baseline ecosystem condition; habitat resource inventories; ecosystem vulnerability, threats and damage following disturbance; priority locations for management;
and the effectiveness of management interventions. Meanwhile, applied research
focuses on the development and improvement of existing tools and methods to
support the information needs of coral reef managers, and pure research continues
to build an understanding of how the environment functions from organism to
landscape/seascape scales.
The specific research and management needs of coral reef scientists and
managers will ultimately determine the choice of imagery and processing tools
required. To assist with making these decisions, the sections below:
• Present guidelines for framing research and management questions;
• Highlight the sometimes conflicting needs of producers and users of coral reef
information derived from remotely sensed data, and suggest ways to reconcile
these needs to improve coral reef management;
• Discuss data requirements and limitations for specific coral reef management
applications; and
• Identify trade-offs between production costs and accuracy of reef information
derived from remote sensing image data.
15.2.1 Framing the Question
The choice of imagery and analysis techniques largely depends on the focus of the
research or management efforts. For research, scientists first need to identify a
specific question. For example, Andréfouët and Payri (2000) were interested in
evaluating whether coral reef habitat maps and field data from reefs around
Moorea Island, French Polynesia, could be integrated to assess organic and inorganic metabolism of an entire reef system. They needed to first find imagery which
covered the scale of their research site (35 km
2 ) and from which they could
reliably identify distinct habitats with differing metabolic rates (requiring multispectral, relatively high spatial resolution data).
Research questions can also be utilized to refine processing techniques that can
improve information for management. For example, Mumby et al. (1998) asked
whether the combination of water column correction and contextual editing
improved the accuracy of shallow water coral reef and seagrass habitat classifications in the Turks and Caicos Islands of the Caribbean using a variety of different multispectral sensors. Their comparisons showed that, indeed, both
processing steps together substantially improved map accuracy from airborne and
satellite imagery and could be applied with little extra cost but much improved
quality for management decisions (Mumby et al. 1998).
For management questions, managers need to first identify the management
objectives and targets and only then ask whether coral reef remote sensing data are
appropriate to inform a management strategy. For example, threat analysis
15 Science and Management
405
and the effectiveness of management interventions. Meanwhile, applied research
focuses on the development and improvement of existing tools and methods to
support the information needs of coral reef managers, and pure research continues
to build an understanding of how the environment functions from organism to
landscape/seascape scales.
The specific research and management needs of coral reef scientists and
managers will ultimately determine the choice of imagery and processing tools
required. To assist with making these decisions, the sections below:
• Present guidelines for framing research and management questions;
• Highlight the sometimes conflicting needs of producers and users of coral reef
information derived from remotely sensed data, and suggest ways to reconcile
these needs to improve coral reef management;
• Discuss data requirements and limitations for specific coral reef management
applications; and
• Identify trade-offs between production costs and accuracy of reef information
derived from remote sensing image data.
15.2.1 Framing the Question
The choice of imagery and analysis techniques largely depends on the focus of the
research or management efforts. For research, scientists first need to identify a
specific question. For example, Andréfouët and Payri (2000) were interested in
evaluating whether coral reef habitat maps and field data from reefs around
Moorea Island, French Polynesia, could be integrated to assess organic and inorganic metabolism of an entire reef system. They needed to first find imagery which
covered the scale of their research site (35 km
2 ) and from which they could
reliably identify distinct habitats with differing metabolic rates (requiring multispectral, relatively high spatial resolution data).
Research questions can also be utilized to refine processing techniques that can
improve information for management. For example, Mumby et al. (1998) asked
whether the combination of water column correction and contextual editing
improved the accuracy of shallow water coral reef and seagrass habitat classifications in the Turks and Caicos Islands of the Caribbean using a variety of different multispectral sensors. Their comparisons showed that, indeed, both
processing steps together substantially improved map accuracy from airborne and
satellite imagery and could be applied with little extra cost but much improved
quality for management decisions (Mumby et al. 1998).
For management questions, managers need to first identify the management
objectives and targets and only then ask whether coral reef remote sensing data are
appropriate to inform a management strategy. For example, threat analysis
15 Science and Management
405