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The conversion from analogue to digital formats in scientific photography has created a need for new photo management and analysis tools for some large datasets. In order to maintain continuity with metadata working standards used for long time series of photo-identification data on film, we managed and analyzed a multi-year dataset of over 75,000...
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Context 1
... photo information text preferences allowed only relevant metadata to be displayed with each image. These preferences were set by opening the Set Info Text window in Settings under the Edit menu. Relevant existing metadata such as Date, Time, and camera settings as well as post-analysis metadata such as Photographer, Location, Animal ID(s), Photo Rating, Comments, Analyst and Date Analyzed were chosen to be displayed by providing the variable for each corresponding IPTC metadata container field ( Figure 2). These metadata were shown in the Preview window (Figure 3). They could also be displayed in the Contact Sheet view upon placement of the cursor over a thumbnail by checking Show Info Tooltips found under the View menu. A Preview window was opened for a photo by double-clicking on a thumbnail. The Preview window was set to display one image only by selecting the appropriate icon from the toolbar (Figure 3). This display includes image metadata text and a zoom function on the right-hand side. A full view of one image excluding photo info text was also occasionally used by selecting the appropriate icon from the toolbar. Viewing images two at a time and having the ability to proceed forward or backward through the image set within the folder from either image on display was also an option in the toolbar but was not used. This option, however, could be very helpful in the process of manually matching individuals within an image ...
Context 2
... photo information text preferences allowed only relevant metadata to be displayed with each image. These preferences were set by opening the Set Info Text window in Settings under the Edit menu. Relevant existing metadata such as Date, Time, and camera settings as well as post-analysis metadata such as Photographer, Location, Animal ID(s), Photo Rating, Comments, Analyst and Date Analyzed were chosen to be displayed by providing the variable for each corresponding IPTC metadata container field ( Figure 2). These metadata were shown in the Preview window (Figure 3). They could also be displayed in the Contact Sheet view upon placement of the cursor over a thumbnail by checking Show Info Tooltips found under the View menu. A Preview window was opened for a photo by double-clicking on a thumbnail. The Preview window was set to display one image only by selecting the appropriate icon from the toolbar (Figure 3). This display includes image metadata text and a zoom function on the right-hand side. A full view of one image excluding photo info text was also occasionally used by selecting the appropriate icon from the toolbar. Viewing images two at a time and having the ability to proceed forward or backward through the image set within the folder from either image on display was also an option in the toolbar but was not used. This option, however, could be very helpful in the process of manually matching individuals within an image ...
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This research involves aesthetic approaches to scientific photomicrography. Specifically, this project investigates the reinterpretation of photomicrographic images of micro-scale drops of water made by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), a tool that has expanded the boundaries of observation and representation of the micro world since it was int...
Citations
... The inland waters around southern Vancouver Island and northern Washington State, collectively referred to as the Salish Sea, hosts both Bigg's (formerly transient) and resident killer whale ecotypes. Whereas the mammaleating Bigg's killer whale population has increased (Towers et al., 2012), the piscivorous southern resident killer whale (SRKW) population has declined to 75 individuals in recent years (Center for Whale Research, 2021) and are listed as Endangered under both the Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA) and the American Endangered Species Act (ESA, Krahn et al., 2004;National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], 2005). Swiftsure Bank and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Haro Strait on the west side of San Juan Island, Boundary Pass, Swanson Channel, and southern portions of the Strait of Georgia are designated critical habitat for SRKW, and are areas they utilize frequently during the summer (Balcomb and Bigg, 1986;Krahn et al., 2004;Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada [DFO], 2017b; Olson et al., 2018). ...
The inland waters around southern Vancouver Island and northern Washington State, known as the Salish Sea, host critical habitat for endangered southern resident killer whales (SRKW). This is, however, a highly traversed area, with approaches to industrial ports and coastal cities, international shipping lanes, ferry routes, and considerable recreational vessel traffic. Vessel noise is a key threat to SRKW prosperity, and so conservation measures directed to mitigate its effects have been explored annually since 2017. Here, we describe trials undertaken in 2020, which included spatially limited slowdown zones, exclusion areas as Interim whale Sanctuary Zones (ISZs), and a lateral displacement of tug transits to increase the distance between their route and SRKW foraging areas. To assess each of the measures we first considered the level of mariner participation using data from the Automated Identification Systems (AIS), mandatory for commercial vessels. Knowing this, the changes in soundscape were examined, focused on impacts on broadband (10 Hz to 100 kHz) ambient noise and the frequencies used by SRKW for communication (500 Hz to 15 kHz) and echolocation (15 to 100 kHz). A control period of two-months prior to trial initiation was used to quantify the changes. High levels (> 80%) of compliance were found for each measure, except ISZs, where observance was low. Median reduction in speeds ranged from 0.2–3.5 knots. Resulting sound reductions were most notable in the lower frequencies, although reductions were also recorded in SRKW pertinent ranges. Tug displacement also reduced ambient noise in these frequencies, despite making up a small portion of the overall traffic. The management trials were effective in reducing potential impacts singularly and in concert. Greater awareness and stakeholder engagement may increase compliance and, therefore, the efficacy of measures in the future.
