Abstract
Direct field observations of fine-scaled biological processes and interactions of the benthic community of corals and associated reef organisms (e.g., feeding, reproduction, mutualistic or agonistic behavior, behavioral responses to changing abiotic factors) usually involve a disturbing intervention. Modern digital camcorders (without inflexible land-or ship-based cable connection) such as the GoPro camera enable undisturbed and unmanned, stationary close-up observations. Such observations, however, are also very time-limited (~3 h) and full 24 h-recordings throughout day and night, including nocturnal observations without artificial daylight illumination, are not possible. Herein we introduce the application of modern standard video surveillance technology with the main objective of providing a tool for monitoring coral reef or other sessile and mobile organisms for periods of 24 h and longer. This system includes nocturnal close-up observations with miniature infrared (IR)-sensitive cameras and separate high-power IR-LEDs. Integrating this easy-to-set up and portable remote-sensing equipment into coral reef research is expected to significantly advance our understanding of fine-scaled biotic processes on coral reefs. Rare events and long-lasting processes can easily be recorded, in situ-experiments can be monitored live on land, and nocturnal IR-observations reveal undisturbed behavior. The options and equipment choices in IR-sensitive surveillance technology are numerous and subject to a steadily increasing technical supply and quality at decreasing prices. Accompanied by short video examples, this report introduces a radio-transmission system for simultaneous recordings and real-time monitoring of multiple cameras with synchronized timestamps, and a surface-independent underwater-recording system.
Highlights
Behavioral and quantitative studies in reef ecosystems have long been based on direct observation and monitoring, e.g., [1]
Modern equipment ranges from simple traditional video monitoring using standard camcorders to highly sophisticated autonomous robots
Continuous long-term observation typically involves fixed video stations that are dependent on a land- or ship-based cable connection for power and data storage [28]
Summary
Behavioral and quantitative studies in reef ecosystems have long been based on direct observation and monitoring, e.g., [1]. Unmanned video stations are yielding new and unexpected discoveries in modern coral reef ecological studies [24,25] Such efforts, are restricted by standard camcorder observations that are of high quality but short (a few hours) due to their limited power and data storage capacities [26]. Continuous long-term observation typically involves fixed video stations that are dependent on a land- or ship-based cable connection for power and data storage [28] While such equipment yields accurate data, it is characterized by low flexibility while being expensive and difficult to build, transport and handle. Two kinds of such mobile autonomous underwater video surveillance stations are introduced: A surface-independent system with direct-recording underwater and a second system with an emerging antenna and radio-transmission for simultaneous recordings of multiple cameras and live viewing on land
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