Remote Sensing of Coral Reefs for Monitoring and Management: A Review

Coral reefs are in decline worldwide and monitoring activities are important for assessing the impact of disturbance on reefs and tracking subsequent recovery or decline. Monitoring by field surveys provides accurate data but at highly localised scales and so is not cost-effective for reef scale monitoring at frequent time points. Remote sensing from satellites is an alternative and complementary approach. While remote sensing cannot provide the level of detail and accuracy at a single point than a field survey, the statistical power for inferring large scale patterns benefits in having complete areal coverage. This review considers the state of the art of coral reef remote sensing for the diverse range of objectives relevant for management, ranging from the composition of the reef: physical extent, benthic cover, bathymetry, rugosity; to environmental parameters: sea surface temperature, exposure, light, carbonate chemistry. In addition to updating previous reviews, here we also consider the capability to go beyond basic maps of habitats or environmental variables, to discuss concepts highly relevant to stakeholders, policy makers and public communication: such as biodiversity, environmental threat and ecosystem services. A clear conclusion of the review is that advances in both sensor technology and processing algorithms continue to drive forward remote sensing capability for coral reef mapping, particularly with respect to spatial resolution of maps, and synthesis across multiple data products. Both trends can be expected to continue.

[1]  Benjamin L. Richards,et al.  Environmental Factors Affecting Large-Bodied Coral Reef Fish Assemblages in the Mariana Archipelago , 2012, PloS one.

[2]  Kenneth S. Casey,et al.  New insights into global patterns of ocean temperature anomalies: implications for coral reef health and management , 2010 .

[3]  John D. Hedley,et al.  Combining optical and acoustic data to enhance the detection of Caribbean forereef habitats , 2010 .

[4]  Thomas Blaschke,et al.  Object-Based Image Analysis , 2008 .

[5]  Jennifer L. Molnar,et al.  Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas , 2007 .

[6]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  A physics based retrieval and quality assessment of bathymetry from suboptimal hyperspectral data , 2009 .

[7]  J. Jaubert,et al.  The cover of living and dead corals from airborne remote sensing , 2004, Coral Reefs.

[8]  P. Mumby.  Connectivity of reef fish between mangroves and coral reefs: Algorithms for the design of marine reserves at seascape scales , 2006 .

[9]  John D. Hedley,et al.  Technical note: Simple and robust removal of sun glint for mapping shallow‐water benthos , 2005 .

[10]  Jim Aiken,et al.  The atmospheric correction of water colour and the quantitative retrieval of suspended particulate matter in Case II waters: Application to MERIS , 1999 .

[11]  Simon J. Pittman,et al.  Comparative evaluation of airborne LiDAR and ship-based multibeam SoNAR bathymetry and intensity for mapping coral reef ecosystems , 2009 .

[12]  David J. Kriegman,et al.  Automated annotation of coral reef survey images , 2012, 2012 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[13]  E. LeDrew,et al.  Remote sensing of coral reefs and their physical environment. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[14]  I. Nagelkerken,et al.  Distribution of coral reef fishes along a coral reef-seagrass gradient: edge effects and habitat segregation , 2005 .

[15]  Fred J. Tanis,et al.  Multispectral bathymetry using a simple physically based algorithm , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[16]  J. Kalma,et al.  Estimating solar radiation in A tropical environment using satellite data , 1984 .

[17]  Samuel J. Purkis,et al.  Detection of shallow subtidal corals from IKONOS satellite and QTC View (50, 200 kHz) single-beam sonar data (Arabian Gulf; Dubai, UAE) , 2005 .

[18]  Serge Andréfouët,et al.  Remote sensing and fish-habitat relationships in coral reef ecosystems: review and pathways for multi-scale hierarchical research. , 2009, Marine pollution bulletin.

[19]  Sunil Narumalani,et al.  High-resolution ocean color remote sensing of benthic habitats: a case study at the Roatan island, Honduras , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[20]  Alastair R. Harborne,et al.  Using an Acoustic Ground Discrimination System to map coral reef benthic classes , 2003 .

[21]  K. Bjorndal,et al.  Global Trajectories of the Long-Term Decline of Coral Reef Ecosystems , 2003, Science.

[22]  R. Ponce-Hernandez,et al.  Using Aerial Video to Train the Supervised Classification of Landsat Tm Imagery for Coral Reef Habitats Mapping , 2005, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[23]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Remote sensing: a key tool for interdisciplinary assessment of coral reef processes , 2004, Coral Reefs.

[24]  David S. Gilliam,et al.  Reef Fish Assemblage Structure Affected by Small-Scale Spacing and Size Variations of Artificial Patch Reefs , 2005 .

[25]  C. Mellin,et al.  Spatial predictability of juvenile fish species richness and abundance in a coral reef environment , 2007, Coral Reefs.

[26]  Weilin Hou,et al.  Secchi disk depth: A new theory and mechanistic model for underwater visibility , 2015 .

[27]  Samuel J. Purkis,et al.  A "Reef-Up" approach to classifying coral habitats from IKONOS imagery , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[28]  R. S. Appeldoorn,et al.  Sea surface temperatures and coral reef bleaching off La Parguera, Puerto Rico (northeastern Caribbean Sea) , 1998, Coral Reefs.

