DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13912
copiedMachine learning analysis reveals relationship between pomacentrid calls and environmental cues
- Jill E. Munger
- Daniel P. Herrera
- Samara M. Haver
- Lynn Waterhouse
- Megan F. McKenna
- Robert P. Dziak
- Jason Gedamke
- Scott A. Heppell
- Joseph H. Haxel
ABSTRACT: Sound production rates of fishes can be used as an indicator for coral reef health, providing an opportunity to utilize long-term acoustic recordings to assess environmental change. As acoustic datasets become more common, computational techniques need to be developed to facilitate analysis of the massive data files produced by long-term monitoring. Machine learning techniques demonstrate an advantage in the identification of fish sounds over manual sampling approaches. Here we evaluated the ability of convolutional neural networks to identify and monitor call patterns for pomacentrids (damselfishes) in a tropical reef region of the western Pacific. A stationary hydrophone was deployed for 39 mo (2014-2018) in the National Park of American Samoa to continuously record the local marine acoustic environment. A neural network was trained—achieving 94% identification accuracy of pomacentrids—to demonstrate the applicability of machine learning in fish acoustics and ecology. The distribution of sound production was found to vary on diel and interannual timescales. Additionally, the distribution of sound production was correlated with wind speed, water temperature, tidal amplitude, and sound pressure level. This research has broad implications for state-of-the-art acoustic analysis and promises to be an efficient, scalable asset for ecological research, environmental monitoring, and conservation planning.
KEYWORDS
Jill E. Munger (Corresponding Author)
- Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resources Studies, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR 97365, USA
Daniel P. Herrera (Co-author)
- Portland, OR 97218, USA
Samara M. Haver (Co-author)
- Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resources Studies, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR 97365, USA
- Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97333, USA
Lynn Waterhouse (Co-author)
- Daniel P. Haerther Center for Conservation and Research, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
Megan F. McKenna (Co-author)
- Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, National Park Service, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA
Robert P. Dziak (Co-author)
- NOAA, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Newport, OR 97365, USA
Jason Gedamke (Co-author)
- Office of Science and Technology, NOAA Fisheries, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA
Scott A. Heppell (Co-author)
- Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97333, USA
Joseph H. Haxel (Co-author)
- Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resources Studies, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR 97365, USA
