Point-Combination Transect (PCT): Incorporation of small underwater cameras to study fish communities.

ABSTRACT: Available underwater visual census (UVC) methods such as line transects or point count observations are widely used to obtain community data of underwater species assemblages, despite their known pit-falls. As interest in the community structure of aquatic life is growing, there is need for more standardized and replicable methods for acquiring underwater census data.Here, we propose a novel approach, Point-Combination Transect (PCT), which makes use of automated image recording by small digital cameras to eliminate observer and identification biases associated with available UVC methods. We conducted a pilot study at Lake Tanganyika, demonstrating the applicability of PCT on a taxonomically and phenotypically highly diverse assemblage of fishes, the Tanganyikan cichlid species-flock.We co

SUBMITTER: Widmer L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6582616 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature