June 6 (Reuters) - When a team of scientists listened to an audio clip recorded underwater off islands in central Indonesia, they heard what sounded like a campfire. Instead, it was a coral reef, teeming with life, according to a study scientists from British and Indonesian universities published last month, in which they used hundreds of such audio clips to train a computer programme to monitor the health of a coral reef by listening to it. A healthy reef has a complex "crackling, campfire-like" sound because of all the creatures living on and in it, while a degraded reef sounds more desolate, life sciences specialist and the team's lead researcher Ben Williams said. The artificial intelligence (AI) system parses data points such as the frequency and loudness of the sound from the audio clips, and can determine with at least 92% accuracy whether the reef is healthy or degraded, according to the team's study published in Ecological Indicators journal. The scientists hope this new AI system will help conservation groups around the world to track reef health more efficiently.

Coral reefs are among Earth's most stunning and biodiverse ecosystems. Yet, due to human-induced climate change resulting in warmer oceans, we are seeing growing numbers of these living habitats dying. The urgency of the crisis facing coral reefs around the world was highlighted in a recent study that showed that 91% of Australia's Great Barrier Reef had experienced coral bleaching in the summer of 2021–22 due to heat stress from rising water temperatures. Determining reef health is key to gauging the extent of the problem and developing ways of intervening to save these ecosystems, and a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool has been developed to measure reef health using… sound. Research coming out of the UK is using AI to study the soundscape of Indonesian reefs to determine the health of the ecosystems.

Coral reefs are among Earth's most stunning and biodiverse ecosystems. Yet, due to human-induced climate change resulting in warmer oceans, we are seeing growing numbers of these living habitats dying. The urgency of the crisis facing coral reefs around the world was highlighted in a recent study that showed that 91% of Australia's Great Barrier Reef had experienced coral bleaching in the summer of 2021–22 due to heat stress from rising water temperatures. Determining reef health is key to gauging the extent of the problem and developing ways of intervening to save these ecosystems, and a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool has been developed to measure reef health using… sound. Research coming out of the UK is using AI to study the soundscape of Indonesian reefs to determine the health of the ecosystems.

England [UK], May 27 (ANI): According to new research, artificial intelligence (AI) can track the health of coral reefs by learning the "song of the reef." The research has been published in the journal, "Ecological Indicators". Coral reefs have a complex soundscape - and even experts have to conduct painstaking analyses to measure reef health based on sound recordings. In the study, University of Exeter scientists trained a computer algorithm using multiple recordings of healthy and degraded reefs, allowing the machine to learn the difference. The computer then analysed a host of new recordings, and successfully identified reef health 92 per cent of the time.

Coral reefs have a complex soundscape -- and even experts have to conduct painstaking analysis to measure reef health based on sound recordings. In the new study, University of Exeter scientists trained a computer algorithm using multiple recordings of healthy and degraded reefs, allowing the machine to learn the difference. The computer then analysed a host of new recordings, and successfully identified reef health 92% of the time. The team used this to track the progress of reef restoration projects. "Coral reefs are facing multiple threats including climate change, so monitoring their health and the success of conservation projects is vital," said lead author Ben Williams.

England: According to new research, artificial intelligence (AI) can track the health of coral reefs by learning the "song of the reef." The research has been published in the journal, "Ecological Indicators". Coral reefs have a complex soundscape – and even experts have to conduct painstaking analyses to measure reef health based on sound recordings. In the study, University of Exeter scientists trained a computer algorithm using multiple recordings of healthy and degraded reefs, allowing the machine to learn the difference. The computer then analysed a host of new recordings, and successfully identified reef health 92 per cent of the time.

Coral reefs are an essential element in our global ecosystem, offering shelter to a quarter of marine life and providing a food source, income, and coastal buffer to over 500 million people across the globe. Yet because of rising ocean temperatures, which results in coral bleaching (check out TechRepublic's coverage of how tech is helping protect the Great Barrier Reef) as well as overfishing and reckless coastal development, coral reefs are endangered: Half of the Great Barrier Reef is dead. Today, to celebrate the 50th annual Earth Day, Intel, Accenture, and the Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation (SEF) present Project: CORaiL. The joint initiative will use the power of artificial intelligence (AI) "to monitor, recreate, and restore coral reefs," according to the release. To gauge the reef health, Project: CORail calculated the number and type of fish in a reef.