Assessing the Sulfide Footprint of Mussel Farms With Sediment Profile Imagery: A New Zealand Trial

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aut.relation.articlenumbere0129894en_NZ
aut.relation.issue6en_NZ
aut.relation.journalPLoS ONEen_NZ
aut.relation.startpagee0129894
aut.relation.volume10en_NZ
aut.researcherVopel, Kay Christian
dc.contributor.authorWilson, PSen_NZ
dc.contributor.authorVopel, Ken_NZ
dc.contributor.editorMcKindsey, CWen_NZ
dc.date.accessioned2017-09-20T03:26:17Z
dc.date.available2017-09-20T03:26:17Z
dc.date.copyright2015en_NZ
dc.date.issued2015en_NZ
dc.description.abstractGrowing numbers and increased stocking of marine mussel farms make reliable techniques for environmental effect assessment a priority. Previously, we showed how the color intensity of soft sediment could be used to estimate its acid volatile sulfide (AVS) content, a product of the anaerobic microbial degradation of organic matter deposits. We then proposed to include assessments of the AVS farm footprint in marine farm monitoring, in particular, to investigate temporal changes in the extent of the seafloor area of elevated sediment AVS content. Such assessment requires accurate detection of the AVS footprint boundary. Here, we demonstrate how to detect this boundary with analyses of sediment color intensity. We analyzed 182 sediment profile images taken along three transects leading from approximately 50 m inside to 200 m outside a long-line mussel farm in New Zealand and found that the mean sediment color intensity inside the farm boundary was almost one third lower than that of the sediment distant from the farm. Segmented regression analysis of the combined color intensity data revealed a breakpoint in the trend of increasing grey values with increasing distance from the farm at 56 ± 13 m (± 95% confidence interval of the breakpoint) outside the mussel farm. Mapping of grey value data with ArcMap (ESRI, ArcGIS) indicated that the extent of the color intensity footprint is a function of water column depth; organic particles disperse further in a deeper seawater column. We conclude that for soft coastal sediments, our sampling and data analysis techniques may provide a rapid and reliable supplement to existing benthic surveys that assess environmental effects of mussel farms.en_NZ
dc.identifier.citationPloS one, 10(6), e0129894.
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0129894en_NZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/10814
dc.publisherPLOS
dc.relation.urihttp://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129894#abstract0
dc.rights© 2015 Wilson, Vopel. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccessen_NZ
dc.titleAssessing the Sulfide Footprint of Mussel Farms With Sediment Profile Imagery: A New Zealand Trialen_NZ
dc.typeJournal Article
pubs.elements-id173245
pubs.organisational-data/AUT
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science/Applied Science
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science/School of Science
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF/PBRF Health and Environmental Sciences
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF/PBRF Health and Environmental Sciences/HA Science 2018 PBRF
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