[29]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Choosing the appropriate spatial resolution for monitoring coral bleaching events using remote sensing , 2002, Coral Reefs.

[30]  A. Dekker,et al.  Validity of SeaDAS water constituents retrieval algorithms in Australian tropical coastal waters , 2007 .

[31]  Simon Albert,et al.  Water quality monitoring: a combined approach to investigate gradients of change in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. , 2005, Marine pollution bulletin.

[32]  Russell G. Congalton,et al.  Assessing the accuracy of remotely sensed data : principles and practices , 1998 .

[33]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  Challenges of remote sensing for quantifying changes in large complex seagrass environments , 2013 .

[34]  Serge Planes,et al.  Opposite latitudinal gradients in projected ocean acidification and bleaching impacts on coral reefs , 2014, Global change biology.

[35]  Eugenio R. Mendez,et al.  Multiple scattering on coral skeletons enhances light absorption by symbiotic algae , 2005 .

[36]  Hugh P. Possingham,et al.  Incorporating uncertainty associated with habitat data in marine reserve design , 2013 .

[37]  Stuart R. Phinn,et al.  Object-Based Approach for Multi-Scale Mangrove Composition Mapping Using Multi-Resolution Image Datasets , 2015, Remote. Sens..

[38]  R. Evans,et al.  Unprecedented Mass Bleaching and Loss of Coral across 12° of Latitude in Western Australia in 2010–11 , 2012, PloS one.

[39]  Michael A. Wulder,et al.  Remote sensing methods in medium spatial resolution satellite data land cover classification of large areas , 2002 .

[40]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  Remote sensing: Discerning the promise from the reality , 2010 .

[41]  R. Dodge,et al.  Mapping Coral Reef Habitats in Southeast Florida Using a Combined Technique Approach , 2008 .

[42]  R. Pressey,et al.  Conservation Objectives and Sea‐Surface Temperature Anomalies in the Great Barrier Reef , 2012, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[43]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  Integrating field data with high spatial resolution multispectral satellite imagery for calibration and validation of coral reef benthic community maps , 2010 .

[44]  C. Birkeland,et al.  Effects of intermittent flow and irradiance level on back reef Porites corals at elevated seawater temperatures , 2007 .

[45]  Matthew E. Watts,et al.  Marxan and relatives: Software for spatial conservation prioritization , 2009 .

[46]  R. Berkelmans,et al.  Large-scale bleaching of corals on the Great Barrier Reef , 1999, Coral Reefs.

[47]  M. Spalding,et al.  Reefs at Risk Revisited , 2011 .

[48]  L. McCook,et al.  Competition between corals and algae on coral reefs: a review of evidence and mechanisms , 2001, Coral Reefs.

[49]  Chuanmin Hu,et al.  MODIS-derived spatiotemporal water clarity patterns in optically shallow Florida Keys waters: A new approach to remove bottom contamination , 2013 .

[50]  I. S. Robinson,et al.  High-resolution ground verification, cluster analysis and optical model of reef substrate coverage on Landsat TM imagery (Red Sea, Egypt) , 2002 .

[51]  D. Lu,et al.  Change detection techniques , 2004 .

[52]  Exposure-driven macroalgal phase shift following catastrophic disturbance on coral reefs , 2015, Coral Reefs.

[53]  Glenn De'ath,et al.  Declining coral calcification in massive Porites in two nearshore regions of the northern Great Barrier Reef , 2008 .

[54]  E. Sanderson,et al.  The Human Footprint and the Last of the Wild , 2002 .

[55]  Timothy J. Malthus,et al.  Integrating dual frequency side scan sonar and high spatial resolution satellite imagery for monitoring coral reef benthic communities , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[56]  Oscar Pizarro,et al.  The Catlin Seaview Survey – kilometre‐scale seascape assessment, and monitoring of coral reef ecosystems , 2014 .

[57]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  Mapping seagrass species, cover and biomass in shallow waters : An assessment of satellite multi-spectral and airborne hyper-spectral imaging systems in Moreton Bay (Australia) , 2008 .

[58]  M. Kampel,et al.  Potential impacts of polar fronts on sedimentation processes at Abrolhos coral reef (South-West Atlantic Ocean/Brazil) , 2008 .

[59]  I. Chollett,et al.  Predicting the distribution of Montastraea reefs using wave exposure , 2011, Coral Reefs.

[60]  John C. Brock,et al.  Northern Florida reef tract benthic metabolism scaled by remote sensing , 2006 .

[61]  E. Dinsdale,et al.  Patterns of recruitment and abundance of corals along the Great Barrier Reef , 1999, Nature.

[62]  David J. Smith,et al.  Proceedings of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium , 2008 .

[63]  Richard M Cowling,et al.  Conservation planning in a changing world. , 2007, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[64]  R. Steneck,et al.  Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification , 2007, Science.

[65]  W. Skirving,et al.  Identifying Coral Bleaching Remotely Via Coral Reef Watch – Improved Integration and Implications for Changing Climate , 2013 .

