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Development and evaluation of an automated digital image analysis software for obtaining seagrass leaf metrics

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Published/Copyright: October 10, 2012
Botanica Marina
From the journal Botanica Marina Volume 55 Issue 6

Abstract

We developed a simple and inexpensive digital image analysis method for measuring leaf area and the length of strapped-shaped seagrass leaves. The method uses specialized software that permits automatic leaf and scale recognition in digital images along with batch image processing. The leaf biometrics of 80 Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa leaves were used for the evaluation of the method for accuracy, precision, and speed in comparison to manual measurements. Each leaf was measured 90 times under different combinations of several factors that might affect software estimation. The factors examined included leaf shape, leaf orientation in the image, scale dimensions, image resize, and binary conversion. Estimates of leaf length and leaf area were highly correlated between the new image analysis procedure and manual measurements. Relative error values between the two methods were <10% in 99% of leaf length measures and in 75% of leaf area measures. The factors examined explained <10% of the relative error variance; the remaining variance was mostly attributed to technical issues concerning leaf size and image illumination. The digital method proved to be approximately 2.5 times faster than the manual one.

Keywords: digital image; leaf area; morphometrics; seagrass; software development
Corresponding author: Alexis Ramfos, Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, Technological Educational Institute of Messolonghi, New Buildings TEI, 30200 Mesolonghi, Greece
Received: 2012-3-22
Accepted: 2012-9-12
Published Online: 2012-10-10
Published in Print: 2012-12-01

©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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  9. Development and evaluation of an automated digital image analysis software for obtaining seagrass leaf metrics
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https://doi.org/10.1515/bot-2012-0132
Keywords for this article
digital image; leaf area; morphometrics; seagrass; software development

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Masthead
  3. Mini review
  4. The diversity and importance of fungi associated with marine sponges
  5. Research articles
  6. Chemical analysis of exopolysaccharide fractions and lipid compounds of the microalga Heterosigma akashiwo grown in vitro
  7. Nutraceutical properties of the marine macroalga Gayralia oxysperma
  8. Hormone-autonomous cell culture from cotydelonary tissue of the marine plant Cymodocea nodosa
  9. Development and evaluation of an automated digital image analysis software for obtaining seagrass leaf metrics
  10. Factors associated with moderate blooms of Pyrodinium bahamense in shallow and restricted subtropical lagoons in the Gulf of California
  11. Species composition and spatial variability of macroalgal assemblages on biogenic reefs in the northern Adriatic Sea
  12. Short communications
  13. Phototactic responses of Elachista antarctica (Phaeophyceae) spores of different ages across a broad irradiance range using new motion analysis software
  14. Southern expansion of the brown alga Colpomenia peregrina Sauvageau (Scytosiphonales) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean
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