Modeling Seafloor Structural Complexity
This effort focused on understanding the patterns and scalability of roughness and topographic complexity of marine habitats, such as coral reefs.
Quantifying Seafloor Topographic Complexity
Topographic complexity (TC) is an important habitat characteristic that encompasses the three-dimensional intricacy of structural components. In aquatic habitats, topographic complexity influences a number of ecological and environmental aspects, such as regulating species richness, providing refuge from predators and physical stresses (e.g., light level, temperature, desiccation, and wave action), and presenting secondary growth surfaces. Moreover, these influences occur over multiple spatial scales.
For coral reefs, TC influences a wide range of biological, chemical, and physical aspects, such as water flow and, consequently, nutrient uptake and mass transfer rates, species richness and biomass, and both refuge and larval-settlement space. Because of these impacts, quantifying and mapping the spatial variability in TC is important to understanding the functioning of a coral reef ecosystem.
Effort was focused on developing algorithms for quantifying TC, with emphasis on fractal geometry principles. Studies have been completed for portions of Biscayne National Park and the island of Navassa.
Biscayne National Park
Within sight of Miami, Biscayne National Park lies at the northern extent of the Florida reef tract and occupies a carbonate platform seaward of Hawk Channel. The park encompasses approximately 700 km2, roughly 95% of which is underwater habitat, including numerous patch reefs and a discontinuous series of shelf-edge, bank-barrier reefs along the seaward boundary. Information about this study is available in the Journal of Coastal Research article "A Multiscale Analysis of Coral Reef Topographic Complexity Using Lidar-Derived Bathymetry."
Navassa Island
Navassa Island is located approximately 50 km west of the southwestern tip of Haiti, and is an uninhabited, pear-shaped island 4.64 km2 in area. In 1999, Navassa Island and a 12-mile radius of marine territory were designated as a National Wildlife Refuge under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Information about this study is available in the Geophysical Research Letters article "Topographic complexity and roughness of a tropical benthic seascape" and related USGS Data Series "Fractal Analysis of the Navassa Island Seascape."
Below are research tasks and science projects associated with this research.
Advanced Remote Sensing Methods for Coastal Science and Management
Applications of Coral Fluorescence
Along-Track Reef Imaging System (ATRIS)
This effort focused on understanding the patterns and scalability of roughness and topographic complexity of marine habitats, such as coral reefs.
Quantifying Seafloor Topographic Complexity
Topographic complexity (TC) is an important habitat characteristic that encompasses the three-dimensional intricacy of structural components. In aquatic habitats, topographic complexity influences a number of ecological and environmental aspects, such as regulating species richness, providing refuge from predators and physical stresses (e.g., light level, temperature, desiccation, and wave action), and presenting secondary growth surfaces. Moreover, these influences occur over multiple spatial scales.
For coral reefs, TC influences a wide range of biological, chemical, and physical aspects, such as water flow and, consequently, nutrient uptake and mass transfer rates, species richness and biomass, and both refuge and larval-settlement space. Because of these impacts, quantifying and mapping the spatial variability in TC is important to understanding the functioning of a coral reef ecosystem.
Effort was focused on developing algorithms for quantifying TC, with emphasis on fractal geometry principles. Studies have been completed for portions of Biscayne National Park and the island of Navassa.
Biscayne National Park
Within sight of Miami, Biscayne National Park lies at the northern extent of the Florida reef tract and occupies a carbonate platform seaward of Hawk Channel. The park encompasses approximately 700 km2, roughly 95% of which is underwater habitat, including numerous patch reefs and a discontinuous series of shelf-edge, bank-barrier reefs along the seaward boundary. Information about this study is available in the Journal of Coastal Research article "A Multiscale Analysis of Coral Reef Topographic Complexity Using Lidar-Derived Bathymetry."
Navassa Island
Navassa Island is located approximately 50 km west of the southwestern tip of Haiti, and is an uninhabited, pear-shaped island 4.64 km2 in area. In 1999, Navassa Island and a 12-mile radius of marine territory were designated as a National Wildlife Refuge under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Information about this study is available in the Geophysical Research Letters article "Topographic complexity and roughness of a tropical benthic seascape" and related USGS Data Series "Fractal Analysis of the Navassa Island Seascape."
Below are research tasks and science projects associated with this research.