Research Objective
The goal of this project is to see how SCUBA diving can be beneficial for human health, and how the biodiversity and health of aquatic ecosystems can impact this activity. Scientists warn of an aquatic biodiversity crisis, so it is imperative that research be done to see how these ecosystems are changing (Albert et al., 2020). This project will be conducted by interviewing divers around the area and across the country about how SCUBA diving has subjectively impacted their mental or physical health. A set of quantitative and open-ended questions will be administered to divers that also relate to how the biodiversity of a dive site impacts the overall experience, enjoyment, and exertion of the activity. These questions will be asked as followed:
- On a scale of 0-10, with zero being no positive change and 10 being extreme positive change, how has SCUBA diving positively impacted your mental health?
- On a scale of 0-10, with zero being no positive change and 10 being extreme positive change, how has SCUBA diving positively impacted your physical health?
- On a scale of 0-10, with zero being no influence and 10 being extremely influential, how does the biodiversity of a dive site influence your enjoyment of a dive?
- On a scale of 0-10, with zero being no influence and 10 being extremely influential, how does the biodiversity of a dive site influence your physical exertion during a dive?
- On a scale of 0-10, with zero being no influence and 10 being extremely influential, how does the biodiversity of a dive site influence your motivation to dive the site?
- (Open Ended) In your personal experience, have you witnessed the biodiversity of a dive site change positively or negatively over time? Can you attribute these changes to any factors?
These questions are aimed to obtain quantitative measurements about how SCUBA diving can positively impact the physical and mental health of humans, and how the biodiversity of a dive site influences these changes. The results of this survey can be used to predict how the loss of biodiversity may impact the mental and physical wellbeing of humans in the future.
These results will be paired with a quantitative analysis of the temporal changes in fish biodiversity of Gilboa Quarry in Ottawa, Ohio. Photographic evidence from the quarry in 2019, 2020, and 2021 will be compared by calculating the raw number of species caught on video and the species richness from this site over time. Video footage from an underwater school bus attraction will be used to control for the location of species captured underwater. Two, approximately hour-long dives were conducted each visit with approximately 15 to 20 minutes of footage from the designated location captured. Three snapshots of the footage that capture the largest number of individuals and species will be used from this attraction for comparison of biodiversity over time.
Figure 1: Representation of underwater attractions at Gilboa Quarry, including the school bus of where the sample photos were taken (Gilboa Quarry – Color Underwater Map).
Figure 2: Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) in Gilboa Quarry, 2019
Literature Review
SCUBA diving has been shown to promote mental wellbeing through a variety of factors. Many studies have been conducted that evaluate the negative impacts of SCUBA diving on human health, but others aim to study the benefits the activity can bring. Even short-term exposure to diving has been shown to improve mental health by reducing stress and forming social relationships (Carreño et al., 2020). Significant improvements in mental health status have been seen in individuals diving that regularly take medications for chronic or psychiatric illnesses (Carreño et al., 2020). In individuals with physical disabilities, it was seen that improved self-esteem, confidence, and social interactions were attributed to SCUBA diving as a hobby as compared to individuals with physical disabilities that did not partake in diving as an activity (Henrykowska et al., 2021). Military veterans with mental and physical health issues benefitted from adaptive SCUBA sessions through improved mindfulness and contentment (Blumhorst et al., 2020). SCUBA diving has been studied to demonstrate the potential to improve the mental wellbeing of people with and without mental and physical disorders and has been shown to do so in these cases reported.
Not only can SCUBA diving be a great way to improve the mental wellbeing of a person, but it is also a physically demanding activity that can improve the physical health status of divers. At some dive sites, divers can expect to be transporting heavy equipment, swimming long distances, and dealing with other environmental conditions such as current, temperature, depth, aquatic and terrestrial topography, etc. Swimming has been shown to decrease the risk of chronic diseases and improve the health of people with chronic diseases (CDC, 2016). SCUBA divers with physical disabilities have reported improved respiratory function, motor skills, and pain management as a result of diving (Henrykowska et al., 2021). Getting in the water to perform a dive is a great way for people to stay active and improve their physical health status.
SCUBA diving has been shown to improve the mental and physical health status of many different people groups. Unfortunately, in the future this activity could be completely altered by the changes in the biodiversity of aquatic environments. Biodiversity is attractive for divers visiting exotic locations, studied by estimating the positive monetary value of biodiversity to aquatic tourists (Schuhmann et al., 2013). With the loss of biodiversity in many underwater environments across the globe, this could impact some diver’s motivation to visit and dive. Biodiversity loss could take away the great physical and mental benefits that come along with recreational SCUBA diving.