[66]  P. Mumby,et al.  A review of remote sensing for the assessment and management of tropical coastal resources , 1996 .

[67]  D. Bellwood,et al.  Wave energy and swimming performance shape coral reef fish assemblages , 2005, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[68]  John W. McManus,et al.  Reefs at Risk: A Map-Based Indicator of Threats to the World's Coral Reefs , 1998 .

[69]  Tapio Suominen,et al.  A GIS-based step-wise procedure for assessing physical exposure in fragmented archipelagos , 2003 .

[70]  J. Alemu I,et al.  Mass Coral Bleaching in 2010 in the Southern Caribbean , 2014, PloS one.

[71]  D. Lyzenga.  Passive remote sensing techniques for mapping water depth and bottom features. , 1978, Applied optics.

[72]  S. Phinn,et al.  Multi-scale, object-based image analysis for mapping geomorphic and ecological zones on coral reefs , 2012 .

[73]  P. Mumby,et al.  Physical environments of the Caribbean Sea , 2012 .

[74]  Scott F. Heron,et al.  NOAA coral reef watch 50 km satellite sea surface temperature-based decision support system for coral bleaching management , 2013 .

[75]  W. Skirving,et al.  Sea-surface temperature and thermal stress in the Coral Triangle over the past two decades , 2009, Coral Reefs.

[76]  N. Coops,et al.  Multitemporal remote sensing of landscape dynamics and pattern change: describing natural and anthropogenic trends , 2008 .

[77]  R. Stumpf,et al.  Determination of water depth with high‐resolution satellite imagery over variable bottom types , 2003 .

[78]  Peter Cornillon,et al.  The Past, Present, and Future of the AVHRR Pathfinder SST Program , 2010 .

[79]  James N Sanchirico,et al.  Coral Reef Habitats as Surrogates of Species, Ecological Functions, and Ecosystem Services , 2008, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[80]  Thomas Blaschke,et al.  Object based image analysis for remote sensing , 2010 .

[81]  Raymond L. Hayes,et al.  Coral Bleaching and Ocean "Hot Spots" , 1994 .

[82]  P. Glynn,et al.  Climate change and coral reef bleaching: An ecological assessment of long-term impacts, recovery trends and future outlook , 2008 .

[83]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Revisiting coral reef connectivity , 2002, Coral Reefs.

[84]  Peter J. Mumby,et al.  Remote sensing of the coastal zone: An overview and priorities for future research , 2003 .

[85]  Caiyun Zhang,et al.  Object-based benthic habitat mapping in the Florida Keys from hyperspectral imagery , 2013 .

[86]  Jennifer P. Cannizzaro,et al.  Estimating chlorophyll a concentrations from remote-sensing reflectance in optically shallow waters , 2006 .

[87]  Daniel R. Brumbaugh,et al.  The functional value of Caribbean coral reef, seagrass and mangrove habitats to ecosystem processes. , 2006, Advances in marine biology.

[88]  C. Menza,et al.  Predictive mapping of fish species richness across shallow-water seascapes in the Caribbean , 2007 .

[89]  C. Mobley,et al.  Hyperspectral remote sensing for shallow waters. I. A semianalytical model. , 1998, Applied optics.

[90]  David Souter,et al.  Status of Caribbean coral reefs after bleaching and hurricanes in 2005 , 2008 .

[91]  Wojciech M. Klonowski,et al.  Retrieving key benthic cover types and bathymetry from hyperspectral imagery , 2007 .

[92]  C. Mellin,et al.  Multi-scale marine biodiversity patterns inferred efficiently from habitat image processing. , 2012, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[93]  P Jeremy Werdell,et al.  Generalized ocean color inversion model for retrieving marine inherent optical properties. , 2013, Applied optics.

[94]  S. Hamylton.  The use of remote sensing and linear wave theory to model local wave energy around Alphonse Atoll, Seychelles , 2011 .

[95]  Peter J Mumby,et al.  Biological and remote sensing perspectives of pigmentation in coral reef organisms. , 2002, Advances in marine biology.

[96]  William J. Skirving,et al.  A comparison of the 1998 and 2002 coral bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef: spatial correlation, patterns, and predictions , 2004, Coral Reefs.

[97]  Peter J. Mumby,et al.  Mapping marine environments with IKONOS imagery: enhanced spatial resolution can deliver greater thematic accuracy , 2002 .

[98]  Zhongping Lee,et al.  Effect of spectral band numbers on the retrieval of water column and bottom properties from ocean color data. , 2002, Applied optics.

[99]  Ismail Colkesen,et al.  Monitoring the changing position of coastlines using aerial and satellite image data: an example from the eastern coast of Trabzon, Turkey , 2009, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[100]  J. Acker.  The color of the atmosphere with the ocean below : a history of NASA's difficult journey to successful biological remote sensing of the global ocean , 2015 .

[101]  Anders Knudby,et al.  Simple and effective monitoring of historic changes in nearshore environments using the free archive of Landsat imagery , 2010, Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinformation.

