- Title
- Remotely operated vehicles as alternatives to snorkellers for video-based marine research
- Creator
- Raoult, Vincent; Tosetto, Louise; Harvey, Courtney; Nelson, Tess M.; Reed, Josh; Parikh, Aashi; Chan, Alysha J.; Smith, Timothy M.; Williamson, Jane E.
- Relation
- Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology Vol. 522, Issue January 2020, no. 151253
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2019.151253
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- Capabilities of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have increased substantially in the last decade, and mini-ROV designs are now able to conduct visual research frequently conducted by snorkellers or divers in shallow marine environments. There are logistical, financial and experimental benefits of using mini-ROVs over snorkellers or divers, yet the adoption of mini-ROVs for common shallow underwater research tasks has not been widespread. To assess the capabilities of mini-ROVs to sample fish communities we compared the results produced by a mini-ROV to that of snorkellers for performing two of the most common marine video-based research activities (1) underwater visual fish census and (2) observing and tracking fish behaviour. Results of both activities suggested that the fish community observed by the mini-ROV was not distinguishable to that observed by the snorkellers, however, the mini-ROV detected significantly more fish (39% higher abundance) and greater diversity (24% higher). When tracking butterflyfish behaviour, video obtained from the mini-mini-ROV was as efficient as a snorkeller at finding and tracking individuals. Video from the mini-ROV produced comparable responses to that from snorkellers with hand-held GoPros, although over the course of tracks the response between the two methods differed, with a decrease in refuge time for snorkeller video and an increase in tailbeat rate for the mini-ROV video. Our study shows that video obtained from mini-ROVs can be used for research in shallow marine environments when direct manipulations are not required. We predict the research capabilities of mini-ROVs to increase substantially in the coming years, which should cement the use of this tool for research across all marine environments.
- Subject
- ROV; underwater survey; snorkelling; transects; butterflyfish; coral reef; SDG 14; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1438025
- Identifier
- uon:40533
- Identifier
- ISSN:0022-0981
- Rights
- © 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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Goal 14: Life Below Water
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