The ecoSCOPE is an optical sensor system, deployed from a small remotely operated vehicle ( ROV) or fibre optic cable, to investigate

behavior Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions of Individual, individuals, organisms, systems or Artificial intelligence, artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or or ...

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 Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

closer than 40 cm. The ecoSCOPE allows observation of feeding herring from a distance of only 4 cm. From 40 cm, the herrings' prey (

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s) in front of the herring are invisible due to the deflection of light by

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), mea ...

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 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 ...

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), another as an underwater

environmental monitoring Environmental monitoring is the processes and activities that are done to characterize and describe the state of the environment. It is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, and in many circumstances in which human activit ...

system, utilizing the orientation capacity of juvenile glasseel. Image:Krillspitballkils3.jpg, ''In situ'' image of feeding

Antarctic krill Antarctic krill (''Euphausia superba'') is a species of krill found in the Antarctica, Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. It is a small, swimming crustacean that lives in large schools, called swarms, sometimes reaching densities of 10,000� ...

. 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 Carbon sequestration, sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere and land runoff to the ocean interior and seafloor sedim ...

. 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 U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

). It flows through a small

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth () is 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 the h ...

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 eels have developed the finest

nose A nose is a sensory organ and respiratory structure in vertebrates. It consists of a nasal cavity inside the head, and an external nose on the face. The external nose houses the nostrils, or nares, a pair of tubes providing airflow through the ...

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 1,000,000, million, or (ten to the twelfth Exponentiation, power), as defined on the long and short scales, short scale. This is now the meaning in bot ...

. 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 spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

. 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 Body of water, water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and ...

and its effect on fish and plankton behavior in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 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 A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

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

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

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

- 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 bec ...

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.

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 The American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) is a group of scientific organizations and individual members who conduct scientific and educational activities underwater. It was organized in 1977 and incorporated in the State of California in ...

. 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