Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program: Belt Transect Surveys for Demographics and Condition of Corals at U.S. Pacific Reefs from 2007 to 2012

The data described here result from benthic coral demographic surveys in the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas as part of NOAA's Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP). Permanent sites located in hard-bottom habitats in 0-30 m depths were surveyed using belt transects to collect adult coral colony metrics, including colony size, partial mortality in two categories - old dead and recent dead, and non-lesion forming condition, including bleaching and disease. 

The data provided in this data set were collected during NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD; formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division) led Pacific RAMP cruises across the Pacific Islands Region from 2008 to 2012. 

Data collected as part of PapahÄnaumokuÄkea Marine National Monument funded research cruises in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2012 are also included as these data were funded separately from but are complementary to the Pacific RAMP data collected by ESD. A two-stage stratified random sampling (StRS) design was employed during these monument-led missions in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The survey domain encompassed the majority of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitats in the 0-30 m depth range. The stratification scheme included island, reef zone, and depth. Sampling effort was allocated based on strata area and sites were randomly located within strata. The StRS design effectively reduces estimate variance through stratification using environmental covariates and by sampling more sites rather than sampling more transects at a site. Therefore, site-level estimates and site-to-site comparisons should be used with caution.

Tags: 1221, 587, agrihan island, agrihan island (18n145e0002), aguihan, aguihan island (aguijan) (14n145e0006), aguihan island reefs, alamagan island, alamagan island (17n145e0002), american samoa, american samoa (14s170w0000), asuncion island, asuncion island (19n145e0001), baker island, baker island (00n176w0001), belt transect, biennial, biodiversity, biology, biosphere, c204 pacific reef assessment and monitoring program (pacific ramp): biennial monitoring for the us p, central pacific ocean, cnmi, coastal processes, commonwealth of the northern mariana islands, coral, coral - colony size, coral - species identification, coral belt survey, coral colony size and condition, coral communities, coral disease, coral reef conservation program, coral reef ecology, coral reef ecosystem division, coral reef ecosystem program, coral reef studies, coral reefs, corals, country/territory, cred, crep, doc/noaa/nmfs/pifsc, earth science, ecological dynamics, ecosystem monitoring and assessment, ecosystem sciences division, equatorial pacific ocean, esd, farallon de pajaros, farallon de pajaros (20n144e0001), french frigate shoals (24n166w0001), gardner pinnacles (25n168w0001), guam, guam (13n144e0000), guguan, guguan island, guguan island (17n145e0001), hawaii, hawaii island, hawaii island (19n155w0003), hawaiian islands, hawaiian islands (21n157w0027), hi'ialakai, honolulu, howland island, howland island (00s176w0001), jarvis island (00s160w0001), johnston atoll, johnston atoll (16n169w0001), kauai, kauai island, kauai island (22n159w0001), kingman reef (06n162w0001), kure atoll (28n178w0001), lanai island, lanai island (20n156w0002), laysan island (25n171w0001), line islands, lisianski island (25n173w0001), main hawaiian islands, manu'a group, manu'a islands (14s170w0038), mariana archipelago, mariana islands, marianas, marianas trench marine national monument, marine biology, maro reef (25n170w0001), maug, maug island, maug island (20n145e0001), maui, maui island, maui island (20n156w0004), mhi, midway atoll (28n177w0001), molokai island, molokai island (21n157w0001), national marine fisheries service, necker island (23n164w0001), nihoa (23n161w0001), niihau island, niihau island (21n160w0001), nmfs, noaa, north pacific ocean, northern mariana islands, northern mariana islands ( cnmi ) (18n146e0000), northwestern hawaiian islands, northwestern hawaiian islands (28n178w0000), numeric data sets, nw pacific, nwhi, oahu (21n157w0003), oahu island, ocean basin, oceans, ofu island (14s169w0013), olosega island (14s169w0014), oscar elton sette, pacific islands fisheries science center, pacific ocean, pacific reef and assessment monitoring program (pacific ramp), pacific reef assessment and monitoring program: monitoring coral reef ecosystems of the us pacific i, pacific remote island areas, pacific remote islands marine national monument, pagan, pagan island, pagan island (18n145e0001), palmyra atoll (05n162w0001), papahanaumokuakea marine national monument, papahänaumokuäkea marine national monument, pearl and hermes reef (27n176w0001), pifsc, pmnm, pria, primnm, ramp, rapid assessment studies, rapid ecological assessment, rea, reef assessment and monitoring program, reef monitoring and assessment, rose atoll marine national monument, rose island, rose island (rose atoll) (14s168w0001), rota, rota island, rota island ( luta ) (14n145e0007), saipan, saipan island, saipan island (15n145e0002), sarigan island, sarigan island (16n145e0003), south bank (14s170w0067), south pacific ocean, species richness, survey, survey - biological, survey - swimmer/diver, swains atoll (11s171w0001), ta'u island (14s169w0012), tinian, tinian island (14n145e0005), tinian island reefs, tutuila island (14s170w0016), u.s. department of commerce, united states of america, us doc, usa minor outlying islands, wake atoll, wake atoll (19n167e0001), western pacific ocean, zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce