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.
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