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) (NCEI Accession 0299811)

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). The raw benthic cover data is derived from already archived NCRMP surveys and private partner data. 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), aguihan, aguihan island (aguijan) (14n145e0006), aguihan island reefs, alamagan island, alamagan island (17n145e0002), algae, algal cover, aquatic habitat, asuncion island, asuncion island (19n145e0001), benthic, benthic biology, benthic habitat, benthos analysis, bh6w1a, biosphere, cnmi, coastal processes, commonwealth of the northern mariana islands, 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, decades, earth science, ecosystem sciences division, esd, farallon de pajaros, farallon de pajaros (20n144e0001), guam, guam (13n144e0000), guguan, guguan island, guguan island (17n145e0001), hard coral cover, in situ biological, linear transect (point), mariana archipelago, mariana islands, marianas, marine biology, maug, maug island, maug island (20n145e0001), northern mariana islands, northern mariana islands ( cnmi ) (18n146e0000), numeric data sets, ocean basin, oceanography, oceans, pacific islands fisheries science center, pacific ocean, pagan, pagan island, pagan island (18n145e0001), photographic analysis, pifsc, ramp, reef asessment and monitoring program, reef habitat, reef monitoring and assessment, rota, rota island, rota island ( luta ) (14n145e0007), saipan, saipan island, saipan island (15n145e0002), santa rosa bank (12n144e0051), sarigan island, sarigan island (16n145e0003), small boat, sponges, synthesizing data to assess temporal trends in benthic and reef-fish communities across the mariana , tinian, tinian island (14n145e0005), tinian island reefs, transect monitoring, turf algae, united states of america, vegetation, western pacific ocean, zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce