automatic observations and measurements of fish behavior since the 1990s (Delcourt et al, 2013;Kato et al, 1996;Kuklina et al, 2013;Papadakis et al, 2012;Suzuki et al, 2003). One of the major advantages of an automatic behavioral monitoring system is that no human interference is required during the observation process.…”

Out of the ground: two coexisting fossorial toad species differ in their emergence and movement patterns

“…Although video-tracking techniques have been widely used on a variety of organisms (Delcourt et al, 2013), they have not yet been applied to study the terrestrial movements of amphibians. Using such techniques during night-time has been even more rarely done (Delcourt et al, 2011;Manenti et al, 2013).…”