Preliminary Results from a Benthic Video Survey of the Lake Huron Nearshore

Session: 60. - Seeing Below the Surface: Quantifying the Underwater Environment with Image Analysis

Theodore Angradi, U.S. EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division, [email protected]
Molly Wick, EPA, Oak Ridge Institute for Science, [email protected]
Matthew Pawlowski, ORISE, [email protected]

Abstract

We used down-looking and oblique videography to examine benthic conditions in the Nearshore of Lake Huron in August 2017. Video was collected at multiple stations clustered at 8 general locations in Lake Huron: off the Thessalon River and the Spanish River in the North Channel; off French River, Parry Sound and the Nottawasaga River in Georgian Bay; and off Maitland River, Harbor Beach, and the Ocqueoc River in the main basin. Mean depth at sample locations was 11m. Cameras were deployed on a video frame from the R/V Lake Explorer II.  Analysis of the videos is ongoing. Information extracted from the videos will include, at least, substrate type, abundance of Dreissenid mussels, and presence of round gobies. Our goal is to develop techniques for video sampling on nearshore hard substrates where other benthic methods are problematic.

1. Keyword
zoobenthos

2. Keyword
Lake Huron

3. Keyword
cameras