An image analysis method to study the relationship between seagrasses and their epiphytes

An image analysis method to study the relationship between seagrasses and their epiphytes | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article An image analysis method to study the relationship between seagrasses and their epiphytes Chi Huang, Mehrube Mehrubeoglu, Carissa Piñón, Kirk Cammarata This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4645103/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 30 Dec, 2024 Read the published version in Marine Biology → Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Seagrasses are globally threatened due to increasing environmental stressors in coastal ecosystems. Excessive accumulation of algal epiphytes is suggested to be harmful to seagrasses, but an understanding of the quantitative relationship between epiphyte accumulation and effects on seagrass is still incomplete. The biomass, pigment and morphological measures widely used in understanding seagrass-epiphyte relationships provide limited spatiotemporal resolution of the dynamics of epiphyte colonization relative to host leaf growth and senescence. In this study, color scanning and image analysis methods were developed and validated to characterize epiphyte accumulation relative to seagrass host morphology. Thalassia testudinum collected monthly or bimonthly from July 2019 to April 2020 in Redfish Bay, Texas, was analyzed through traditional and image-based measures. Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) algorithms within the ENVI Program distinguished the pixels of many epiphytes collectively from epiphyte-free leaf areas based on RGB color bands. Misclassified pixels were < 10% in 94% of the analyzed images. Classification accuracy was also evaluated by correlation of traditional biomass and morphology metrics vs. image-based metrics for more than 2,000 seagrass and epiphyte images collected across different seasons and environmental conditions. Image-derived seagrass metrics strongly correlated with traditional metrics, but linear regressions of epiphyte biomass vs. epiphyte area (pixels) and biomass ratio of epiphyte to seagrass vs. epiphyte coverage (epiphyte pixels/leaf pixels) were weaker. This was likely due to seasonal and environmental influences on both the epiphyte community composition and the seagrass-epiphyte relationship, since image analysis does not capture the depth of epiphyte growth on the leaf. The image analysis method provides insight into the spatiotemporal accumulation of epiphytes on the seagrass host and has the potential to be adapted to detect environmentally-induced changes in the community composition of epibiota. Epiphyte Image analysis Seagrass Seagrass epiphyte relationship Algae Biofilm Environmental conditions Biomass ratio Leaf coverage Community composition Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 30 Dec, 2024 Read the published version in Marine Biology → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revise and Resubmit 05 Sep, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Jul, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Jun, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 27 Jun, 2024 First submitted to journal 26 Jun, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4645103","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":320176928,"identity":"ad2e9a98-5f95-4493-9c56-78f023ecdd07","order_by":0,"name":"Chi Huang","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4078-3463","institution":"Texas A\u0026M University-Corpus Christi","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chi","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""},{"id":320176929,"identity":"8f303378-9808-4943-9ff0-cfd14ebe849c","order_by":1,"name":"Mehrube Mehrubeoglu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Texas A\u0026M University-Corpus Christi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mehrube","middleName":"","lastName":"Mehrubeoglu","suffix":""},{"id":320176930,"identity":"5387a011-7648-4a9c-b933-7024456f30da","order_by":2,"name":"Carissa Piñón","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Texas A\u0026M University-Corpus Christi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Carissa","middleName":"","lastName":"Piñón","suffix":""},{"id":320176931,"identity":"666ec37a-65b0-4ed0-aabc-3d892b025af2","order_by":3,"name":"Kirk Cammarata","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Texas A\u0026M University-Corpus Christi","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kirk","middleName":"","lastName":"Cammarata","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-26 23:27:10","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4645103/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4645103/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-024-04577-1","type":"published","date":"2024-12-30T15:57:30+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":73093302,"identity":"6881543b-8a81-4ff5-bc97-b99c88b7b587","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-06 16:13:10","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1126581,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"HuangImageAnalysisofSeagrassClean62624.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4645103/v1_covered_763d29fe-b203-4344-8711-f53010bb9722.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"An image analysis method to study the relationship between seagrasses and their epiphytes","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"marine-biology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"mabi","sideBox":"Learn more about [Marine Biology](https://www.springer.com/journal/227)","snPcode":"227","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/227/3","title":"Marine Biology","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Epiphyte, Image analysis, Seagrass, Seagrass epiphyte relationship, Algae, Biofilm, Environmental conditions, Biomass ratio, Leaf coverage, Community composition","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4645103/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4645103/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Seagrasses are globally threatened due to increasing environmental stressors in coastal ecosystems. 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