[102]  Kenneth R. N. Anthony,et al.  ReefTemp: An interactive monitoring system for coral bleaching using high‐resolution SST and improved stress predictors , 2008 .

[103]  D. Bellwood,et al.  Confronting the coral reef crisis , 2004, Nature.

[104]  Brian Gratwicke,et al.  The relationship between fish species richness, abundance and habitat complexity in a range of shallow tropical marine habitats , 2005 .

[105]  P. Mumby,et al.  Development of a systematic classification scheme of marine habitats to facilitate regional management and mapping of Caribbean coral reefs , 1999 .

[106]  Iliana Chollett,et al.  Operationalizing the Resilience of Coral Reefs in an Era of Climate Change , 2014 .

[107]  E. Pennisi.  Survey Confirms Coral Reefs Are in Peril , 2002, Science.

[108]  M. Fladeland,et al.  Remote sensing for biodiversity science and conservation , 2003 .

[109]  Heather M. Patterson,et al.  Habitat as a surrogate measure of reef fish diversity in the zoning of the Lord Howe Island Marine Park, Australia , 2008 .

[110]  F. Mackenzie,et al.  Decreased abundance of crustose coralline algae due to ocean acidification , 2008 .

[111]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  The effects of ecologically determined spatial complexity on the classification accuracy of simulated coral reef images , 2009 .

[112]  Christopher D. Elvidge,et al.  Satellite observation of Keppel Islands (Great Barrier Reef) 2002 coral bleaching using IKONOS data , 2003, Coral Reefs.

[113]  Stuart R. Phinn,et al.  Live Coral Cover Index Testing and Application with Hyperspectral Airborne Image Data , 2013, Remote. Sens..

[114]  M. Risk.  Paradise lost : how marine science failed the world's coral reefs , 1999 .

[115]  J. Pandolfi,et al.  Thresholds and multiple scale interaction of environment, resource use, and market proximity on reef fishery resources in the Solomon Islands , 2009 .

[116]  C. Wayne Wright,et al.  Relationships Between Reef Fish Communities and Remotely Sensed Rugosity Measurements in Biscayne National Park, Florida, USA , 2006, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[117]  Stuart R. Phinn,et al.  Efficient radiative transfer model inversion for remote sensing applications , 2009 .

[118]  P. W. Glynn,et al.  Experimental evidence for high temperature stress as the cause of El Niño-coincident coral mortality , 1990, Coral Reefs.

[119]  Wojciech M. Klonowski,et al.  Intercomparison of shallow water bathymetry, hydro‐optics, and benthos mapping techniques in Australian and Caribbean coastal environments , 2011 .

[120]  S R Phinn,et al.  Mapping water quality and substrate cover in optically complex coastal and reef waters: an integrated approach. , 2005, Marine pollution bulletin.

[121]  T. Hughes,et al.  Linking Social and Ecological Systems to Sustain Coral Reef Fisheries , 2009, Current Biology.

[122]  P. Fearns,et al.  A semianalytical ocean color inversion algorithm with explicit water column depth and substrate reflectance parameterization , 2015 .

[123]  J. Jaubert,et al.  Interacting effects of CO2 partial pressure and temperature on photosynthesis and calcification in a scleractinian coral , 2003 .

[124]  E. Maier‐Reimer,et al.  Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms , 2005, Nature.

[125]  Timothy F. R. Burgess,et al.  Validation of Reef-Scale Thermal Stress Satellite Products for Coral Bleaching Monitoring , 2016, Remote. Sens..

[126]  W. Skirving,et al.  SATELLITE BATHYMETRY USE IN NUMERICAL MODELS OF OCEAN THERMAL STRESS , 2004 .

[127]  Tiit Kutser,et al.  Classifying the Baltic Sea Shallow Water Habitats Using Image-Based and Spectral Library Methods , 2013, Remote. Sens..

[128]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  A comparison of Landsat ETM+, SPOT HRV, Ikonos, ASTER, and airborne MASTER data for coral reef habitat mapping in South Pacific islands , 2003 .

[129]  G. Bouvet.  Évaluation d'une classification à grande échelle avec une classification non-supervisée dans les écosystèmes récifaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie en utilisant les images Landsat 7 ETM+ , 2003 .

[130]  Joshua S Madin,et al.  Landscape of fear visible from space , 2011, Scientific reports.

[131]  Camilo Mora,et al.  A clear human footprint in the coral reefs of the Caribbean , 2008, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[132]  Samantha J. Lavender,et al.  Sun Glint Correction of High and Low Spatial Resolution Images of Aquatic Scenes: a Review of Methods for Visible and Near-Infrared Wavelengths , 2009, Remote. Sens..

[133]  M. Chen,et al.  Ghost of bleaching future : Seasonal Outlooks from NOAA ' s Operational Climate Forecast System , 2012 .

[134]  James A. Goodman,et al.  Classification of benthic composition in a coral reef environment using spectral unmixing , 2007 .

[135]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Multi-scale remote sensing of coral reefs , 2007 .

[136]  J. Hendee,et al.  An assessment of global warming stress on Caribbean coral reef ecosystems , 1992 .

