The ecoSCOPE is an optical sensor system, deployed from a small remotely operated vehicle ( ROV) or fibre optic cable, to investigate behavior and microdistribution of small organisms in the ocean.

Deployment

Although an ROV may be very small and quiet, it is impossible to approach feeding herring closer than 40 cm. The ecoSCOPE allows observation of feeding herring from a distance of only 4 cm. From 40 cm, the herrings' prey ( copepods) in front of the herring are invisible due to the

deflection Deflection or deflexion may refer to: Board games * Deflection (chess), a tactic that forces an opposing chess piece to leave a square * Khet (game), formerly ''Deflexion'', an Egyptian-themed chess-like game using lasers Mechanics * Deflection ...

of light by phytoplankton and microparticles in highly productive waters where herring live. With the ecoSCOPE, the predators are illuminated by natural light, the prey by a light sheet, projected via a second endoscope from strobed LEDs (2 ms, 100% relative intensity at 700 nm, 53% at 690 nm, 22% at 680 nm, 4% at 660 nm, 0% at 642 nm). By imitating the long, thin snout of the

garfish The garfish (''Belone belone''), also known as the garpike or sea needle, is a pelagic, oceanodromous needlefish found in brackish and marine waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Black, and Baltic Seas. Description The ...

protruding into the security sphere of the alert herrings, an

endoscope An endoscope is an inspection instrument composed of image sensor, optical lens, light source and mechanical device, which is used to look deep into the body by way of openings such as the mouth or anus. A typical endoscope applies several modern t ...

with a tip diameter of 11 mm is used. The endoscope is camouflaged to reduce the brightness-contrast against the background: the top is black and the sides are silvery. Additionally, the front of the ROV is covered by a mirror, reflecting a light gradient resembling the natural scene and making the instrument body virtually invisible to the animals. A second sensor images other copepods, phytoplankton and particles at very high magnification. Another advantage of these small "optical probes" is the minimal disruption of the current-field in the measuring volume, allowing for less disturbed surveys of microturbulence and shear. Another video can be seen in the article for Atlantic herring. An ecoSCOPE was also deployed to measure the dynamics of particles in a polluted estuary: see image on

Particle (ecology) In marine and freshwater ecology, a particle is a small object. Particles can remain in suspension in the ocean or freshwater. However, they eventually settle (rate determined by Stokes' law) and accumulate as sediment. Some can enter the atmosph ...

, another as an underwater environmental monitoring system, utilizing the orientation capacity of juvenile glasseel. Image:Krillspitballkils3.jpg, ''In situ'' image of feeding Antarctic krill. Visible is a green spit ball and a green fecal string, important components of the

biological pump The biological pump (or ocean carbon biological pump or marine biological carbon pump) is the ocean's biologically driven sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere and land runoff to the ocean interior and seafloor sediments.Sigman DM & GH ...

. Image:ECORAN42.JPG, The little tube extending from the nose is visible Image:Filterkrillkils2.gif, Filter feeding of Antarctic krill, slowed to 1/12th of actual speed

Specifications

The ecoSCOPE is a product of the new initiative of "Ocean Online Biosensors": a synthesis of IT-sensoric and the sensing capability of ocean organisms. Depicted in the image on the right is the central unit. On all four corners are small entrances, through which water from different sources enters (in this case, rivers and creeks in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

). It flows through a small

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by t ...

and mixes in the central chamber. It exits through a small tube in the middle. The glasseels migrate through this small tube heading into the current. In the middle is the entrance for the eels. They test the different water qualities and migrate toward the corner, where they exit. It is the opinion of many scientists that

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s have developed the finest

nose A nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which receive and expel air for respiration alongside the mouth. Behind the nose are the olfactory mucosa and the sinuses. Behind the nasal cavity, air next passes ...

on the planet. They can sense

concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', ''molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...

s of one part in 19

trillion ''Trillion'' is a number with two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the meaning in both American and British English. * 1,000,000,000,0 ...

. This is the same concentration as one glass of alcohol in the waters of all America's

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

. For the eels the sensory impressions are probably as diverse as the colors visible for us. The system is submerged, and a digital camera observes the exits. The dynIMAGE software monitors the frequency of decisions per exit. Many thousand of glasseels pass through the system on a single day. The three exits in the left lower corner carry water from polluted sources (one is a drinking water reservoir). EcoSCOPE systems have already been tracking

water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. ...

and its effect on fish and plankton behavior in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and the United States). For the future it is anticipated to deploy ecoSCOPEs continuously online, within the project LEO Projekt off

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, visible for the public. Tests have also been performed with different qualities of drinking water and with solutions of runoff juice from different samples of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

. Image:Aureliaauritakils3.jpg, ''In situ'' image of the fibres of an

Aurelia aurita ''Aurelia aurita'' (also called the common jellyfish, moon jellyfish, moon jelly or saucer jelly) is a species of the genus '' Aurelia''. All species in the genus are very similar, and it is difficult to identify ''Aurelia'' medusae without genet ...

from the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

showing a prey item, probably a copepod pulled to the body by contracting the fibres in a corkscrew fashion. Image:Clupeaharenguslarvaeinsitukils.jpg, Very young larvae of Atlantic herring in the typical oblique swimming position - the animal in the upper right in the classical S-shape of the beginning phase of an attack of probably a copepod - the remains of the

yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example ...

is very well visible in the transparent animal in the middle Image:rostrataluk.jpg, Glasseel on the online ''in situ'' microscope at the LEO project. Image:Glasseelkils.gif, Glasseel at the transition from ocean to freshwater; the freshwater flows from the left to the right. Glasseels are extremely difficult to image because they are transparent; see

eel life history The eel is a long, thin bony fish of the order Anguilliformes. The species has a catadromous life cycle, that is: at different stages of development migrating between inland waterways and the deep ocean. Because fishermen never caught anything t ...

References

* Cury PM (2004
"Tuning the ecoscope for the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries : Perspectives on eco-system-based approaches to the management of marine resources"
''Marine ecology'', 274: 272-275. * Julien B, Philippe C, Pascal C and Pierre C (2008
"Safeguarding, Integrating and Disseminating Knowledge on Exploited Marine Ecosystems: The Ecoscope"
International Marine Data and Information Systems, IMDIS - 2008. * Kils, U (1992
"The ecoSCOPE and dynIMAGE: Microscale Tools for ''in situ'' Studies of Predator Prey Interaction"
, ''Archiv für Hydrobiologie'', Beihefte 36: 83-96. * Kils, U (1994) In: M DeLuca (ed) ''Diving for Science...1994'' Proceedings of the 14th Annual Scientific Diving Symposium, American Academy of Underwater Sciences. New Brunswick, New Jersey. * Ulanowicz RE (1993) "Inventing the ecoscope", In V. Christensen and D. Pauly (eds
''Trophic models of aquatic ecosystems''
ICLARM Conf. Proc. 26: ix-x.

External links

The Ecoscope Project

the first propototype of the EcoSCOPE is visible in the picture, hanging from the roof. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ecoscope Optical devices Marine biology Fisheries science

Deployment

Specifications

See also

References

External links