A field and video-annotation guide for baited remote underwater stereo-video surveys of demersal fish assemblages

Researchers TL, BG, JW, NB and JM were supported by the Marine Biodiversity Hub through funding from the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program. Data validation scripts and GlobalArchive.org were supported by the Australian Research Data Commons, the Gorgon-Barrow Island Gorgon Barrow Island Net Conservation Benefits Fund, administered by the Government of Western Australia and the BHP/UWA Biodiversity and Societal Benefits of Restricted Access Areas collaboration.1. Baited remote underwater stereo-video systems (stereo-BRUVs) are a popular tool to sample demersal fish assemblages and gather data on their relative abundance and body-size structure in a robust, cost-effective, and non-invasive manner. Given the rapid uptake of the method, subtle differences have emerged in the way stereo-BRUVs are deployed and how the resulting imagery are annotated. These disparities limit the interoperability of datasets obtained across studies, preventing broad-scale insights into the dynamics of ecological systems. 2. We provide the first globally accepted guide for using stereo-BRUVs to survey demersal fish assemblages and associated benthic habitats. 3. Information on stereo-BRUV design, camera settings, field operations, and image annotation are outlined. Additionally, we provide links to protocols for data validation, archiving, and sharing. 4. Globally, the use of stereo-BRUVs is spreading rapidly. We provide a standardised protocol that will reduce methodological variation among researchers and encourage the use of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reproducible (FAIR) workflows to increase the ability to synthesise global datasets and answer a broad suite of ecological questions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Urban economic development and globalisation linkages in the Pacific Rim

Increasingly it is city regions that are the ʼnexus of the new global economy and society’ as the barriers between nations are being eroded and the control of governments over the flow of capital, technology and innovation is reduced. Nowhere are the dynamics of the interplay of the forces of globalisation and the roles of cities as engines of economic growth more dramatic than in the Pacific Rim region and its rapidly emerging mega-cities and extended metropolitan regions. There has been a plethora of literature dealing with globalisation and the new global economy. An outcome of the processes described above is the rise of ʼnew global geographies’, of borderless geographies with quite different breaks and boundaries from the past. Increasingly, decisions on manufacturing location by multi-national firms are based on comparison of labour costs and other key factors of production across a range of potential host countries

Evaluation of radiography services in the Top End

At the request of the Minister for Health and Community Services, an evaluation of radiographic services in the "Top End" was undertaken during the months of June, July and August 1988. The aim of the evaluation was to examine whether the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the "Top End" radiographic services are adequate or required improvement. For the purpose of this evaluation, the definition of "Top End" included Royal Darwin, Gove District and Katherine Hospitals, Alyangula and Jabiru Health Centres and Bathurst Island. The evaluation did not examine or assess the technical expertise of radiologists and radiographers

Remote area Indigenous housing: Towards a model of best practice

This article analyses housing provision for Indigenous populations in remote communities, focusing particularly on the Indigenous Australian population. It uses a 'best practice' framework to do this. It then develops a model of best practice which is used to evaluate remote area Indigenous housing in terms of four stages and six components of housing provision. After summarising the results of the application of the model to some 26 examples, with more detailed analysis of two of them, it reaches conclusions about elements of best practice in remote area Indigenous housing, about best practice methodology and about the wider applicability of the model

Incidence estimation using a single cross-sectional age-specific prevalence survey with differential mortality.

Here, we present a method for incidence estimation of a curable, non-recurring disease when data from a single cross-sectional survey are used together with population-level mortality rates and an assumption of differential mortality of diseased versus non-diseased individuals. The motivating example is cataract, and the VISION2020 goal to eliminate avoidable blindness globally by 2020. Reliable estimates of current and future cataract disease burden are required to predict how many surgeries would need to be performed to meet the VISION2020 goals. However, incidence estimates, needed to derive future burden, are not as easily available, due to the cost of conducting cohort studies. Disease is defined at the person-level in accordance with the WHO person-level definition of blindness. An extension of the standard time homogeneous illness-death model to a four-state model is described, which allows the disease to be cured, whereby surgery is performed on at least one diseased eye. Incidence is estimated, and the four-state model is used to predict disease burden assuming different surgical strategies whilst accounting for the competing risk of death. The method is applied to data from approximately 10,000 people from a survey of visual impairment in Nigeria