[137]  Felipe Arzayus,et al.  EXTREME EVENTS AND PERTURBATIONS OF COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS , 2006 .

[138]  H. Lasker,et al.  Coral mortality outside of the eastern Pacific during 1982-1983 : relationship to El Niño , 1990 .

[139]  Vivian Y Y Lam,et al.  Status and trends of Caribbean coral reefs : 1970-2012 , 2014 .

[140]  Menghua Wang,et al.  Evaluation of VIIRS ocean color products , 2014, Asia-Pacific Environmental Remote Sensing.

[141]  Masayuki Tamura,et al.  Detection limits of coral reef bleaching by satellite remote sensing: Simulation and data analysis , 2004 .

[142]  Scott F. Heron,et al.  Improvements to and continuity of operational global thermal stress monitoring for coral bleaching , 2014 .

[143]  J. Kindle,et al.  Euphotic zone depth: Its derivation and implication to ocean-color remote sensing , 2007 .

[144]  M. P. Lesser,et al.  Bathymetry, water optical properties, and benthic classification of coral reefs using hyperspectral remote sensing imagery , 2007, Coral Reefs.

[145]  W. Sutherland,et al.  ACCELERATING IMPACTS OF TEMPERATURE-INDUCED CORAL BLEACHING IN THE CARIBBEAN , 2005 .

[146]  Sarah L. Benfield,et al.  Temporal mangrove dynamics in relation to coastal development in Pacific Panama. , 2005, Journal of environmental management.

[147]  Kendall L. Carder,et al.  Change detection in shallow coral reef environments using Landsat 7 ETM+ data , 2001 .

[148]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  Science and Management , 2013 .

[149]  Richard P. Stumpf,et al.  Evaluation of the use of SeaWiFS imagery for detecting Karenia brevis harmful algal blooms in the eastern Gulf of Mexico , 2004 .

[150]  Stuart R. Phinn,et al.  Mapping Fish Community Variables by Integrating Field and Satellite Data, Object-Based Image Analysis and Modeling in a Traditional Fijian Fisheries Management Area , 2011, Remote. Sens..

[151]  Serge Andréfouët,et al.  Spectral reflectance of coral reef bottom-types worldwide and implications for coral reef remote sensing , 2003 .

[152]  H. Possingham,et al.  Environmental factors that influence the distribution of coral reef fishes: modeling occurrence data for broad-scale conservation and management , 2008 .

[153]  C. Mobley,et al.  Hyperspectral remote sensing for shallow waters. 2. Deriving bottom depths and water properties by optimization. , 1999, Applied optics.

[154]  J. Remedios,et al.  The Global Trend in Sea Surface Temperature from 20 Years of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Data , 2007 .

[155]  W. Skirving,et al.  The Sea Surface Temperature Story on the Great Barrier Reef during the Coral Bleaching Event of 1998 , 2001 .

[156]  P. Mumby,et al.  Effects of physical environmental conditions on the patch dynamics of Dictyota pulchella and Lobophora variegata on Caribbean coral reefs , 2010 .

[157]  Shankar Aswani,et al.  Integrating indigenous ecological knowledge and multi-spectral image classification for marine habitat mapping in Oceania , 2008 .

[158]  M. Ruckelshaus,et al.  Embedding ecosystem services in coastal planning leads to better outcomes for people and nature , 2015, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[159]  F. Muller‐Karger,et al.  Prediction of coral bleaching in the Florida Keys using remotely sensed data , 2015, Coral Reefs.

[160]  H. Gordon.  Atmospheric correction of ocean color imagery in the Earth Observing System era , 1997 .

[161]  P. Mumby.  The impact of exploiting grazers (Scaridae) on the dynamics of Caribbean coral reefs. , 2006, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[162]  A. Grant,et al.  Long-Term Region-Wide Declines in Caribbean Corals , 2003, Science.

[163]  D. Barnes.  Profiling coral reef productivity and calcification using pH and oxygen electrodes , 1983 .

[164]  S. Planes,et al.  Temporary refugia for coral reefs in a warming world , 2013 .

[165]  Leigh Gurney,et al.  Current Status and Future Prospects for the Assessment of Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services: A Systematic Review , 2013, PloS one.

[166]  P. Mumby,et al.  Benefits of water column correction and contextual editing for mapping coral reefs , 1998 .

[167]  O. Hoegh‐Guldberg,et al.  Bleaching, energetics, and coral mortality risk: Effects of temperature, light, and sediment regime , 2007 .

[168]  J. Mcmanus,et al.  Environmental limits to coral reef development: Where do we draw the line? , 1999 .

[169]  F. Muller‐Karger,et al.  Assessment of satellite-derived diffuse attenuation coefficients and euphotic depths in south Florida coastal waters , 2013 .

[170]  R. Doerffer,et al.  The MERIS Case 2 water algorithm , 2007 .

[171]  B. Brown,et al.  The influence of solar radiation on bleaching of shallow water reef corals in the Andaman Sea, 1993–1998 , 2001, Coral Reefs.

[172]  E. H. Erwin,et al.  A global inventory of coral reef stressors based on satellite observed nighttime lights , 2008 .

