MEPS 159:51-60 (1997)  -  doi:10.3354/meps159051

The standing crop of seagrass is highly sensitive to environmental disturbance. We evaluate 3 optical remote sensing methods for measuring standing crop in the tropical Western Atlantic. Extensive field measurements of standing crop were used to define empirical relationships with imagery from satellite sensors [Landsat Thematic Mapper and SPOT (Système Probatoire de l'Observation de la Terre) XS (multispectral)], and the digital airborne imager CASI (Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager). Predictions of standing crop from processed imagery had high coefficients of determination: 0.74, 0.79 and 0.81 respectively. Using a bootstrap method to measure standard error, the 95% confidence interval of predictions was found to have a similar order of magnitude to quadrat sampling in situ at a precision (standard error/mean) of 10%. Explicit cost-benefit and monitoring considerations are discussed.

Seagrass standing crop · Remote sensing · CASI · Monitoring