Madrid. Coral reefs have a complex soundscape, and even careful analysis must be done by experts to gauge the health of those ecosystems based on sound recordings.
In a new study, published in Ecological Indicators, Scientists trained a computer algorithm using multiple recordings of healthy and degraded reefs, allowing the machine to learn the difference.
The computer then analyzed a large number of new recordings and successfully identified reef health 92 percent of the time. The team used this to track the progress of restoration projects for those coral banks.
Ben Williams, PhD candidate at University College London Biodiversity and Environment Research Center and lead author of the study, which he began while at the University of Exeter, said in a statement that “coral reefs face multiple threats , including climate change, so keeping an eye on their health and the success of conservation projects is vital.
“One of the main difficulties is that visual and acoustic surveys of reefs often rely on labor-intensive methods. Visual surveys are also limited by the fact that many creatures in these ecosystems hide or are active at night, while the complexity of sounds has made it difficult to identify the health of schools from individual recordings.
machine learning
“Our approach to that problem was to use machine learning, to see if a computer could learn the singing of the reef. Our findings show that a computer can detect patterns that are undetectable to the human ear, it can tell us faster and more accurately how the ecosystem is doing.”
Fish and other creatures that live in coral reefs make a wide range of sounds. The meaning of many of these calls remains unknown, but the new artificial intelligence (AI) method can distinguish between the general sounds of healthy and unhealthy reefs.
The recordings used in the study were taken at the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Project, which is treating severely damaged ecosystems in Indonesia.
Co-author Tim Lamont, from Lancaster University, explained that the AI approach creates great opportunities to improve coral reef monitoring. “It’s a really exciting development. Sound recorders and AI could be used around the world to monitor the health of reefs and find out if attempts to protect and restore them are working,” added Lamont.
“In many cases, it is easier and cheaper to deploy an underwater hydrophone on a reef and leave it there than to have expert divers repeatedly visit the reef to inspect it, especially in remote locations,” he concluded.
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