[173]  M. Thorndyke,et al.  Near-future levels of ocean acidificat ion reduce fert ilizat ion success in a sea urchin , 2018 .

[174]  G. De’ath,et al.  The 27–year decline of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef and its causes , 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[175]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Upper ocean response of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System to Hurricane Mitch and coastal freshwater inputs: A study using Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) ocean color data and a nested-grid ocean circulation model , 2007 .

[176]  Britta Schaffelke,et al.  Intra-annual variation in turbidity in response to terrestrial runoff on near-shore coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef , 2013 .

[177]  P. Mumby,et al.  Redefining Thermal Regimes to Design Reserves for Coral Reefs in the Face of Climate Change , 2014, PloS one.

[178]  C. Wilkinson.  Status of coral reefs of the world , 2000 .

[179]  J. Lough,et al.  Porites coral growth records from the Arabian Gulf , 2003 .

[180]  Heidi M. Dierssen,et al.  A physics-based method for the remote sensing of seagrasses , 2016 .

[181]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  Multi-temporal mapping of seagrass cover, species and biomass: A semi-automated object based image analysis approach , 2014 .

[182]  V. Klemas,et al.  Coastal and Environmental Remote Sensing from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: An Overview , 2015 .

[183]  P. Pitts,et al.  CORAL ZONATION AND PATTERNS OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN BAHAMIAN REEF FISHES , 2012 .

[184]  Stuart R. Phinn,et al.  High spatial resolution remote sensing for environmental monitoring and management preface: , 2008 .

[185]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Use of Habitats as Surrogates of Biodiversity for Efficient Coral Reef Conservation Planning in Pacific Ocean Islands , 2010, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[186]  F. Mackenzie,et al.  Ocean acidification and calcifying reef organisms: a mesocosm investigation , 2008, Coral Reefs.

[187]  D. Gledhill,et al.  Ocean acidification of the Greater Caribbean Region 1996–2006 , 2008 .

[188]  Caroline Petus,et al.  Using MODIS data for understanding changes in seagrass meadow health: a case study in the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). , 2014, Marine environmental research.

[189]  R. Valente,et al.  A review of approaches for classifying benthic habitats and evaluating habitat quality. , 2004, Journal of environmental management.

[190]  Hugh P Possingham,et al.  Planning for persistence in marine reserves: a question of catastrophic importance. , 2008, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[191]  S. Hamylton.  Estimating the coverage of coral reef benthic communities from airborne hyperspectral remote sensing data: multiple discriminant function analysis and linear spectral unmixing , 2011 .

[192]  S. Phinn,et al.  Rapid monitoring of seagrass biomass using a simple linear modelling approach, in the field and from space , 2015 .

[193]  K. Carder,et al.  CDOM transport from the Bahamas Banks , 2004, Coral Reefs.

[194]  C. Wilkinson.  The 1997-1998 Mass Bleaching Event Around the World , 2001 .

[195]  Chris Langdon,et al.  Effect of elevated pCO2 on photosynthesis and calcification of corals and interactions with seasonal change in temperature/irradiance and nutrient enrichment , 2005 .

[196]  J. Lough.  Coral calcification from skeletal records revisited , 2008 .

[197]  P. Mumby,et al.  The cost-effectiveness of remote sensing for tropical coastal resources assessment and management , 1999 .

[198]  Richard A. Feely,et al.  Impact of Anthropogenic CO2 on the CaCO3 System in the Oceans , 2004, Science.

[199]  Scott F. Heron,et al.  Thermal and Radar Overview , 2013 .

[200]  B. Koetz,et al.  Capability of the Sentinel 2 mission for tropical coral reef mapping and coral bleaching detection , 2012 .

[201]  R. Paine,et al.  Wave energy and intertidal productivity. , 1987, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[202]  Stephen V. Stehman,et al.  Design and Analysis for Thematic Map Accuracy Assessment: Fundamental Principles , 1998 .

[203]  J. Bruno,et al.  Regional Decline of Coral Cover in the Indo-Pacific: Timing, Extent, and Subregional Comparisons , 2007, PloS one.

[204]  Leslie Ries,et al.  Ecological Responses to Habitat Edges: Mechanisms, Models, and Variability Explained , 2004 .

[205]  D. Neil,et al.  Combining Landsat ETM+ and Reef Check classifications for mapping coral reefs: a critical assessment from the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia , 2004, Coral Reefs.

[206]  Philip S Thompson,et al.  Airborne lidar sensing of massive stony coral colonies on patch reefs in the northern Florida reef tract , 2006 .

[207]  K. Moffett,et al.  Remote Sens , 2015 .

[208]  Ryan J. Lowe,et al.  Evaluation of nearshore wave models in steep reef environments , 2014, Ocean Dynamics.

[209]  P. Mumby,et al.  Mangroves enhance the biomass of coral reef fish communities in the Caribbean , 2004, Nature.

[210]  Peter J Mumby,et al.  Modeling the beta diversity of coral reefs. , 2006, Ecology.

[211]  G. Hodgson.  Reef Check: The first step in community based management , 2001 .

