National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Assessing and monitoring cryptic reef diversity of colonizing marine invertebrates using autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS) deployed at coral reef sites across the Pacific Remote Island Areas

This collection includes species identification data gathered from Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS). These ARMS are used by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) to assess and monitor cryptic reef diversity in the Pacific Remote Island Areas as part of the ongoing National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP). Developed in collaboration with the Census of Marine Life (CoML) Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems (CReefs), ARMS are designed to mimic the structural complexity of a reef and attract/collect colonizing marine invertebrates. The key innovation of the ARMS method is that biodiversity is sampled over precisely the same surface area in the exact same manner. Thus, the use of ARMS is a systematic, consistent, and comparable method for monitoring the marine cryptobiota community over time.

This data was gathered at specific reef sites across the Pacific Remote Island Areas. At these sites, divers entered the water and deployed and/or recovered the ARMS unit. Each unit used to gather this data consists of 23 cm x 23 cm gray, type 1 PVC plates stacked in alternating series of 4 open and 4 obstructed layers and attached to a base plate of 35 cm x 45 cm which is affixed to the reef. They are designed to mimic the structural complexity of a reef and attract colonizing invertebrates. Please see the data to determine how long a particular unit was underwater as soak times can vary by location.

Upon recovery, each ARMS unit was encapsulated, brought to the surface, and disassembled and processed on-board the research ship. Disassembled plates were photographed to document recruited sessile organisms and scraped clean and preserved in 95% ethanol for future DNA processing. Recruited motile organisms were then sieved into 3 size fractions: 2 mm, 500 um, and 100 um. The 500 um and 100 um fraction was bulked and preserved in 95% ethanol for future DNA processing. The 2 mm fraction was sorted into morphospecies. These DNA sequencing data are not included in this collection.

Tags: 0n6uhk, 2afmfe, 4j7her, 5u5g2c, 743, aquatic habitat, arms, autonomous reef monitoring structure, autonomous reef monitoring structure (arms), benthic habitat, biodiversity, biology, biosphere, brachyura, census, central pacific ocean, coastal processes, coral reef ecology, coral reef ecosystem division, coral reef ecosystem program, coral reefs, corals, country/territory, cred, crep, cryptobiota, earth science, ecosystem sciences division, esd, in situ biological, jarvis island (00s160w0001), kingman reef (06n162w0001), line islands, macroinvertebrates, marine biology, marine invertebrates, national coral reef monitoring program (ncrmp), numeric data sets, ocean basin, oceanography, oceans, pacific islands fisheries science center, pacific ocean, pacific remote island areas, pacific remote islands marine national monument, palmyra atoll (05n162w0001), pifsc, pria, primnm, ramp, reef assessment and monitoring program, reef habitat, reef monitoring and assessment, triennial, united states of america, usa minor outlying islands, wake atoll, wake atoll (19n167e0001), zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce