THE APPLICATION OF UNDERIIATSn STEH80PHOTOGRA.1-li··rETHY
TO ECOLOGICAL STTJDIES OF NACHOPHYTES
Romuald Kaczy6skl 1/, J6zef Szmeja 2 /
1/
2/
Institute of Geodesy and Cartography, Jasna 2/4,
00-950 Varsaw,
Department of Plant EcoloGY and Nature Protection,
Uni versi ty of Gdal1sk, Czo.lgist6'tv 46, 81 .... 37·] Gdynia.
Poland
Commission V/lt.
Abstract
The paper describes tec}ll~ical and methodical solution f'or
close range undarl>/ater photogrammetry, applicable to hydrophytoecology. Selected stereogram and maps are presented to ShOl~
the ecological processes that were studied photogrammetrically.
:r..·lacrophytes grow'ing on the floor of lakes , rivers and seas
are less accessible to the ecologist than are terrestrial
plants. This is due to the specif'ic features of' the aquatic
environment, lvhere man, despite the achievements in technoloB'Y,
:feels uncertain. Efforts aimed at improving methods for in situ
studying should there:fore also search for possibilities of reducing the till:e of staying under water .. This is possible when
close range underwater photogramoetry is applied.
The subject o:f hydrophytoecological studies is to determine
relations among living plant organisms, as well as between the
latter and the aquatic enviroIlJ:lent 11here they are livine .. These
relationship are considered in biocoenoses and populations,
that is, at tNO hierarchical levels of' the organization or. ecological systems .. The higher, i.e., the biocoenotic level has
already been fairly commonly studied by means of photoil1terpretation techniques. They are used in cartornstrical studies of'
vegetation /La.ng 1969, Jolmson, Harris 1980, Haitala at al.19·J5/
and in the assessment of' its role in ecosystems /1folf'f, Lindner
1974, Jacques 1983/. Here aerial/Lang 1969, Alml\:vist 1975,
Jacques 1983/ and satellite /Raitala 1936, Haitala, Lampinen
1986/ photographs are used. The aim o~ this paper is to present
the possibility of' applying stereophotogrammetry to ecological
studies of undertiater plants .. The intention is to improve traditional, very labour-consuming phytopopulation study methods
by using underw'ater photogramrnetric photographs of' constant observation sites, tali:en at a short distance. Two stereograms
made at times t1 and t , will be used to illustrate the structure and organiza tion 6f the popula tion of a selected underl1atar plant species, and indica te ecoloGical phenomena all. processes that can be studied by photorrrammetric techniques ..
The stereograrns l~ere prepared by the method suggested by
Lundlllv /1971/, R,0'rslett et ale /1978/ and Bel-;:er, KaczYlislci
/1985/. As the reference points a stereometrical test, 0,5 x
0,5 x 0,1 m, was used with colour marke1?s, 0.05 m long, on it
/cf .. n,0'rslett et alit 1973, Szmejn 1987/. The pictures ,.;ere
306
A
B
o
c
mp::;:!: 0.05mm
*:»-
OJ=
64.8 mm
c:: 81.8 mm
0=
b =21.2 mm
d= 24.1 mm
E
Individual home
ranges
01
o~
.
...
.. ....
.,
60
c 40
u
1I.f£' .,••
~
6
•
OJ
::J
u..
o
••
f:t~
>-.
cr
~
o44P
)
O°"j:o
-
LZJ2 [J3
c1 0
20
o
Life stages
H-'
oiftb
o
0 .0
o
• 5
~.
••
•••
0 6
::+-;
t4~
7
Life history
.1
307
DO ~ 1-3 ~ 4-6 .7-9
individuals x 0.01 m -2
Density and spatial
structure
taken wi th the aid of' a Pentacon Six-TL camera :fi tted "'li th a
Flalctagon 4/50 mm objecti va and an underl'later SZP-2 stereophotogrannnetrical set-up in a water-tight casine- /ct:. Beker,
KaczYl1.ski 1935/. The set-up consisted ot: t,'lO Hasselblad 500
C/H cameras and a Distagon If/50 rnm objectives. A black and
""hi te panchromatic OR1iO NP 22 /22 DIN, 125 ;\SA/ :film, 60 .x 60
mm in t:rame size, was used.
0
Parameters o:f stereogram tal(en by SP2-2:
1
qJ
90 ,
base lenght 0.255 m, true photographic distance O.~O ra, apparent distance 0.63 m, adopted index of' ref'raction in ''later
n _ 1.33, base ra tio V= 1 : 3 .. 5, objective t:ocal lenght in
w~ter 66.5 mm. The stereograms 't'lere plotted in a 1: 2 scale on
a Zeiss Jena Topocart. r.ieasurement error RHS:: .;l- 0.5 rom.
Evaluation of' the usefulness of stereograms /Fig. 1/:
1. In the pictures /A, B/ taken in two dif'f'erent time / t
t /
2
in a sc~le about 1:17, all the individuals ot: the pla.l t
species under study can be identif'ied and counted:
Nt1 = 38 /e/, Nt2 = 49 /D/; t1 /1986.06.12,
t2/1936.09.30/.
2. Biometric characteristics of' living individuals lei, as
well as their seasonal variation, e.g., biomass increase
per uni t time, can be determined tvi th sut:f'icient accuracy.
3. This provides valuable material f'or studying the spatial relation betlV'een plants, e.g., the size of' individual areas
and their arrangement IDI and variation ''lith time.
4. stereograms are very usef'ul in various den~ographis analyses, e.g. studying the life-stage structure of' a population
tf =
=
,
1
IE/.
5. It is possible to use stereopair taken underwater in studies of' population dynamics, especially of': :fecundity, mor ....
tality, survival, and rate o:f individual /F/ or generation
rotation, as well as in the assessment of the spatial structure type IG/ and its changes 11ith time.
Fig.
1.
BI
An example use of' stereograms /A,
in studies of the
structure Ie, D, E/, demography In, E, FI, density and
spatial organization
D,
of' the population of' a
selected plant species
1 .... seedling, 2 .... juvenile individual, 3 - mature in ....
dividual, 4 - shoot grolving point, 5 - individuals which
survived from time t1 to t ; 6 - a cohort of' seedlings
2
and juvenile shoots which survived :from tine t1 to t?;
7 - individuals '>111.ich died between time t 1 and t 2 ..
IC,
GI
h
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