Duke's seamapping dream team
Computer savvy ecologists at Duke are taking spatial analysis
offshore as part of a worldwide effort to take stock of what
lives in the sea
By Tinker Ready
Given a few aerial photographs, a good GIS program and bit
of field data, landscape ecologists can make any number of
relevant observations about the terrestrial world. Move all
that offshore and things get a bit murkier. Tides, temperature,
currents and migrating sea life keep the ocean in a constant
state of change. And, much of what we do know about this high-impact
environment comes from the so-called “skin” layer
—the surface of the sea. So many vital research questions
remain unanswered. In other words, the world’s oceans
remain scientifically uncharted. Now, researchers equipped
with computerized tags, unmanned vehicles and satellite-based
monitoring systems are beginning to collect data about marine
life once thought to be uncollectable. But instead of filing
all that data away after the paper gets published, they now
have the option of joining a worldwide effort aimed at mapping
the world’s oceans.
With preeminent marine science and landscape ecology programs,
Duke is taking the lead in the creation of an online digital
library that will offer data on the world’s marine life
in a constantly updated relational database. On the technical
side, Patrick
Halpin, working out of his Durham computer lab,
has adapted his GIS and simulation modeling tools so that
they can be used to answer conservation management questions
unique to offshore settings. And across the state on Piver’s
Island, scientists at the Duke
Marine Lab have been tracking much of what moves
in and near the sea. Larry
B. Crowder studies endangered sea turtles, most
recently tending to captive baby loggerheads as his team tried
to figure out why female hatchlings outnumber males. Assistant
research scientist David Hyrenbach has done fieldwork on impact
of ocean conditions on marine bird populations off the West
Coast, particularly the black footed albatross. And Andy
Read, the project leader, is Duke’s resident
expert on marine mammals. He’s used satellite-linked
radio transmitters to track harbor porpoise movements and
his lab was out front in the effort to apply spatial analysis
to marine conservation problems.
Working together, these scientists put together a proposal
that won a $1.8 million grant for the creation of a digital
archive of data describing the world’s population of
marine mammals, sea turtles and seabirds. But, Halpin said,
the Duke researchers don’t want to stop there. The mapping,
imaging and computer tools available to perform spatial analysis
on the environment have outpaced the availability of data
on marine life, he said. This project is designed to change
that.
“Our real motivation is that, once we get these files
in this library, we can start doing analysis we couldn’t
do five or 10 years ago,” Halpin said. “Imagine
a video of temperature changes, moving currents and the sea
turtles responding.”
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