Mr Nils Piechaud

Maps have proved to be a useful method of summarising biological information concerning the seabed. Suitable environment for species and habitat can be predictively modelled based on image data and environmental variables (topography, oceanography or hydrography). This modelled can be projected in space to create a map where the environmental data is available. There is now a momentum towards the generalised mapping of the seafloor to provide information on which effective conservation policy can be based.

With The advance of technology, New tools exist to survey the sea-bed. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) have the capacity to provide a lot more data than the Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) but it is not yet clear how to make best use of all the possibilities they offer. My PhD is an exploratory work on how biological, oceanographic and hydrographic data provided by Autonomous vehicles can be used together to make better predictive species distribution maps.