Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Trina Rosing |
|---|---|
| Title | Using Structure-from-Motion Technology to Compare Coral Coverage on Restored vs. Unrestored Reefs |
| Department | Biology |
| Advisor | Jim Welch |
| Year | 2021 |
| Honors | University Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (818 KB) |
| Abstract | Coral reefs are vital ecosystems that are experiencing high stress and death rates from major bleaching events. Because of the major loss of corals around the world, restoration and methods of measuring the effectiveness of restoration techniques have become imperative. Photomosaics, also known as Structure-from-motion technology, is a new measuring method for the restoration of coral reefs. This technology combines thousands of overlapping photos of reefs and allow for definitive measurement and analysis of reefs. CoralNet is a self-learning website that more efficiently labels coral. In this research, CoralNet is used to analyze both restored and unrestored reefs in Puerto Rico. The unrestored reefs are found to have the most diversity in coral species, but a restored reef has the highest H value of 1.584. Restored reefs were also found to have more hard corals whereas the unrestored reefs were found to have more soft corals. Overall, SfM technology is recommended for use to measure coral biodiversity and outplant growth. |
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