An integrated data management and video system for sampling aquatic benthos

Abstract

Remote video systems can be expensive, slow to deploy and the data recorded may not be available until the system has been retrieved. To overcome these issues, a rapid, non-destructive and cost-effective remote video and data management system was developed to record benthic habitats in Shark Bay, Western Australia. This system comprises a downward-oriented video camera, linked to a laptop computer, attached to the apex of a stainless steel pyramid to film a 1-m2 area of benthos. The video image of the substratum, spatial coordinates, depth and temperature are recorded in a database at the time of deployment. A web interface was developed to manage the database and examine the video images to determine the percentage cover of seagrass, sponge type (conical/non-conical) and the total number of sponges in the quadrat. Using this system, 1380 video quadrats were collected from a study area of ,248 km2, ranging in water depth from 2 m to 16 m. An average of 16.4 (`1.3 s.e.) samples was recorded every hour during 15 days. This system could be modified to quantify substratum components at a greater taxonomic resolution or to record details of the mobile fauna.