Hierarchical segmentation-based software for cover classification analyses of seabed images (Seascape).

The article highlights the efficiency of the novel, image-based analysis software Seascape in studying benthic community structure. The technology used in Seascape is based on the discipline of landscape ecology approach, which states that communities can be observed as a patch mosaic at any scale. Seascape was tested in sampling digital images that include coral reefs from the Pacific Ocean, deep-water coral reefs in the Mediterranean Sea and the Antartic continental shelf in the Weddell Sea. The authors concluded that Seascape is an effective tool in studying underwater seabed images regardless of the scale.