A synthesis of benthic percent cover data in the Mariana Islands Archipelago covering a period of 22 years (2000-2022) and summarized at three spatial scales (archipelago-, island-, and sub-island-scales)

The benthic percent cover data described in this record is a result of a synthesizing effort led by the Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) to integrate benthic cover data collected during the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) surveys in the Mariana Islands Archipelago with surveys carried out by jurisdictional partners in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). This project covers a period of over 20 years (2000-2022) and was funded by the CRCP Project #31364, titled "Synthesizing data to assess temporal trends in benthic and reef fish communities across the Mariana archipelago".

Benthic percent cover was estimated for six categories (i.e., calcified, non-calcified, algae, turf, crustose coralline algae, and coral) and produced at three spatial scales: across the archipelago (populated islands versus remote islands), at each  populated island (Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan) and some remote islands, and for each downscaled sectors (10 sectors in Guam, four in Rota, four in Tinian, and 9 in Saipan). These estimates were primarily generated from benthic substrate photographs and using the line-point intercept methodology. Benthic substrate photographs are commonly taken along a 30-m transect at every meter at each site and are then analyzed using the web-based annotation tool. The line-point-intercept methodology consists of consecutively placing 25-m line transects (with a usually 5-m inter-transect distance) to determine the benthic composition at predetermined intervals along the transect line.

Tags: 31364, agrihan island, agrihan island (18n145e0002), aguijan, aguijan island (14n145e0006), aguijan island reefs, alamagan island, alamagan island (17n145e0002), aquatic habitat, asuncion island, asuncion island (19n145e0001), benthic, benthic communities, benthic habitat, biosphere, cnmi, coastal processes, commonwealth of the northern mariana islands, coral communities, coral reef, coral reef conservation program, coral reef ecosystem division, coral reef ecosystem program, coral reef studies, coral reefs, coralnet, corals, country/territory, cred, crep, decades, doc/noaa/nmfs/pifsc, earth science, ecosystem sciences division, ecosystems, esd, farallon de pajaros, farallon de pajaros (12n144e0001), guam, guam (13n144e0000), guguan, guguan island, guguan island (17n145e0001), habitat - benthic, hi'ialakai, imagery, laboratory analysis, mariana archipelago, mariana islands, marianas, marianas trench marine national monument, marine biology, marine ecosystems, maug, maug island, maug island (20n145e0001), micronesia, national coral reef monitoring program, national marine fisheries service, nmfs, noaa, northern mariana islands, northern mariana islands ( cnmi ) (18n146e0000), numeric data sets, nw pacific (limit-180), ocean, ocean basin, oceans, oscar elton sette, pacific islands fisheries science center, pacific ocean, pacific reef and assessment monitoring program, pagan, pagan island, pagan island (18n145e0001), photograph, pifsc, pifsc publication, rainier, ramp, reef, reef and/or bottom regime - percent cover, reef assessment and monitoring program, reef habitat, reef monitoring and assessment, rota, rota island, rota island ( luta ) (14n145e0007), saipan, saipan island, saipan island (15n145e0002), sarigan island, sarigan island (16n145e0003), small boat, survey - biological, synthesizing data to assess temporal trends in benthic and reef-fish communities across the mariana , tinian, tinian island (14n145e0005), tinian island reefs, u.s. department of commerce, united states of america, us doc, western pacific ocean, zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce