CRED Rapid Ecological Assessment Belt Surveys of Coral Population and Disease Assessment at French Frigate, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2010

To support a long-term NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) for sustainable management and conservation of coral reef ecosystems, from 20100904 to 20100929, belt transect surveys of coral population and diseases quantitative assessments were conducted, as a part of Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA), during the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) cruise HA1007 in Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at biennial intervals by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). During the cruise, there were 11 surveys in total conducted at REA sites around French Frigate. At the specific REA sites, coral biologists along with algal biologists and marine invertebrate zoologist entered the water and conducted a fine-scale (approximately 300 m^2) and high degree of taxonomic resolution REA survey to assess and monitor species composition, abundance, percent cover, size distribution, diversity, and general health of corals, macro-invertebrates, and algae in shallow-water (less than 35 m) habitats. As a part of REA surveys, the coral belt surveys were focused on quantifying the diversity, abundance, density, and size-class distribution of the anthozoan and hydrozoan corals as well as the condition and health state of the coral reef populations. The surveys were conducted along two consecutively-placed, 25 m transect lines. The belt width was 1 m wide, 0.5 m on each side of the transect line. Within each 25 m transect, five 2.5 m segments were surveyed (beginning at points: 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 meters), whereby in each segment, all coral colonies whose center fell within 0.5 m of either side of the transect line were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible (genus or species) and two planar size metrics were collected: maximum diameter and diameter perpendicular to the maximum diameter. In addition, the extent of mortality, both recent and old, was estimated for each colony. Observers paid special attention to identifying as best as possible the extent of the former live colony. When a coral colony exhibited signs of disease or compromised health, additional information was recorded including type of affliction (bleaching, skeletal growth anomaly, white syndrome, tissue loss other than white syndrome, trematodiasis, necrosis, other, pigmentation responses, algal overgrowth, and predation), severity of the affliction (mild, moderate, marked, severe, acute), as well as photographic documentation and occasional tissue samples. Tissue samples were cataloged and fixed in buffered zinc-formalin solution for further histopathological analyses. Raw survey data included species presence and relative abundance, colony counts per taxon, size (width and length), mortality, predation, and health status. A surveyed area was ranging from 10 m^2 to 25 m^2 per site.

Tags: 1221, 1841, biodiversity, biology, biosphere, central pacific ocean, coastal processes, coral, coral cover, coral reef, coral reef ecology, coral reefs, corals, coris_metadata, country/territory, earth science, french frigate, french frigate shoals (24n166w0001), ha1007, hawaii, honolulu, incidence and characterization of coral diseases in the u.s. pacific islands, marine ecosystem, northwestern hawaiian islands, numeric data sets, nwhi, ocean basin, oceans, pacific ocean, pacific reef assessment and monitoring program (pacific ramp): biennial monitoring for the u.s. paci, rapid assessment studies, rapid ecological assessments (rea), reef assessment and monitoring program (ramp), reef monitoring and assessment, united states of america, zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce