High-resolution audio and photographic recording of small marine organisms for non-destructive ecological sampling and documentation.

Christopher Kitting, Ph.D.
California State University

California State University, Hayward
3:00 p.m.–Pacific Forum

Ecological observations in the laboratory can indicate what might happen in the field, but direct close-up observations in natural settings often lack convenience and resolution.

Field problems, such as disturbance of the animals, inadequate lighting, and poor visual acuity of a drifting investigator have been minimized with versatile, little-known, cost-effective photographic equipment, including the finest, almost practical color imaging via Hasselblad’s 70-mm film format. 

Risk of equipment damage is minimized for depths of less than 7 meters, with an inexpensive, pliable vinyl housing for virtually any camera. Close-ups are best with a short extension tube or achromatic (2-element) diopter. An external flash is convenient in a separate housing, triggered via an auto-exposure slave accessory. Slave flashes can be shared within a rack of close-up and wider-field underwater cameras.

 Resulting color transparencies are studied with transmitted light under a dissecting microscope. Initial, subjective, time-lapse comparisons are made with an improvised blink comparator. Such simple procedures yield efficient, non-destructive data collection with permanent photographic records. Quantification is optimized after subjective comparisons of photographs establish the necessary subsampling resolution and replication.