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Remote Sens. 2013, 5(3), 1311-1334; doi:10.3390/rs5031311 (doi registration under processing)
Article
Mapping Coral Reef Resilience Indicators Using Field and Remotely Sensed Data
1
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada
2
Wildlife Conservation Society, 11 Ma'afu St, Fiji Country Program, Suva, Fiji
3
School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 31 December 2012; in revised form: 4 March 2013 / Accepted: 5 March 2013 / Published: 14 March 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Understanding Coral Reef Dynamics and Processes: Photo-Systems to Coral Reef Systems)
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Abstract: In
the face of increasing climate-related impacts on coral reefs, the
integration of ecosystem resilience into marine conservation planning
has become a priority. One strategy, including resilient areas in marine
protected area (MPA) networks, relies on information on the spatial
distribution of resilience. We assess the ability to model and map six
indicators of coral reef resilience—stress-tolerant coral taxa, coral
generic diversity, fish herbivore biomass, fish herbivore functional
group richness, density of juvenile corals and the cover of live coral
and crustose coralline algae. We use high spatial resolution satellite
data to derive environmental predictors and use these in random forest
models, with field observations, to predict resilience indicator values
at unsampled locations. Predictions are compared with those obtained
from universal kriging and from a baseline model. Prediction errors are
estimated using cross-validation, and the ability to map each resilience
indicator is quantified as the percentage reduction in prediction error
compared to the baseline model. Results are most promising (percentage
reduction = 18.3%) for mapping the cover of live coral and crustose
coralline algae and least promising (percentage reduction = 0%) for
coral diversity. Our study has demonstrated one approach to map
indicators of coral reef resilience. In the context of MPA network
planning, the potential to consider reef resilience in addition to
habitat and feature representation in decision-support software now
exists, allowing planners to integrate aspects of reef resilience in MPA
network development.
Keywords: coral reefs; resilience; spatial prediction; mapping; random forest; universal kriging; Fiji
Supplementary Files
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Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
Knudby, A.; Jupiter, S.; Roelfsema, C.; Lyons, M.; Phinn, S. Mapping Coral Reef Resilience Indicators Using Field and Remotely Sensed Data. Remote Sens. 2013, 5, 1311-1334.
AMA StyleKnudby A, Jupiter S, Roelfsema C, Lyons M, Phinn S. Mapping Coral Reef Resilience Indicators Using Field and Remotely Sensed Data. Remote Sensing. 2013; 5(3):1311-1334.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKnudby, Anders; Jupiter, Stacy; Roelfsema, Chris; Lyons, Mitchell; Phinn, Stuart. 2013. "Mapping Coral Reef Resilience Indicators Using Field and Remotely Sensed Data." Remote Sens. 5, no. 3: 1311-1334.
Remote Sens.
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