Biases associated with the use of underwater visual census techniques to quantify the density and size-structure of fish populations

By G. Edgar, Neville Barrett, A. Morton. 2004

321 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/513fdd484a0386f03ac94cf0fc8c262d2d38106f

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In Ecology

In Global and Planetary Change

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

Statistical solutions for error and bias in global citizen science datasets (2014, background): “In the case of size estimation by divers, divers can be trained through practice with objects of known size, and/or size data can be transformed using known relationships between true and estimated sizes (Edgar et al., 2004).”
A comparison of two survey methods: differences between underwater visual census and baited remote underwater video (2010, unknown): “The result of these biases is that UVC usually underestimates fish density (Sale & Sharp 1983, Edgar et al. 2004).”
A comparison of temperate reef fish assemblages recorded by three underwater stereo-video techniques (2005, background): “Fish behaviour may be responsible for the high variability in the assemblage structure of fishes among replicate stereo-video transects (MVDisp=1.221), which has also been reported by Edgar et al. (2004) using traditional UVC.”
Behaviour of temperate and sub-tropical reef fishes towards a stationary SCUBA diver (2007, background): “Other researchers have demonstrated diver error with SCUBA divers tending to underestimate fish length (e.g. Samoilys and Carlos 1992; Hickford and Schiel 1995; Harvey et al. 2001a; Edgar et al. 2004).”
Stability in temperate reef communities over a decadal time scale despite concurrent ocean warming (2010, background): “Fish sizes were estimated after practising with objects of known size, and were believed to be accurate and consistent (Edgar et al., 2004).”
Community structure of temperate reef fishes in kelp-dominated subtidal habitats of northern Chile (2007, methodology): “Choosing the most suitable method might be based on researcher’s experience measured as personal bias, formerly applied methods, and logistic costs (Samoilys and Carlos 2000; Edgar et al. 2004).”
Factors affecting the detection distances of reef fish: implications for visual counts (2011, background): “This is in agreement with studies that found observer bias in ﬁsh detection to be inconsistent and less important than other sources of bias (Thompson and Mapstone 1997; Mapstone and Ayling 1998; Edgar et al. 2004; Williams et al. 2006).”
Abundance estimates of the Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans/miles complex in the Western North Atlantic (2006, background): “by 40–82% (Sale and Douglas 1981; Brock 1982; Stewart and Beukers 2000; Edgar et al. 2004).”
A little bait goes a long way: The influence of bait quantity on a temperate fish assemblage sampled using stereo-BRUVs (2013, background): “The flight response of fish is species specific and therefore the likelihood of an observation is species dependant, which limits the inferences that can be drawn regarding whole fish assemblages (Dickens et al., 2011; Edgar et al., 2004; Watson and Harvey, 2007).”
Acoustic fish communities: sound diversity of rocky habitats reflects fish species diversity (2019, background): “…, Williams et al. 2006) or in estimating their sizes (Edgar et al. 2004), (2) inadequate for detecting cryptic, elusive and nocturnal species (Willis 2001, Edgar et al. 2004, Feary et al. 2011) and (3) subject to some logistical constraints (i.e. visibility and time dive-limits related to depth).”
Structuring of Indo-Pacific fish assemblages along the mangrove-seagrass continuum (2009, methodology): “As with any visual observation method in any vegetated environment, it is likely that small and cryptic species were underestimated (Edgar et al. 2004).”