Workflow for the generation of expert-derived training and validation data: a view to global scale habitat mapping

Our ability to completely and repeatedly map natural environments at a global scale have increased significantly over the past decade. These advances are from delivery of a range of on-line global satellite image archives and global-scale processing capabilities, along with improved spatial and temporal resolution satellite imagery. The ability to accurately train and validate these global scale-mapping programs from what we will call “reference data sets” is challenging due to a lack of coordinated financial and personnel resourcing, and standardized methods to collate reference datasets at global spatial extents. Here, we present an expert-driven approach for generating training and validation data on a global scale, with the view to mapping the world’s coral reefs. Global reefs were first stratified into approximate biogeographic regions, then per region reference data sets were compiled that include existing point data or maps at various levels of accuracy. These reference data sets were compiled from new field surveys, literature review of published surveys, and from individually sourced contributions from the coral reef monitoring and management agencies. Reference data were overlaid on high spatial resolution satellite image mosaics (3.7 m × 3.7 m pixels; Planet Dove) for each region. Additionally, thirty to forty satellite image tiles; 20 km × 20 km) were selected for which reference data and/or expert knowledge was available and which covered a representative range of habitats. The satellite image tiles were segmented into interpretable groups of pixels which were manually labeled with a mapping category via expert interpretation. The labeled segments were used to generate points to train the mapping models, and to validate or assess accuracy. The workflow for desktop reference data creation that we present expands and up-scales traditional approaches of expert-driven interpretation for both manual habitat mapping and map training/validation. We apply the reference data creation methods in the context of global coral reef mapping, though our approach is broadly applicable to any environment. Transparent processes for training and validation are critical for usability as big data provide more opportunities for managers and scientists to use global mapping products for science and conservation of vulnerable and rapidly changing ecosystems

Virtual reality of coral reefs : exploring ecological worldviews, environmental attitudes, and psychological distance after an immersive virtual experience

Verkefnið er lokað til 01.06.2020.The science-public communication gap has persisted for decades (Schuldt, McComas, & Byrne, 2016), due to issues such as climate change and long-term ecosystem degradation being difficult to describe to the general public. In contemporary scientific literature, stakeholder engagement is the prevalent leadership message for successful implementation of coastal management programs (Pomeroy & Douvere, 2008). However, the challenge of how to engage the public remains. This thesis examines the effects of temporal framing when experiencing coral reef degradation through a 360 video Immersive Virtual Experience (IVE) to observe the capability of a new engagement tool. Participants from coastal (Los Angeles, California) and inland (Boise, Idaho) communities were exposed to Virtual Reality (VR) footage of coral reefs in Belize in one of two conditions; ‘visual temporal’, which included archival (1967) and present day (2017) footage combined; or ‘visual present’, which included present-day footage alone. A pretest–posttest examined the moderating effects of ideology and worldview on condition using Dunlap’s et al. (2000) New Environmental Paradigm (NEP). Outcome measures included psychological distance, ecological concern, perception of ocean mitigation policies, and willingness to take personal pro-environmental action. Results show interactions between condition and pretest NEP scores on completion rates, as well as a main effect of NEP scores on the pretest–posttest measures. These findings are important for environmental public policy and communication because they highlight how IVEs can enable powerful direct media experiences of marine environments, and how reactions to such IVEs may vary by existing ideology and worldview. This thesis attempts to guide coastal managers to engage and communicate with stakeholders in a novel and captivating way.Þessi ritgerð skoðar áhrif tímainnrömmunar þegar greint er niðurbrot kóralrifja í gegnum 360 sýndarveruleikamyndbands (IVE). Þátttakendur frá samfélögum á strandsvæðum (Los Angeles, California) og landluktum svæðum (Boise, Idaho) fengu að sjá kóralrif frá Belize í gegnum sýndarveruleika frá tveimur mismunandi tímum; úr myndsafni frá 1967 og nýrri myndir frá 2017, sameinuð, eða einungis nýrri myndirnar frá 2017. Forathugun og eftiráathugun athuguðu áhrif upplifunarinnar á hugmyndafræði og heimsmynd, en stutt var við New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) aðferðina (Dunlap et al (2000)). Mælt var sálfræðileg fjarlægð, áhyggjur af vistfræði, ásýnd á verndaraðgerðir í hafi, og vilji til að taka persónulega þátt í aðgerðum í þágu umhverfisverndar. Niðurstöður sýna fylgni milli skilyrðis og NEP-gildum í forathugun á hvort þátttakandi lauk áhorfi, og fylgni milli NEP-gilda í forathugun og eftiráathugun. Niðurstöðurnar gætu haft áhrif á opinbera stefnumörkun í umhverfisvernd og miðlun til almennings með því að sýna að sýndarveruleiki getur leitt af sér sterkar upplifanir af neðansjávarumhverfi, og að viðbrögð við slíkum sýndarveruleikaupplifunum stýrast að einhverju leyti af fyrri hugmyndafræði og heimsmynd áhorfanda

New global area estimates for coral reefs from high-resolution mapping

Summary: Coral reefs underpin the environmental, social, and economic fabrics of much of the world's tropical coast. Yet, the fine-scale distribution and composition of coral reefs have never been reported consistently across the planet. Here, we present new area estimates enabled by global geomorphic zone and benthic substrate maps at 5 m pixel resolution. We revise global coral reef estimates to 348,361 km2 of shallow coral reefs and 80,213 km2 (46,237–106,319 km2, 95% confidence interval) of coral habitat. The mapping used more than 1.5 million training samples supported by 480+ data contributions to deploy a coral reef classification of over 100 trillion pixels from the Sentinel-2 satellites and the Planet Dove CubeSat constellation. The publicly available maps are accessible via the Allen Coral Atlas and Google Earth Engine and are already being used by thousands of people to improve the conservation, management, and research of coral reef ecosystems. Science for society: Coral reefs possess a quarter of all marine life and contribute to the well-being and livelihoods of a billion people worldwide. Maps of ecosystems underpin many science and conservation activities, but until recently, there were no consistent high-resolution maps of the world’s coral reefs. In this paper, we describe new global coral reef maps from the Allen Coral Atlas, detailing the underlying methodology and our new understanding of the global distribution of coral reefs. The transparent and repeatable nature of our mapping framework allows the maps to be updated based on user feedback, and the ease of access has led to downstream applications such as coral bleaching monitoring and usage in scientific, management, and conservation activities. Hundreds of thousands of people have already accessed the maps, and they are already being used directly around the world for marine spatial planning, marine protected areas, environmental accounting and assessments, restoration, and education