AI/ML for Marine Conservation: an Oxford Cloud-based Resource Infrastructures (OxCRIs) pilot
Marine ecosystems and biodiversity are under threat. This includes coastal and marine plant and animal species, their genetic variety, the habitats and ecosystems they form part of, and the ecological processes that operate in these systems. The impact of human activity and the role of socioeconomic pressures unduly impinges on marine habitats.
Cloud-based computing provides novel ways in which stakeholders (academics, industrial partners, policy-makers) can interact to solve fundamental, basic and applied problems facing humanity in the 21st Century. Here, the development of an OxCRI can enable us to understand the climate-environment-economic nexus in marine ecosystems. A preliminary study is using modern statistical (AI/ML) approaches to understand how coral reef fish diversity is impacted by fishing effort and poverty in the Western Indian Ocean, and build a library of resources into a test bed that can be used to address scientific problems. Assessment of reef fish diversity is a major component in understanding overall reef health and how these marine ecosystems are impacted by human activity under changing climates. There are also links with the SpaceTech-2 test bed, focusing on Earth systems, utilising remote sensing satellite data, and open data repositories from NASA, ESA, and private technology companies.
Please contact the Principal Investigator for further information: