The researchers used CUREE (the Curious Underwater Robot for Ecosystem Exploration), a robotic vehicle developed as a part of the WHOI Reef Solutions Initiative , and combined CUREE’s cameras, hydrophones, and powerful on-board computers to analyze audio and visual signals in real-time, enabling it to autonomously identify areas of higher biological activity at unprecedented resolution. Their work combines different types of observations—direct (mapping audio and visual detection of animals) and indirect (what can be inferred from environmental soundscapes or behavior of sentinel species)—to identify where biological hotspots are most likely to be located. The system represents a breakthrough in the ability to identify, map, and monitor the fine-scale structure of reef biodiversity, a key part of understanding reef health and resilience.

“We know that biodiversity on reefs isn’t distributed uniformly,” said Seth McCammon, a WHOI roboticist and lead author of the study.…