Study Design
This study will be conducted through a variety of methods used to understand the subjective side of the enviro-social issue of declining biodiversity in underwater ecosystems that are currently explored by SCUBA divers and their resulting mental and physical status due to these changes. Surveys will be given to the diving population to investigate how the biodiversity of a dive site affects many factors relating to the physical and mental health of a diver. Underwater photographs over 3 years will be used in conjunction with these surveys to evaluate any changes in biodiversity. These questions are important to answer because SCUBA diving is used as a hobby by many to reduce stress, gain physical activity, and enjoy nature underwater. A series of 5 rating and 1 open ended question will be sent out to divers across the nation through text, social media groups, work groups, and online SCUBA forums on the Survey Monkey platform. A preview of what the respondents will see is as follows:
Figure 3: Survey questionnaire that will be distributed to divers around the nation.
The results of the quantitative questions on this survey will be graphically represented to analyze the responses. Collections of short answer responses will be displayed along with these results to consider how heavily the issue of biodiversity loss impacts their responses.
A case study of the temporal change in biodiversity in Gilboa Quarry, Ohio will be used in conjunction with the survey approach to answering this question. The divers being surveyed have not all dove in Gilboa Quarry let alone seen it change throughout time, but data gathered here can possibly be applied to other quarries in similar latitudes. The results from the survey can be used with similar biodiversity data in other aquatic habitats to see how that specific ecosystem is changing and consequently changing the way humans feel and interact with it.
Retrospective data of the biodiversity in Gilboa Quarry will be used from fall 2019, fall 2020, and recent data collected from fall 2021 to evaluate any changes in the habitat. An underwater GoPro Hero, GoPro Hero 7 and GoPro Hero 8 were used during each of these years, respectively, to capture images of the surrounding wildlife which can be used to evaluate temporal changes. To minimize variability in the data comparison, images will be compared from an underwater school bus attraction in which many individuals congregate. Three photographs from each year will be compared that demonstrate the largest number of individuals and species.
How Will Biodiversity Be Measured?
Biodiversity can be measured quantitatively through species richness and species diversity (biodiversity index) calculations. Species richness is defined as the number of species in a given area. Species diversity is defined as a measure of the number of species in a given area and how evenly the total number of individuals are divided into each species (Wasserman, 2021). Species diversity can be calculated through:
where ‘D’ is species diversity, ‘n’ is the total number of individuals within a certain species, and ‘N’ is the total number of individuals in a given location. The ‘Σ’ represents that each individual species will be considered in a single calculation and added together in the denominator. The smaller the species diversity value, the more even the distribution of species is across this ecosystem (Wasserman, 2021). These indicators of biodiversity are usefully applied to photographs in which a variety of species can easily be identified and counted. In this study, photographs will be used to calculate the species richness and species diversity of certain locations within Gilboa Quarry and compared with each other over time. The results of this analysis can be used to determine temporal trends in biodiversity of Gilboa Quarry and compared with the subjective survey answers of divers who dive similar sites over time.
Supporting Evidence for Methodology
In this study, a survey will be administered to divers and used in conjunction with temporal data on species richness and species diversity of Gilboa Quarry. Surveys have been used in the past as an effective means of evaluating mental health conditions when the results of the survey were compared with the results of a phone interview (Ballester et al., 2019). However, questions are still being raised about the effectiveness of a subjective survey on mental wellbeing. It has been proposed that in order to minimize inter-subject variability, subjective questionnaires should be clearly written and should follow a logical order (OECD, 2013). By clearly stating the scale used in each question and by grouping similar questions together in the survey, inter-subject variability can be minimized in the respondent sample. A survey can easily be distributed to many divers over the internet, providing an efficient means of gathering a large sample size. Species richness has historically been used as an effective measure of the biodiversity of a given area at ecological and biogeographical scales (Chiarucci et al., 2011). This sampling technique has proven successful in the past and will therefore likely be effective at encapsulating the biodiversity of Gilboa Quarry. Along the northern Spanish coast, breath hold divers participated in an underwater photography contest in which the photographs were used to evaluate the species richness or diversity of the area (Gordoa et al., 2018). Underwater photography sampling techniques to evaluate species diversity have been proven to be effective methods to collect information about the biodiversity of an aquatic ecosystem. The methods proposed for investigating the underwater temporal changes in biodiversity at Gilboa Quarry have been supported by methods of other studies in the past and will likely prove to be effective measures during this study.
Results
After surveying 32 divers, the first question looking at any positive changes to mental health averaged a 6.8 out of 10. The second question looking at any positive changes to physical health averaged a 5.7 out of 10. The third question looking at how the biodiversity of a site affected one’s enjoyment of a dive averaged a 5.5 out of 10. The fourth question looking at how the biodiversity of a dive site influenced physical exertion during a dive averaged a 3.1 out of 10. Finally, the fifth question looking at how the biodiversity of a dive site influenced one’s motivation to dive the site averaged a 6.3 out of 10.
