Realm: Marine
Climate: Temperate/Tropical
Biome: Tropical seas
Central latitude: 10.778000
Central longitude: -169.454000
Duration: 4 years, from 2007 to 2010

18535 records

209 distinct species

Across the time series Pocillopora meandrina is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

Coral (Rapid Ecological Assessment) REA MethodsField ComponentsAfter descending to the bottom. the coral biologist videotapes along at least two of the three transect lines laid out by the fish team using a Sony PC digital PC100 camcorder in a Gates underwater housing. while slowly swimming ~1 meter above the length of the line. These video sequences enable later. computer-assisted quantitative analyses of percent coverage of corals. algae. and substrate types. Additionally. at the beginning of each of the transect lines. a 360? pan of the surrounding reef area is slowly videotaped to document the topography and general nature of the surrounding area.The coral biologist then swims back along as many of the transect lines as bottom time permits and lists coral species occurring within 0.5 m? of each side of the transect lines and the size class to which the maximum diameter of the colony belongs ( 5 cm; 5?10 cm; 10-20 cm; 20-40cm; 40-80 cm; 80-160 cm; or 160 cm). In geographic regions such as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands where coral richness and abundance are reduced relative to lower latitude regions with higher species richness. the protocol is amended to include all corals occurring within 1m of each side of the transect lines.A random swim is then conducted in the vicinity of the transect lines within an area of about 5.000m2 in which all coral species are listed and assigned a DACOR abundance code based on visual estimation (dominant. abundant. common. occasional. and rare). If bottom time permits. corals showing signs of disease. bleaching. or abnormal growth are tallied. described. and photographed.Laboratory ComponentsAcropora cytherea. French Frigate Shoals NWHIAnalysis of digital video taken along the transect lines is conducted using duplicates of the videotapes rather than the originals. which are archived as a permanent record of the state of the reefs at a known point in time.The quantitative analysis of the benthic habitat. as documented by the digital videos. involves three major steps: The selection of single. sequential. non-overlapping still frames The import of individual still frames into the computer program SigmaScan for identification and tracing of key benthic components and calculation of their percent cover within each still frame. and The compilation and summarization of SigmaScan's quantitative data using Microsoft Excel.This sophisticated. computer-assisted method of transforming qualitative photographic images into quantitative data that describe the relative contribution of key ecological components to the benthos is also being successfully used in the quantitative analysis of digital video collected during towed-diver surveys over larger spatial scales. Unit of abundance = AggregatedPresence, Unit of biomass = NA

Citation(s)

"CRED Rapid Ecological Assessments of Coral Population in the Pacific Ocean 2007-2010". (2011) Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED), Pacific Island Fisheries Sciences Center, National Marine Fisheries Service. Available at: http://www.iobis.org/mapper/?dataset=1578, accessed 2012.