Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Study the 3D Skeletal Architecture in Newly Settled Coral Recruits: Insights into the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral Biomineralization
Understanding the formation of the coral skeleton has been a common subject uniting various marine and materials study fields. Two main regions dominate coral skeleton growth: Rapid Accretion Deposits (RADs) and Thickening Deposits (TDs). These have been extensively characterized at the 2D level, bu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/10/3/391 |
| _version_ | 1797470274251128832 |
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| author | Federica Scucchia Katrein Sauer Paul Zaslansky Tali Mass |
| author_facet | Federica Scucchia Katrein Sauer Paul Zaslansky Tali Mass |
| author_sort | Federica Scucchia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding the formation of the coral skeleton has been a common subject uniting various marine and materials study fields. Two main regions dominate coral skeleton growth: Rapid Accretion Deposits (RADs) and Thickening Deposits (TDs). These have been extensively characterized at the 2D level, but their 3D characteristics are still poorly described. Here, we present an innovative approach to combine synchrotron phase contrast-enhanced microCT (PCE-CT) with artificial intelligence (AI) to explore the 3D architecture of RADs and TDs within the coral skeleton. As a reference study system, we used recruits of the stony coral <i>Stylophora pistillata</i> from the Red Sea, grown under both natural and simulated ocean acidification conditions. We thus studied the recruit’s skeleton under both regular and morphologically-altered acidic conditions. By imaging the corals with PCE-CT, we revealed the interwoven morphologies of RADs and TDs. Deep-learning neural networks were invoked to explore AI segmentation of these regions, to overcome limitations of common segmentation techniques. This analysis yielded highly-detailed 3D information about the RAD’s and TD’s architecture. Our results demonstrate how AI can be used as a powerful tool to obtain 3D data essential for studying coral biomineralization and for exploring the effects of environmental change on coral growth. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:34:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-28cccbefb0f04d519ff1a37e91ceb7aa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1312 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:34:22Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-28cccbefb0f04d519ff1a37e91ceb7aa2023-11-24T01:58:00ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122022-03-0110339110.3390/jmse10030391Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Study the 3D Skeletal Architecture in Newly Settled Coral Recruits: Insights into the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral BiomineralizationFederica Scucchia0Katrein Sauer1Paul Zaslansky2Tali Mass3Department of Marine Biology, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, IsraelDepartment for Operative and Preventive Dentistry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, 14497 Berlin, GermanyDepartment for Operative and Preventive Dentistry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, 14497 Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Marine Biology, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, IsraelUnderstanding the formation of the coral skeleton has been a common subject uniting various marine and materials study fields. Two main regions dominate coral skeleton growth: Rapid Accretion Deposits (RADs) and Thickening Deposits (TDs). These have been extensively characterized at the 2D level, but their 3D characteristics are still poorly described. Here, we present an innovative approach to combine synchrotron phase contrast-enhanced microCT (PCE-CT) with artificial intelligence (AI) to explore the 3D architecture of RADs and TDs within the coral skeleton. As a reference study system, we used recruits of the stony coral <i>Stylophora pistillata</i> from the Red Sea, grown under both natural and simulated ocean acidification conditions. We thus studied the recruit’s skeleton under both regular and morphologically-altered acidic conditions. By imaging the corals with PCE-CT, we revealed the interwoven morphologies of RADs and TDs. Deep-learning neural networks were invoked to explore AI segmentation of these regions, to overcome limitations of common segmentation techniques. This analysis yielded highly-detailed 3D information about the RAD’s and TD’s architecture. Our results demonstrate how AI can be used as a powerful tool to obtain 3D data essential for studying coral biomineralization and for exploring the effects of environmental change on coral growth.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/10/3/391coral reefscoral recruitsbiomineralizationskeletal structuresynchrotron phase contrast-enhanced microCTPCE-CT |
| spellingShingle | Federica Scucchia Katrein Sauer Paul Zaslansky Tali Mass Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Study the 3D Skeletal Architecture in Newly Settled Coral Recruits: Insights into the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral Biomineralization Journal of Marine Science and Engineering coral reefs coral recruits biomineralization skeletal structure synchrotron phase contrast-enhanced microCT PCE-CT |
| title | Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Study the 3D Skeletal Architecture in Newly Settled Coral Recruits: Insights into the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral Biomineralization |
| title_full | Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Study the 3D Skeletal Architecture in Newly Settled Coral Recruits: Insights into the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral Biomineralization |
| title_fullStr | Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Study the 3D Skeletal Architecture in Newly Settled Coral Recruits: Insights into the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral Biomineralization |
| title_full_unstemmed | Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Study the 3D Skeletal Architecture in Newly Settled Coral Recruits: Insights into the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral Biomineralization |
| title_short | Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Study the 3D Skeletal Architecture in Newly Settled Coral Recruits: Insights into the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral Biomineralization |
| title_sort | artificial intelligence as a tool to study the 3d skeletal architecture in newly settled coral recruits insights into the effects of ocean acidification on coral biomineralization |
| topic | coral reefs coral recruits biomineralization skeletal structure synchrotron phase contrast-enhanced microCT PCE-CT |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/10/3/391 |
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