... All photographic data of common minke whales were managed and analysed using protocols similar to those used for killer whale data in British Columbia as outlined by Towers et al. (2012b). An encounter was defined as an event in which identification photographs were obtained from one common minke whale. ...
In the eastern North Pacific Ocean, common minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) are widespread but encountered relatively infrequently. It is generally believed that they make annual migrations between higher latitudes in the summer and lower latitudes in the winter; however, in some temperate coastal regions where common minke whales have been sighted year-round they have been referred to as resident. To determine movement patterns of common minke whales found in coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington we examined photo-identification data that were collected opportunistically from 2005–12. These data were from four non-overlapping areas between 48°N and 53°N. Despite year-round search efforts, common minke whales were only encountered between April and October. Most of the 44 unique individuals identified in 405 encounters displayed fidelity to areas both within and among years. Five of these whales made relatively large-scale intra-annual movements between areas on six occasions. They were documented to move up to 424km in a northerly direction in spring and up to 398km in a southerly direction in autumn. The seasonal patterns of these movements provide new insights into the foraging ranges and migrations of the individuals. Ecological markers provide evidence that the common minke whales photographed undertake annual long distance migrations. Scars believed to be from cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis) bites were observed on 43 individuals and the majority of whales documented with good quality images each year had acquired new scars since the previous year. Furthermore, the commensal barnacle Xenobalanus globicipitis was observed on three individuals. Since these sharks and barnacles are from relatively warm waters, it can be inferred that they interacted with the common minke whales at lower latitudes. These findings may have important implications for the definition and management of common minke whale stocks and/or populations in the eastern North Pacific.
Biometric identification techniques such as photo-identification require an array of unique natural markings to identify individuals. From 1975 to present, Bigg’s killer whales have been photo-identified along the west coast of North America, resulting in one of the largest and longest-running cetacean photo-identification datasets. However, data maintenance and analysis are extremely time and resource consuming. This study transfers the procedure of killer whale image identification into a fully automated, multi-stage, deep learning framework, entitled FIN-PRINT. It is composed of multiple sequentially ordered sub-components. FIN-PRINT is trained and evaluated on a dataset collected over an 8-year period (2011–2018) in the coastal waters off western North America, including 121,000 human-annotated identification images of Bigg’s killer whales. At first, object detection is performed to identify unique killer whale markings, resulting in 94.4% recall, 94.1% precision, and 93.4% mean-average-precision (mAP). Second, all previously identified natural killer whale markings are extracted. The third step introduces a data enhancement mechanism by filtering between valid and invalid markings from previous processing levels, achieving 92.8% recall, 97.5%, precision, and 95.2% accuracy. The fourth and final step involves multi-class individual recognition. When evaluated on the network test set, it achieved an accuracy of 92.5% with 97.2% top-3 unweighted accuracy (TUA) for the 100 most commonly photo-identified killer whales. Additionally, the method achieved an accuracy of 84.5% and a TUA of 92.9% when applied to the entire 2018 image collection of the 100 most common killer whales. The source code of FIN-PRINT can be adapted to other species and will be publicly available.
Field studies of the life history and ecology of killer whale populations off Canadaʼs
Pacific coast have been conducted annually since 1973. These studies are based on
the identification of individual whales from photographs of permanent, natural markings.
In this report, we summarize abundance trends in the northern resident killer whale
population between 1974 and 2010, and provide an updated photo-identification
catalogue of individuals in this population, displayed in a matrilineal framework. At the
conclusion of the 2010 field season, the population was composed of the 3 clans, 16
pods, and 35 matrilines, with 261 individuals alive (plus four missing and possibly dead).
The population is currently more than twice its size in 1974, representing an average
annual increase of 2.1%. Continued population monitoring by photo-identification is a
key research activity in the recovery strategy for this Threatened population.
Killer whales are easily recognizable by the appearance of their naturally occurring
markings in both photographs and during field observations. This report presents updated
identification images and demographic data for Bigg's (transient) killer whales known from
numerous encounters between 1974 and 2012 in the coastal waters of British Columbia, northern
Washington, and southeastern Alaska. These data are intended to facilitate studies and
observations of Bigg's killer whales and serve as a supplement to future publications.
