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Manatee habitat characterization using side-scan sonar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2019

Mindy J. McLarty Open the ORCID record for Mindy J. McLarty [Opens in a new window] ,
Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske ,
Anmari Alvarez-Alemán  and
Jorge Angulo-Valdés
Mindy J. McLarty*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI49104, USA
Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI49104, USA
Anmari Alvarez-Alemán
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones Marinas, Universidad de La Habana, Havana, Cuba Collegium of Natural Sciences, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL33711USA
Jorge Angulo-Valdés
Affiliation:
Collegium of Natural Sciences, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL33711USA
*
Author for correspondence: Mindy J. McLarty, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Identifying benthic substrates is important to researchers studying aquatic organisms in fresh and salt water systems. Benthic substrates are often not visible from the surface making it necessary to find another method to gather these data. Previous research has demonstrated that low cost side-scan sonar is a reliable way to identify hard substrates, such as rock and gravel, in a small, freshwater stream. In this study, the reliability of the side-scan sonar to accurately identify softer substrates such as grass and mud was tested in a large, brackish lagoon system. A total area of 11.55 km2 was surveyed with the sonar. Videos and pictures were taken at various points to groundtruth the sonar images and provide a measure of accuracy. Five substrate types were identified: dense seagrass, sparse seagrass, mangrove soil, mangrove soil with rock, and silt. Unidentifiable substrates were classified as unknown. A manually zoned benthic substrate map was created from the sonar recordings. Dense seagrass was most accurately identified. Sparse seagrass was the least accurately identified. A bathymetric map was also created from the sonar recordings.

Keywords

Bathymetrybenthic substratescoastal lagoonCubahabitatside scan sonar
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 100 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 173 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2019

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