Relating remotely sensed optical variability to marine benthic biodiversity

Area of Science:

• Marine ecology
• Remote sensing
• Biodiversity assessment

Background:

• Ecosystem viability relies on biodiversity, necessitating accurate data for sustainable resource management.
• Mapping biodiversity at high spatial resolutions is essential but challenging.
• Optical remote sensing offers a potential solution for large-scale biodiversity data collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the spectral variation hypothesis (SVH) in marine benthic habitats.
• To investigate the relationship between spectral variability (SV) and marine biodiversity using hyperspectral imagery.
• To assess the applicability of SVH for benthic biodiversity assessments.

Main Methods:

• Application of the SVH in a marine context for the first time.
• Utilizing hyperspectral imagery from the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI).
• Analyzing correlations between SV and coverage-based/biomass-based diversity measures of benthic organisms.

Main Results:

• Low but statistically significant positive correlations were found between SV and coverage-based diversity measures.
• Relationships between SV and biomass-based diversity measures were weak or absent.
• SV emerged as the most influential predictor variable for benthic species richness and Shannon index.

Conclusions:

• The SVH is relevant and applicable to marine benthic habitats.
• SV derived from hyperspectral imagery can be used for assessing benthic biodiversity.
• This study provides a foundation for future remote sensing-based biodiversity assessments in marine ecosystems.