Exploring Utility of Formal Concept Analysis Approach to Coral Reef Assessment

Abstract

This study explored the use of formal concept analysis (FCA), a data mining technique, to analyze coral reef transect data (in terms of life forms) and comparing its results to the standard assessment analysis. Utilizing the quadrat-life form as the object-attribute pair, the results derived from the context was analyzed to assess the coral reefs in the study site which consisted of three stations. Data from Station 1 and Station 2 showed the dominance of Acropora digitate and Acropora branching life forms, respectively. Some life forms were absent from both Stations 1 and 2 but all life forms were present in Station 3 with eight life forms having the highest occurrence. Station 3 had the highest diversity of life forms while Station 2 had the highest live coral cover. This study showed how FCA can be used to generate new knowledge from transect data that can be verified by traditional coral reef assessment results, a possible complement to standard coral reef assessment analytical tools. FCA approach shines when it deals with large data sets from many different sources, which may pave the way for data-driven ecological assessment analysis studies such as those already being done for agriculture.