[212]  Chuanmin Hu,et al.  Linkages between coastal runoff and the Florida Keys ecosystem: A study of a dark plume event , 2004 .

[213]  A. Condal,et al.  Mapping of shallow coral reefs by colour aerial photography , 2002 .

[214]  Shankar Aswani,et al.  Benthic mapping using local aerial photo interpretation and resident taxa inventories for designing marine protected areas , 2006, Environmental Conservation.

[215]  Glenn De'ath,et al.  Water quality as a regional driver of coral biodiversity and macroalgae on the Great Barrier Reef. , 2010, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[216]  Natalie C. Ban,et al.  A method for incorporating climate change modelling into marine conservation planning: An Indo-west Pacific example , 2013 .

[217]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Quantification of two decades of shallow-water coral reef habitat decline in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary using Landsat data (1984-2002) , 2008 .

[218]  S. Purkis,et al.  Predictability of reef fish diversity and abundance using remote sensing data in Diego Garcia (Chagos Archipelago) , 2008, Coral Reefs.

[219]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Coral reef distribution, status and geomorphology–biodiversity relationship in Kuna Yala (San Blas) archipelago, Caribbean Panama , 2005, Coral Reefs.

[220]  C. Spillman.  Operational real-time seasonal forecasts for coral reef management , 2011 .

[221]  P. Mumby,et al.  Adapting to the impacts of global change on an artisanal coral reef fishery , 2014 .

[222]  S. Andréfouët,et al.  Physical connectivity in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System inferred from 9 years of ocean color observations , 2009, Coral Reefs.

[223]  A. Strong,et al.  APPLYING MCSST TO CORAL REEF BLEACHING , 1995 .

[224]  Chris D. Clark,et al.  Coral reef habitat mapping: how much detail can remote sensing provide? , 1997 .

[225]  Thomas Heege,et al.  Ningaloo Reef: Shallow Marine Habitats Mapped Using a Hyperspectral Sensor , 2013, PloS one.

[226]  P. Mumby,et al.  Remote Sensing Handbook for Tropical Coastal Management , 2000 .

[227]  A. Strong,et al.  Coral bleaching threatens oceans, life , 1994 .

[228]  O. Hoegh‐Guldberg.  Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world's coral reefs , 1999 .

[229]  Christoph Aubrecht,et al.  Monitoring coral reefs from space , 2010 .

[230]  F. Muller‐Karger,et al.  Atmospheric Correction of SeaWiFS Imagery over Turbid Coastal Waters: A Practical Method , 2000 .

[231]  Wei Shi,et al.  Characterization of turbidity in Florida's Lake Okeechobee and Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries using MODIS-Aqua measurements. , 2012, Water research.

[232]  Stuart R. Phinn,et al.  Environmental and Sensor Limitations in Optical Remote Sensing of Coral Reefs: Implications for Monitoring and Sensor Design , 2012, Remote. Sens..

[233]  Timothy F. R. Burgess,et al.  Reef-Scale Thermal Stress Monitoring of Coral Ecosystems: New 5-km Global Products from NOAA Coral Reef Watch , 2014, Remote. Sens..

[234]  R. Lathrop,et al.  A Multi-scale Segmentation Approach to Mapping Seagrass Habitats Using Airborne Digital Camera Imagery , 2006 .

[235]  Trijntje Valerie Downes,et al.  Interpretation of hyperspectral remote-sensing imagery by spectrum matching and look-up tables. , 2005, Applied optics.

[236]  W. Skirving,et al.  Global assessment of coral bleaching and required rates of adaptation under climate change , 2005, Global change biology.

[237]  Wei Shi,et al.  Remote Sensing of Water Optical Property for China's Inland Lake Taihu Using the SWIR Atmospheric Correction With 1640 and 2130 nm Bands , 2013, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

[238]  P. Mumby,et al.  Measurement of seagrass standing crop using satellite and digital airborne remote sensing , 1997 .

[239]  Carrie V. Kappel,et al.  A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems , 2008, Science.

[240]  Peter J. Mumby,et al.  Predicting structural complexity of reefs and fish abundance using acoustic remote sensing (RoxAnn) , 2011 .

[241]  Caiyun Zhang,et al.  Applying data fusion techniques for benthic habitat mapping and monitoring in a coral reef ecosystem , 2015 .

[242]  Robert W. Buddemeier,et al.  Effect of calcium carbonate saturation of seawater on coral calcification , 1998 .

[243]  C. Downs,et al.  Shifting the paradigm of coral-reef 'health' assessment. , 2005, Marine pollution bulletin.

[244]  A. Stoner.  What constitutes essential nursery habitat for a marine species? A case study of habitat form and function for queen conch , 2003 .

[245]  C. Wayne Wright,et al.  LIDAR optical rugosity of coral reefs in Biscayne National Park, Florida , 2004, Coral Reefs.

[246]  Chuanmin Hu,et al.  The 2002 ocean color anomaly in the Florida Bight: A cause of local coral reef decline? , 2003 .

