Photogrammetry as a Tool for Community Based Science in British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The Caribbean Sea has seen a degradation of 80%-90% of its coral reefs since the 1970s. This is catastrophic for the 40 million residents of the region who depend on coral reefs for their livelihoods, recreation, storm protection, and culture. There is a need for finer scale, streamlined monitoring of reefs to address the challenges they are facing. Structure from Motion (SFM) Photogrammetry facilitates and enables monitoring using community-based science. Collaboration with community partners across the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands led to the co-design of effective methods to implement photogrammetry in their local reefs. Measurements derived from photogrammetric models provided surface rugosity data for 28 sites across the region, providing quantitative data on the state of the reefs after the devastating hurricanes that occurred in September of 2017. The average value for the region was 1.505, and only four sites had regions with a rugosity greater than 2, the common threshold for a structurally complex reef, which is linked to increased biodiversity and high functioning ecosystem services. Regional averages varied between 1.409 in the northeastern region of Puerto Rico, to 1.813 in Culebra, Puerto Rico. This project was an initial run of what will be a longer term project that facilitates community-based monitoring of Caribbean reefs. The most significant contribution of this research is the development of one of the first frameworks for applying photogrammetry as an effective community-based science tool. This framework includes the evaluation of the main objectives of the community partner, access to resources, skill in the water, previous experience with research, capacity for work intensity, and number of volunteers. These frameworks can be applied when using photogrammetry in other coastal environments, and when working with community based scientists in an underwater setting.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | October 23, 2020 |
| Date modified | December 5, 2022 |
| Publication date | December 29, 2021 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Contreras Balbuena, Andrea C. |
|---|---|
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Department of Earth Systems |
| Thesis advisor | Arrigo, Kevin |
| Thesis advisor | Dunbar, Rob |
Subjects
| Subject | Earth Systems |
|---|---|
| Subject | School of Earth Energy and Environmental Sciences |
| Subject | Coral Reefs |
| Subject | Photogrammetry |
| Subject | Community-Based Science |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Andrea C. Contreras Balbuena. (2020). Photogrammetry as a Tool for Community Based Science in British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/sn726rz4083
Collection
Undergraduate Honors Theses, Doerr School of Sustainability
View other items in this collection in SearchWorksContact information
- Contact
- andrea12@stanford.edu
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...