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A standardised vocabulary for identifying benthic biota and substrata from underwater imagery: the CATAMI classification scheme
Citation
Althaus, F and Hill, N and Ferrari, R and Edwards, L and Przeslawski, R and Schonberg, CHL and Stuart-Smith, R and Barrett, N and Edgar, G and Colquhoun, J and Tran, M and Jordan, A and Rees, T and Gowett-Holmes, K, A standardised vocabulary for identifying benthic biota and substrata from underwater imagery: the CATAMI classification scheme, PLoS ONE, 10, (10) Article e0141039. ISSN 1932-6203 (2015) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2015 The Authors Licenced under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0141039
Abstract
Imagery collected by still and video cameras is an increasingly important tool for minimal
impact, repeatable observations in the marine environment. Data generated from imagery
includes identification, annotation and quantification of biological subjects and environmental
features within an image. To be long-lived and useful beyond their project-specific initial
purpose, and to maximize their utility across studies and disciplines, marine imagery data
should use a standardised vocabulary of defined terms. This would enable the compilation
of regional, national and/or global data sets from multiple sources, contributing to broadscale
management studies and development of automated annotation algorithms. The classification
scheme developed under the Collaborative and Automated Tools for Analysis of
Marine Imagery (CATAMI) project provides such a vocabulary. The CATAMI classification
scheme introduces Australian-wide acknowledged, standardised terminology for annotating
benthic substrates and biota in marine imagery. It combines coarse-level taxonomy and
morphology, and is a flexible, hierarchical classification that bridges the gap between habitat/
biotope characterisation and taxonomy, acknowledging limitations when describing biological
taxa through imagery. It is fully described, documented, and maintained through
curated online databases, and can be applied across benthic image collection methods,
annotation platforms and scoring methods. Following release in 2013, the CATAMI classification
scheme was taken up by a wide variety of users, including government, academia
and industry. This rapid acceptance highlights the scheme’s utility and the potential to facilitate broad-scale multidisciplinary studies of marine ecosystems when applied globally.
Here we present the CATAMI classification scheme, describe its conception and features,
and discuss its utility and the opportunities as well as challenges arising from its use.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | macroalgae, coral, sessile, photoquadrats |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Ecology |
| Research Field: | Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
| Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
| Objective Group: | Terrestrial systems and management |
| Objective Field: | Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems |
| UTAS Author: | Hill, N (Dr Nicole Hill) |
| UTAS Author: | Stuart-Smith, R (Dr Rick Stuart-Smith) |
| UTAS Author: | Barrett, N (Associate Professor Neville Barrett) |
| UTAS Author: | Edgar, G (Professor Graham Edgar) |
| ID Code: | 104000 |
| Year Published: | 2015 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 124 |
| Deposited By: | Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration |
| Deposited On: | 2015-10-30 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-11-06 |
| Downloads: | 391 View Download Statistics |
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