[247]  Simon Albert,et al.  Mapping coral reefs at reef to reef-system scales, 10s–1000s km2, using object-based image analysis , 2013 .

[248]  D. Rundquist,et al.  Benthic Habitat Mapping in Tropical Marine Environments Using QuickBird Multispectral Data , 2006 .

[249]  C. Penland,et al.  NOAA Coral Reef Watch Coral Bleaching Outlook System , 2008 .

[250]  David L. Jones,et al.  Influence of water-temperature variability on stony coral diversity in Florida Keys patch reefs , 2015 .

[251]  O. Hoegh-Guldberg,et al.  Ocean acidification causes bleaching and productivity loss in coral reef builders , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[252]  Claire B Paris-Limouzy,et al.  River-reef connectivity in the Meso-American Region , 2008, Coral Reefs.

[253]  Marguerite Madden,et al.  Delineating Biophysical Environments of the Sunda Banda Seascape, Indonesia , 2015, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[254]  Robert Frouin,et al.  Water Column Correction for Coral Reef Studies by Remote Sensing , 2014, Sensors.

[255]  M. Belt,et al.  Changes in the coastal zone of Abu Dhabi determined using satellite imagery (1972–2003) , 2007 .

[256]  Sarah L. Benfield,et al.  Mapping the distribution of coral reefs and associated sublittoral habitats in Pacific Panama: a comparison of optical satellite sensors and classification methodologies , 2007 .

[257]  C. Ferrier‐Pagès,et al.  Suppression of skeletal growth in scleractinian corals by decreasing ambient carbonate-ion concentration: a cross-family comparison , 2003, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[258]  C. Elvidge,et al.  Relation between satellite observed visible-near infrared emissions, population, economic activity and electric power consumption , 1997 .

[259]  R. Spieler,et al.  Relationship of Reef Fish Assemblages and Topographic Complexity on Southeastern Florida Coral Reef Habitats , 2009 .

[260]  Jenny S. Collier,et al.  Time-lapse side-scan sonar imaging of bleached coral reefs: A case study from the Seychelles , 2007 .

[261]  R. Berkelmans.  Time-integrated thermal bleaching thresholds of reefs and their variation on the Great Barrier Reef , 2002 .

[262]  J. Castilla,et al.  ECOLOGICAL CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING CANDIDATE SITES FOR MARINE RESERVES , 2003 .

[263]  Peter J. Edmunds,et al.  The importance of sampling scale in ecology: kilometer-wide variation in coral reef communities , 1996 .

[264]  Vittorio E Brando,et al.  Adaptive semianalytical inversion of ocean color radiometry in optically complex waters. , 2012, Applied optics.

[265]  Tim R. McClanahan,et al.  Conservation of Coral Reefs after the 1998 Global Bleaching Event , 2000 .

[266]  Samuel J. Purkis,et al.  The 2005 coral‐bleaching event Roatan (Honduras): Use of pseudoinvariant features (PIFs) in satellite assessments , 2008 .

[267]  K. Casey,et al.  Warming Seas in the Coral Triangle: Coral Reef Vulnerability and Management Implications , 2010 .

[268]  J. Jaubert,et al.  CO2 partial pressure controls the calcification rate of a coral community , 2000 .

[269]  I. Masiri,et al.  A 10‐year climatology of solar radiation for the Great Barrier Reef: implications for recent mass coral bleaching events , 2008 .

[270]  R. Pasterkamp,et al.  Integrating in situ reef-top reflectance spectra with Landsat TM imagery to aid shallow-tropical benthic habitat mapping , 2004, Coral Reefs.

[271]  Daniel R. Brumbaugh,et al.  Tropical coastal habitats as surrogates of fish community structure, grazing, and fisheries value. , 2008, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[272]  Chris Roelfsema,et al.  Towards understanding temporal and spatial dynamics of seagrass landscapes using time-series remote sensing , 2013 .

[273]  Gene C. Feldman,et al.  Satellite-Derived Photic Depth on the Great Barrier Reef: Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Water Clarity , 2012, Remote. Sens..

[274]  Peter M. Atkinson,et al.  Remote sensing of ecosystem services:a systematic review , 2015 .

[275]  Serge Andréfouët,et al.  Cloudy weather may have saved Society Island reef corals during the 1998 ENSO event , 2001 .

[276]  Howard L. Jelks,et al.  Fish as major carbonate mud producers and missing components of the tropical carbonate factory , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[277]  P. Mumby,et al.  Seasonal and spatial heterogeneity of recent sea surface temperature trends in the Caribbean Sea and southeast Gulf of Mexico. , 2012, Marine pollution bulletin.

[278]  Peter J Mumby,et al.  Reserve design for uncertain responses of coral reefs to climate change. , 2011, Ecology letters.

[279]  Cindy Huchery,et al.  Global Effects of Local Human Population Density and Distance to Markets on the Condition of Coral Reef Fisheries , 2013, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[280]  David Obura,et al.  Resilience and climate change: lessons from coral reefs and bleaching in the Western Indian Ocean , 2005 .

[281]  J. Cihlar.  Land cover mapping of large areas from satellites: Status and research priorities , 2000 .