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Sharkbook
Sharkbook is a global database for identifying and tracking sharks, particularly whale sharks, using uploaded photos and videos.In addition to identifying and tracking sharks, the site allows people to "adopt a shark" and get updates on specific animals. Creation Sharkbook is the result of collaboration between Simon J Pierce of the Marine Megafauna Foundation and Jason Holmberg of Wild Me. The software is Open Source and is now being used by other biology projects. Identification of individual sharks Whale sharks have unique spot patterning on their sides, similar to a human fingerprint, which allows for individual identification. Scuba divers around the world can photograph sharks and upload their identification photographs to the Sharkbook website, supporting global research and conservation efforts. Additionally, the software automatically searches social media sites like YouTube and Instagram to look for images of whale sharks and adds them to the database. Sharkbook s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon J Pierce
Simon J Pierce is a marine biologist and conservationist known for discovering, studying, and protecting large marine animals such as whale sharks and manta rays. He is the co-founder and principal scientist of the Marine Megafauna Foundation. Pierce has developed several non-invasive research techniques for endangered species, such as developing photo-identification with computer image analysis and artificial intelligence to track populations of whale sharks and other species of marine animal. These techniques have been incorporated into Citizen Science projects, including Sharkbook, the global shark monitoring database, as well as other MMF projects such as Manta Matcher. He led the conservation assessment on whale sharks for the IUCN Red List in 2016, which resulted in the whale sharkâs global protection through an Appendix I listing on the UN Convention on Migratory Species in 2017 and then led the firsIUCN Green Status conservation assessment on whale sharks in 202 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Megafauna Foundation
The Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) is a Marine biology, marine biology research and Conservation biology, conservation nonprofit known for discovering, researching, and protecting large marine animals including whale sharks, manta rays, sea turtles, whales, and dugongs. MMF has permanent research & conservation sites in Mozambique, Australia, Indonesia, and Florida, as well as other temporary locations. History MMF was founded in 2009 by marine biologists Andrea Marshall and Simon J Pierce in Tofo, Tofo Beach, Mozambique. Discoveries, research, and conservation initiatives * Developed new techniques to use photo identification and artificial intelligence to study and track populations of whale sharks and other marine animals. These are incorporated in Citizen science programs such as Sharkbook and Manta Matcher. * Discovered a new type of Manta alfredi, Manta, the "reef manta ray" (''Manta alfredi)'' * Led initiatives to add whale sharks, reef manta rays, and oceanic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Citizen Science
Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes referred to as amateur/nonprofessional scientists). There are variations in the exact definition of citizen science, with different individuals and organizations having their own specific interpretations of what citizen science encompasses. Citizen science is used in a wide range of areas of study, with most citizen science research publications being in the fields of biology and conservation. There are different applications and functions of citizen science in research projects. Citizen science can be used as a methodology where public volunteers help in collecting and classifying data, improving the scientific community's capacity. Citizen science can also involve more direct involvement from the public, with communities initiating proj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scuba Diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in a patent submitted in 1952. Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, affording them greater independence and movement than surface-supplied divers, and more time underwater than free divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a gas blend with a higher oxygen content, known as enriched air or nitrox, has become popular due to the reduced nitrogen intake during long and/or repetitive dives. Also, breathing gas diluted with helium may be used to reduce the likelihood and effects of nitrogen narcosis during deeper dives. Open circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled, and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxonomy. A large proportion of all life on Earth lives in the ocean. The exact size of this ''large proportion'' is unknown, since many ocean species are still to be discovered. The ocean is a complex three-dimensional world covering approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The habitats studied in marine biology include everything from the tiny layers of surface water in which organisms and abiotic items may be trapped in surface tension between the ocean and atmosphere, to the depths of the oceanic trenches, sometimes 10,000 meters or more beneath the surface of the ocean. Specific habitats include estuaries, coral reefs, kelp forests, seagrass meadows, the surrounds of seamounts and therm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manta Matcher
Manta Matcher is a global online database for manta rays. It is one of the Wildbook Web applications developed by Wild Me, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in the United States, and was created in partnership with Andrea Marshall of the Marine Megafauna Foundation. Manta rays have unique spot patterning on their undersides, which allows for individual identification. Scuba divers around the world can photograph mantas and upload their manta identification photographs to the Manta Matcher website, supporting global research and conservation efforts. Manta Matcher is a pattern-matching software that eases researcher workload; key spot pattern features are extracted using a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm, which can cope with complications presented by highly variable spot patterns and low contrast photographs. This citizen science tool is free to use by researchers worldwide. Manta Matcher represents a global initiative to centralize manta ray sightings an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature (journal)
''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. It has core editorial offices across the United States, continental Europe, and Asia under the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature. ''Nature'' was one of the world's most cited scientific journals by the Science Edition of the 2019 ''Journal Citation Reports'' (with an ascribed impact factor of 42.778), making it one of the world's most-read and most prestigious academic journals. , it claimed an online readership of about three million unique readers per month. Founded in autumn 1869, ''Nature'' was first circulated by Norman Lockyer and Alexander Macmillan as a public forum for scientific innovations. The mid-20th century facilitated an editorial expansion for the journal; ''Nature'' redoubled its efforts in exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scale-invariant Feature Transform
The scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) is a computer vision algorithm to detect, describe, and match local ''features'' in images, invented by David Lowe in 1999. Applications include object recognition, robotic mapping and navigation, image stitching, 3D modeling, gesture recognition, video tracking, individual identification of wildlife and match moving. SIFT keypoints of objects are first extracted from a set of reference images and stored in a database. An object is recognized in a new image by individually comparing each feature from the new image to this database and finding candidate matching features based on Euclidean distance of their feature vectors. From the full set of matches, subsets of keypoints that agree on the object and its location, scale, and orientation in the new image are identified to filter out good matches. The determination of consistent clusters is performed rapidly by using an efficient hash table implementation of the generalised Hough transf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versatile, renowned both as a vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy. The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble and is one of NASA's Great Observatories. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) selects Hubble's targets and processes the resulting data, while the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) controls the spacecraft. Hubble features a mirror, and its five main instruments observe in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to capture extremely high-resolution images with substantially lower background light than ground-based telescopes. It has recorded some of the most detaile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. NASA has since led most American space exploration, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968-1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. NASA supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program, Commercial Crew spacecraft, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program, which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