Figure 4: Survey results
The sixth question asked if these divers had seen biodiversity change positively or negatively over time, and if they could attribute these changes to any factors. Some divers that provided an open-ended response said that they only saw negative changes in biodiversity over time in whatever site they had been diving in. These divers attributed these negative changes to hurricanes, coral bleaching, overfishing, fertilizer runoff, pollution, climate change, inexperienced divers, and diseases of the local ecosystems. Some divers said that they have seen negative trends in biodiversity, and then positive trends after restoration efforts or stricter laws stating who can dive a site. Some divers said they had not seen any significant changes in biodiversity over time. Some divers mentioned that it is too hard to tell how the biodiversity has changed because of the complexity of the question at hand.
Figure 5: Word cloud of common words found in diver’s responses.
After analyzing footage taken from the quarry in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, three snapshots were taken from the underwater bus attraction that demonstrated the greatest number of individuals and species. The average species richness for 2019, 2020, and 2021 was 1.67, 4, and 3, respectively. The average species diversity for 2019, 2020, and 2021 was 1.06, 2.29, and 1.56, respectively.
Figure 6: One photograph used to calculate species richness and diversity in 2019 at Gilboa Quarry.
Figure 7: One photograph used to calculate species richness and diversity in 2020 at Gilboa Quarry.
Figure 8: One photograph used to calculate species richness and diversity in 2021 at Gilboa Quarry.
Species Richness and Diversity Data
| Species Richness | Photograph 1 | Photograph 2 | Photograph 3 | Average |
| 2019 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1.67 |
| 2020 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 2021 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Figure 9: Species richness data from the three photographs taken from three consecutive years at Gilboa Quarry.
| Species Diversity | Photograph 1 | Photograph 2 | Photograph 3 | Average |
| 2019 | 1.08 | 1.09 | 1 | 1.06 |
| 2020 | 1.45 | 2.63 | 2.78 | 2.29 |
| 2021 | 1.18 | 1.79 | 1.72 | 1.56 |
Figure 10: Species diversity data from the three photographs taken from three consecutive years at Gilboa Quarry.
Figure 11: Average species richness of the three photographs compared each year for three consecutive years.
Figure 12: Average species diversity of the three photographs compared each year for three consecutive years.
Discussion
The quantitative survey results did not yield many interesting or significant findings. The greatest deflections from a completely middle ground score of 5 out of 10 were from question 4 (3.3 out of 10) and question 5 (6 out of 10). The answers to question 5 do provide some insight into how changing biodiversity of aquatic systems may impact diving in the future. Multiple divers felt that the biodiversity of a dive site influenced their motivation positively to get out and dive the site. If biodiversity trends continue in the direction they are on, divers could be less willing to partake in this activity in the future. The answers provided to the open-ended question did provide some intriguing insight into how the diving community has observed biodiversity change over time and how they feel about these changes. Some divers only reported observing negative changes in the biodiversity of their favorite sites. One account from this perspective wrote, “I have seen reefs that have changed over the years in areas of Pensacola. Places you would look for lobsters no longer provided a catch due to divers returning to frequently. The divers unknowingly, but negligently, changed the ecosystem of the dive site for this aquatic species that lived there or fed at these locations. It isn’t a one step process. We as divers need to do better.” Other divers spoke of observing negative changes in the biodiversity of some areas, but due to the efforts of humans, have also witnessed these areas bounce back. One diver who observed this happening wrote, “I have seen some areas get worse and then bounce back. The change was due to over diving with inexperienced divers, but the diving was restricted to more experienced divers later on.” Inexperienced divers were mentioned multiple times in the accounts provided through the survey. These divers are a threat to marine biodiversity when they are unaware of their physical position in space under the water and unknowingly make contact with coral or other wildlife. They can also be uninformed of the consequences that come with touching or harvesting certain species from the wild. Dive agencies and charters need to do a better job at educating new divers on the possible negative outcomes of their actions, and only experienced divers should be allowed to dive in areas where species are fragile and threatened. A wide array of accounts from divers all over the country who have dove all around the world provides great insight into how aquatic ecosystems are changing, and how these changes could affect human health overall.
After evaluating the trends in species richness and species diversity data from Gilboa Quarry over three consecutive years, no definite conclusions can be drawn, but inferences can be made. If biodiversity is said to be directly proportional to the species richness and diversity, then it appears that biodiversity increased from 2019 to 2020, and then fell from 2020 to 2021 without falling below the 2019 values. These trends would oppose claims from other marine biodiversity studies discussed that have reported only negative trends in biodiversity over time. However, Gilboa Quarry is a much different habitat than the sea. Most, it not all the fish species found in the quarry were artificially introduced there and fish are often stocked to provide an attraction to divers. It was noted during the 2021 dives that divers had been observed attempting to make physical contact with the fish and sometimes even trying to grab them. It was also noted that many of the fish had lesions concurrent with bacterial infections of the skin. Many fish are coated with a mucus layer that is crucial for protection against bacterial infections (Dash et al., 2018). When the divers make contact with the fish by touching or grabbing them, they could be contributing to the loss of this protective mucus layer rendering the fish susceptible to disease. Studies have shown that this mucosal layer has regenerative properties, but an infection could prove deadly before it has time to heal (Sveen et al., 2020). This information in conjunction with the fact that the quarry was limited in diver capacity during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 could explain why there was an observed increase in biodiversity compared to 2019. This could also possibly explain why biodiversity has begun to fall again as the quarry reached full capacity in 2021.
