National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Benthic cover derived from analysis of images collected from climate stations across the Hawaiian Archipelago

The benthic cover data in this collection result from the analysis of images produced during benthic photo-quadrat surveys conducted along transects at climate stations and permanent sites across the Hawaiian Archipelago. These sites were identified by the Ocean and Climate Change team and the ongoing National Coral Reef Monitoring Program. Benthic habitat imagery were quantitatively analyzed using Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe; Kohler and Gill, 2006) software from 2010-2014 and a web-based annotation tool called CoralNet (Beijbom et al. 2015) from 2015 to present. In general, images are analyzed to produce three functional group levels of benthic cover: Tier 1 (e.g., hard coral, soft coral, macroalgae, turf algae, etc.), Tier 2 (e.g., Hard Coral = massive, branching, foliose, encrusting, etc.; Macroalgae = upright macroalgae, encrusting macroalgae, bluegreen macroalgae, and Halimeda, etc.), and Tier 3 (e.g., Hard Coral = Astreopora sp, Favia sp, Pocillopora, etc.; Macroalgae = Caulerpa sp, Dictyosphaeria sp, Padina sp, etc.). The imagery analyzed in order to produce the benthic cover data is also included in this collection.

Tags: 1hlxdl, 6yj622, 743, algae, algal cover, aquatic habitat, baseline studies, be2ehl, belt transect, benthic, benthic biology, benthic habitat, benthos analysis, biosphere, blue-green algae, central pacific ocean, coastal processes, coral, coral communities, coral cover, coral reef ecology, coral reef ecosystem division, coral reef ecosystem program, coral reefs, corals, country/territory, cred, crep, crustose coralline algae, dwt2d8, earth science, ecosystem sciences division, encrusting macroalgae, esd, french frigate shoals (24n166w0001), habitats, hard coral cover, hard coral cover live percentage, hawaii, hawaii (21n160w0000), hawaii island, hawaii island (19n155w0003), hawaiian islands, hawaiian islands (21n157w0027), honolulu, in situ biological, kauai, kauai island, kauai island (22n159w0001), kure atoll (28n178w0001), lanai island, lanai island (20n156w0002), linear transect (point), lisianski island (25n173w0001), macroinvertebrates, main hawaiian islands, marine biology, marine invertebrates, marine plants, maui, maui island, maui island (20n156w0004), mhi, microbiota, mollusks, molokai island, molokai island (21n157w0001), national coral reef monitoring program, national coral reef monitoring program (ncrmp), niihau island, niihau island (21n160w0001), northwestern hawaiian islands, northwestern hawaiian islands (28n178w0000), numeric data sets, nwhi, oahu (21n157w0003), oahu island, ocean basin, oceanography, oceans, octocoral cover, p7j92l, pacific islands fisheries science center, pacific ocean, pearl and hermes reef (27n176w0001), photograph analysis, photographic analysis, pifsc, quadrat monitoring, rapid assessment studies, reef habitat, reef monitoring and assessment, seagrass, sponges, transect monitoring, tridacna, triennial, turf algae, united states of america, vegetation, visual images, ya82cj, zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce