Evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) in Lake Macquarie, Australia.
Upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) are mostly sedentary, benthic jellyfish that have invaded estuarine ecosystems around the world. Monitoring the spread of this invasive jellyfish must contend with high spatial and temporal variability in abundance of individuals, especially around their invasio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262721 |
| _version_ | 1818331150865661952 |
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| author | Claire E Rowe Will F Figueira Brendan P Kelaher Anna Giles Lea T Mamo Shane T Ahyong Stephen J Keable |
| author_facet | Claire E Rowe Will F Figueira Brendan P Kelaher Anna Giles Lea T Mamo Shane T Ahyong Stephen J Keable |
| author_sort | Claire E Rowe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) are mostly sedentary, benthic jellyfish that have invaded estuarine ecosystems around the world. Monitoring the spread of this invasive jellyfish must contend with high spatial and temporal variability in abundance of individuals, especially around their invasion front. Here, we evaluated the utility of drones to survey invasive Cassiopea in a coastal lake on the east coast of Australia. To assess the efficacy of a drone-based methodology, we compared the densities and counts of Cassiopea from drone observations to conventional boat-based observations and evaluated cost and time efficiency of these methods. We showed that there was no significant difference in Cassiopea density measured by drones compared to boat-based methods along the same transects. However, abundance estimates of Cassiopea derived from scaling-up transect densities were over-inflated by 319% for drones and 178% for boats, compared to drone-based counts of the whole site. Although conventional boat-based survey techniques were cost-efficient in the short-term, we recommend doing whole-of-site counts using drones. This is because it provides a time-saving and precise technique for long-term monitoring of the spatio-temporally dynamic invasion front of Cassiopea in coastal lakes and other sheltered marine habitats with relatively clear water. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:15:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8bae52fab94c4e94a81ed2f953017504 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:15:17Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-8bae52fab94c4e94a81ed2f9530175042022-12-21T23:44:33ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01171e026272110.1371/journal.pone.0262721Evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) in Lake Macquarie, Australia.Claire E RoweWill F FigueiraBrendan P KelaherAnna GilesLea T MamoShane T AhyongStephen J KeableUpside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) are mostly sedentary, benthic jellyfish that have invaded estuarine ecosystems around the world. Monitoring the spread of this invasive jellyfish must contend with high spatial and temporal variability in abundance of individuals, especially around their invasion front. Here, we evaluated the utility of drones to survey invasive Cassiopea in a coastal lake on the east coast of Australia. To assess the efficacy of a drone-based methodology, we compared the densities and counts of Cassiopea from drone observations to conventional boat-based observations and evaluated cost and time efficiency of these methods. We showed that there was no significant difference in Cassiopea density measured by drones compared to boat-based methods along the same transects. However, abundance estimates of Cassiopea derived from scaling-up transect densities were over-inflated by 319% for drones and 178% for boats, compared to drone-based counts of the whole site. Although conventional boat-based survey techniques were cost-efficient in the short-term, we recommend doing whole-of-site counts using drones. This is because it provides a time-saving and precise technique for long-term monitoring of the spatio-temporally dynamic invasion front of Cassiopea in coastal lakes and other sheltered marine habitats with relatively clear water.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262721 |
| spellingShingle | Claire E Rowe Will F Figueira Brendan P Kelaher Anna Giles Lea T Mamo Shane T Ahyong Stephen J Keable Evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) in Lake Macquarie, Australia. PLoS ONE |
| title | Evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) in Lake Macquarie, Australia. |
| title_full | Evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) in Lake Macquarie, Australia. |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) in Lake Macquarie, Australia. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) in Lake Macquarie, Australia. |
| title_short | Evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) in Lake Macquarie, Australia. |
| title_sort | evaluating the effectiveness of drones for quantifying invasive upside down jellyfish cassiopea sp in lake macquarie australia |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262721 |
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