Classification and prediction of benthic habitat based on scientific echosounder data: application of machine learning algorithms

This study aims to map three main benthic habitats (coral, seagrass, and sand) in Kapota Atoll (Wakatobi, Indonesia) using a single-beam echosounder (SBES) Simrad EK15. The acoustic data were processed using Sonar5-Pro software. Eight acoustic parameters were used as input for the classification and prediction of benthic habitats, including depth (D), five acoustic parameters of the first echo (BD, BP, AttSv1, DecSv1, and AttDecSv1), and cumulative energy of the second and third echoes (AttDecSv2 and AttDecSv3). The classification and prediction process of benthic habitats uses two machine learning algorithms, Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), in XLSTAT Basic+ software. The study results show that 49 combinations of acoustic parameters produce benthic habitat maps that meet the minimum accuracy standards for benthic habitat mapping (≥60%). Using eight acoustic parameters produces a more accurate benthic habitat map than using only two main SBES parameters (DecSv1 and AttDecSv2 parameters or E1 and E2 in the RoxAnn system indicating the roughness and hardness indices). The RF and SVM algorithms produce benthic habitat maps with the highest accuracy of 79.33% and 78.67%, respectively. Each acoustic parameter has a different importance for the classification of benthic habitats, where the order of importance of each acoustic parameter in the overall classification follows the following order: AttDecSv2 > D > DecSv1 > BD > AttDecSv3 > AttSv1 > AttDecSv1 > BP. Overall, using more acoustic parameters can significantly improve the accuracy of benthic habitat maps.

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Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa nr POPUL/SP/0154/2024/02 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki II" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki (2025).