Benthic percent cover derived from image analysis for selected locations in the Pacific Ocean

The data products described herein are part of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) funded projects aimed at documenting the status and trends for benthic cover and composition on coral reef ecosystems across the U.S. Pacific States and Territories, conducted, by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). Benthic habitat imagery collected as a part of Towed-diver Surveys (TDS) and Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) surveys for corals and fish are quantitatively analyzed implementing the Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe; Kohler and Gill, 2006) software, whereby 10 stratified random points are projected on each image and the benthic elements falling directly underneath each point will be identified to three functional groups levels: Tier 1 (e.g., hard coral, soft coral, macroalgae, turf algae, etc.), Tier 2 (e.g., Hard Coral = massive, branching, foliose, encrusting, etc.; Macroalgae = upright macroalgae, encrusting macroalgae, bluegreen macroalgae, and Halimeda, etc.), and Tier 3 (e.g., Hard Coral = Astreopora sp, Favia sp, Pocillopora, etc.; Macroalgae = Caulerpa sp, Dictyosphaeria sp, Padina sp, etc.). Power analyses support the methodological approach outlined above, whereby statistically sound sub-jurisdictional (island) level, benthic cover estimates can be successfully derived from REA and TDS photos. Benthic percent cover at the island level can be determined from data derived from towed-diver survey images while benthic percent cover is calculated at the site level for data derived from stratified random sampling images. Benthic percent cover has been derived from imagery collected during TDS every other year in American Samoa from 2004 to 2010, Guam from 2005 to 2011, and the Main Hawaiian Islands from 2006 to 2010 as well as 2005, and during REA surveys in American Samoa in 2010, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in 2011, and the Main Hawaiian Islands in 2010 and 2013, survey imagery for Guam and the CNMI collected in 2014 is currently being analyzed (as of the publication date of this record).

Tags: 1221, 429, 587, 743, agrihan island, agrihan island (18n145e0002), aguihan, aguihan island (aguijan) (14n145e0006), aguihan island reefs, alamagan island, alamagan island (17n145e0002), algae, algal cover, american samoa, american samoa (14s170w0000), aquatic habitat, asuncion island, asuncion island (19n145e0001), belt transect, benthic, benthic cover, benthic habitat, benthos analysis, biosphere, bleaching, blue-green algae, central pacific ocean, coastal processes, coral cover, coral diseases, coral reef ecology, coral reef ecosystem, coral reefs, corals, coris_metadata, country/territory, crustose coralline algae, earth science, encrusting macroalgae, farallon de pajaros, farallon de pajaros (20n144e0001), guam, guam (13n144e0000), guguan, guguan island, guguan island (17n145e0001), hard coral cover, hard coral cover live percentage, hawaii, hawaii (21n160w0000), hawaii island, hawaii island (19n155w0003), hawaiian islands, hawaiian islands (21n157w0027), honolulu, kauai, kauai island, kauai island (22n159w0001), lanai island, lanai island (20n156w0002), macroinvertebrates, manu'a group, manu'a islands (14s170w0038), mariana archipelago, marine biology, marine ecosystem, marine invertebrates, marine plants, maug, maug island, maug island (20n145e0001), maui, maui island, maui island (20n156w0004), microbiota, mollusks, molokai island, molokai island (21n157w0001), national coral reef monitoring plan (ncrmp) implementation, ncrmp startup activity 13: analysis of legacy-archived towed-diver imagery to monitor trends in paci, niihau island, niihau island (21n160w0001), northern mariana islands, northern mariana islands ( cnmi ) (18n146e0000), numeric data sets, oahu (21n157w0003), oahu island, ocean basin, oceans, octocoral cover, ofu (14s169w0002), ofu island, ofu island (14s169w0013), olosega (14s169w0016), olosega island, olosega island (14s169w0014), pacific ocean, pacific reef assessment and monitoring program (pacific ramp): biennial monitoring for the u.s. paci, pacific reef assessment and monitoring program: monitoring coral reef ecosystems of the us pacific i, pagan, pagan island, pagan island (18n145e0001), photograph analysis, photographic analysis, quadrat monitoring, rapid assessment studies, rapid ecological assessments (rea), reef assessment and monitoring program (ramp), reef habitat, reef monitoring and assessment, rose atoll (14s168w0001), rota, rota island, rota island ( luta ) (14n145e0007), saipan, saipan island, saipan island (15n145e0002), sarigan island, sarigan island (16n145e0003), seagrass, south bank (14s170w0067), sponges, swains atoll (11s171w0001), ta'u island (14s169w0012), tinian, tinian island (14n145e0005), tinian island reefs, transect monitoring, tridacna, turf algae, tutuila island (14s170w0016), united states of america, vegetation, western pacific ocean, zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce