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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Peter Mumby
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Interest in mapping tropical coastal resources using remote sensing has never been so extensive. Tropical coastal resources are vital to many national economies but are threatened by development, over-fishing and large-scale climatic phenomena including the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. Remote sensing is the only practicable means of making large-scale synoptic assessments of coastal resources and we are entering an age of unprecedented access to remotely sensed data. Generally speaking, airborne sensors with high spectral and spatial resolution distinguish finer biological detail than coarser resolution satellite sensors. The current mapping capabilities for the major tropical systems of mangrove, seagrass and reefs are: mangrove boundaries, mangrove canopy height and closure, mangrove leaf area index, seagrass boundaries, seagrass density (three classes), seagrass standing crop, reef geomorphology, reef habitats (assemblages of species and associated substrata), and living/non-living coral colonies in very shallow clear water (<1 m). Not all parameters of interest to scientists and managers can be mapped. Further research, and possibly new sensors, are needed to map coral versus algal cover and seagrass species composition. Ecologists face the important challenge of embracing spatially explicit data on coastal resources. Spatial data need to be incorporated into ecosystem process models to help bridge the gap in scale between most field studies and functional ecosystems. As remote sensing of coastal resources becomes more sophisticated (i.e. better data and analyses), the benefits of obtaining such data will grow through development of more advanced, and potentially useful, applications. I argue that the economics of undertaking remote sensing should be assessed in parallel with such developments in order to prevent over-selling or under-exploitation of the technology.
Author(s): Mumby PJ
Editor(s): Sheppard, R.C.
Publication type: Book Chapter
Publication status: Published
Book Title: Seas at the millennium
Year: 2000
Volume: 3
Pages: 283-291
Print publication date: 01/01/2000
Publisher: Elsevier
Place Published: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Notes: Chapter 127
Library holdings: Search Newcastle University Library for this item
ISBN: 0080432077