Conclusion
The results of this study provide insight into how aquatic biodiversity is changing across the globe, how SCUBA divers are contributing to these trends positively and negatively, and how this activity could be impacted in the future as biodiversity continues to change. Healthy freshwater ecosystems have been linked to human health by providing clean drinking water, and the biodiversity of these bodies plays into its health (Higgins et al., 2019). Freshwater ecosystem also provide nutritional benefits to humans if they are sourced renewably (Bernhardt & O’Connor, 2019). Freshwater biodiversity is under extreme threat, even more so than marine or terrestrial biodiversity (Carrizo et al., 2017). While this study did not find any significant changes in biodiversity over time in Gilboa Quarry, this can likely be attributed to the fact that the health of this quarry is maintained by a business to attract customers. Other bodies of freshwater that are not used for diving are likely to be not as regulated or maintained. Biodiversity loss is said to be nonlinear, meaning that as loss continues the rate of change will accelerate (Cardinale et al., 2012). Anthropogenic biodiversity loss is only the catalyst to a chain reaction in which loss will occur without any necessary human intervention. The quicker this loss can be halted; the less change and adversity the world’s living organisms will face.
Through surveyed diver’s accounts, ways in which to reduce the amount of damage that diving does to aquatic biodiversity can be taken into consideration. A study done at a popular diving destination found that out of 100 recreational divers, 88 of them made contact with the reef at least once during a dive. This study also looked at the adoption of the Green Fins Program in the recreational diving industry and found that dive guide and operator intervention in diver’s behavior significantly reduced the amount of reef contacts (Roche et al., 2016). Divers also presented some accounts in which they had seen the biodiversity of a site deteriorate, and then bounce back after human intervention. One way in which they mentioned this could be done is through artificial reef implantation. Artificial reefs serve as a modern means for managing coral reef recovery in the wake of massive bleaching events (Kirkbride-Smith et al., 2016). These diver’s voices should be heard when it comes to making changes in the way things are done. They are experiencing the aquatic world under them change firsthand, and potentially have solutions for how to go about solving it.
The more aquatic biodiversity present on the planet, the more divers will be willing to go out and observe the rich ecosystems and the more inclined they will feel to protect it. This will also offer significant physical and mental health benefits to the niche community of divers that explore the world’s waters. As divers partake in this demanding activity, they will improve their physical fitness, create communities of friends, and enjoy a true connection with nature.
Research Limitations
While data collection and analysis were conducted in a way to minimize any variability, there were some limitations that made no variation unachievable during the course of this study. Some limitations arose from the dives in the quarry itself. As depicted in the images, the underwater GoPro camera used throughout the three years was not the same and varied in its quality. This made identifying individuals and types of species difficult in some images. The quality improved significantly in the following years which made identification and counting much more reliable. The water that is found in Gilboa Quarry is filled with silt which reduced the visibility as well. As the quarry is man-made, fish were artificially introduced to the quarry and stocked at times depending on the population’s health. At the underwater school bus attraction, divers often bring fish food to attract a crowd. So, whenever divers are in the water, fish migrate towards this area because they are conditioned to this stimulus and associate it with food. This could alter the biodiversity data found at this site as it is not representative of the whole quarry. Also, the dives were done during the same season each year, but not the exact same day which could introduce more variability. Other limitations rose from the survey administered to the divers. It is easier said than done to find a large sample of divers willing to take a survey who have dived a site continuously over time and been able to witness changes in the ecosystem. While variability throughout the course of this study was attempted, confounding factors did present themselves.
Future Studies
Future studies can capitalize on the limitations of this study to produce definitive data. Long term studies can be done on quarries, lakes, or other marine ecosystems to evaluate the temporal biodiversity of the area. By using a high-quality camera over time, variability can be reduced significantly which will make it easier to identify species and individual numbers. A larger scale survey can also be conducted to see how biodiversity better affects diver’s physical and mental wellbeing. With ample time and resources, studies could be conducted at marine biodiversity hotspots where divers visit for consecutive years and witness any changes in the habitat. The physical and mental health of the divers could be tracked over time along with species richness and diversity data and compared.
Citations
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