Special Session 15

Marine imaging and related approaches are modern tools which allow answering complex ecological, evolutionary – and more generally biological – questions. These tools can be applied to a broad range of spatial scales from intraspecific phenotypic variation at a given site to regional- and global- scale variation in functional and ecological traits. Robust ecological studies are now possible thanks to developments in both image acquisition devices (e.g., new cameras and sensors, lighting systems) and analytical tools (e.g., statistical tools and their software implementations). The recent uptake of deep learning-based approaches and multispectral image analysis is a further example of how biological and underwater imaging are consolidating their role as non-destructive tools to study life in the oceans.
In this special session, both methodological and empirical contributions addressing biological questions using marine imaging and related approaches are welcome.

Armando Macali holds a PhD in Evolutionary Ecology and he is a Research Fellow at the Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, Tuscia University. He has broad research interests, with a substantial focus on marine biodiversity. A current area of research is related to the evolutionary significant of phenotypic plasticity, with a special emphasis on behaviour and adaptive coloration and camouflage in marine species.