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Title: Geometric Method for Estimating Coral Surface Area Using Image Analysis
This protocol outlines a non-destructive geometric method for estimating the surface area of Scleractinian coral samples with relatively simple morphologies (e.g., not densely branching). The geometric method was one of the earliest used for estimating the surface area of marine organisms (Odum et al. 1958). The basic principle of this method involves selecting geometric shapes or forms which closely resemble the morphology of a coral fragment (e.g., cylinders, cones, pyramids, hemispheres etc.), measuring the dimensional parameters of the coral, and applying the area equation for a given geometric shape to obtain the surface area estimate for the coral. This method has been commonly used in coral research previously (Szmant-Froelich 1985; Roberts and Ormond 1987; Babcock 1991; Bak and Meesters 1998; Naumann et al. 2009). URL: dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.bpxcmpiw  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1838667
PAR ID:
10214885
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Protocolsio
ISSN:
2473-1838
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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