Benthic Surveys in Faga'alu, American Samoa: comprehensive assessment of coral demography (adult and juvenile corals) from belt transect surveys in 2013, 2015, and 2020

Description

The data described here result from benthic coral demographic surveys within belt transects of specified length and width for two life stages (juveniles and adults) in Faga’alu, American Samoa in 2013, 2015, and 2020. The data provide information on adult coral colony counts, morphology, size, partial mortality (old and recent dead), presence and causation of disease and other compromised health conditions, including bleaching. Juvenile colony surveys include morphology and size. Taxonomic identification of adult colonies is to the species level and genus level for juveniles. In 2013 and 2015, the survey implemented a two-stage stratified random sampling (StRS) design to assess the Faga’alu coral reef community, and a one-stage StRS design in 2020. The survey domain encompassed the majority of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitats in the 0–30 m depth range. The stratification scheme included cardinal position (i.e., north and south), reef zone (i.e., backreef and forereef) and depth (i.e., shallow: >0–6 m and mid-depth: >6–18 m). Sampling effort allocation was determined based on strata area and sites randomly located within strata. The StRS design effectively reduces estimate variance through stratification using environmental covariates and by sampling more sites rather than more transects per site. Therefore, site-to-site comparisons should proceed with caution.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
0 Draft Coral Reef Ecosystem Program – Standard Operating Procedures: Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) Benthic Survey Data Collection - latest draft as of March 21, 2016 https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0169727
0 Coral demographic data of juvenile corals from belt transect surveys conducted by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) in Faga'alu, Tutuila, American Samoa in 2015. https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0169727
0 Coral demographic data of juvenile corals from belt transect surveys conducted by the NOAA PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) in Faga'alu, Tutuila, American Samoa in 2020. https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0240418
0 Coral demographic data of adult corals from belt transect surveys conducted by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) in Faga'alu, Tutuila, American Samoa in 2013. https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0169727
0 Coral demographic data of adult corals from belt transect surveys conducted by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) in Faga'alu, Tutuila, American Samoa in 2015. https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0169727
0 Coral demographic data of adult corals from belt transect surveys conducted by the NOAA PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) in Faga'alu, Tutuila, American Samoa in 2020. https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0240418
0 List of coral genera surveyed in American Samoa in 2015 https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0169727
0 List of coral species surveyed in American Samoa in 2015 https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0169727
0 A list of the general causes of recent coral mortality, including the code and description associated with V0_CORAL_OBS_E FAGAALU_2015.csv. https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0169727
0 A list of the specific causes of recent coral mortality, including the code and description, and the associated general cause code associated with V0_CORAL_OBS_E FAGAALU_2015.csv https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0169727
0 View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/25369
0 Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center homepage https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov
0 NOAA Technical Memorandum CRCP 23 http://www.coris.noaa.gov/activities/fagaaluWatershed/
0 Online Resource https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/cred/corals.php
0 The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords. https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/find-data/idn/gcmd-keywords
33 NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inportserve/waf/noaa/nmfs/pifsc/dmp/pdf/25369.pdf
0 PIFSC Special Publication, SP-18-002, 38 p. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5/SP-PIFSC-18-002

Tags

  • benthic missions
  • crep
  • doc/noaa/nmfs/pifsc
  • united states of america
  • reef monitoring and assessment
  • corals
  • coral reef ecosystem division
  • coral - colony size
  • pifsc
  • in situ biological
  • biosphere
  • coral - species identification
  • survey - coral reef
  • oceans
  • coral reef conservation program
  • american samoa
  • survey - biological
  • noaa
  • numeric data sets
  • coral - census
  • nmfs
  • baseline studies
  • comprehensive baseline assessment and pilot test of outcome performance measures in faga'alu bay
  • biology
  • us doc
  • faga'alu (14s170w0005)
  • pacific islands fisheries science center
  • u.s. department of commerce
  • earth science
  • coral colony size and condition
  • benthic biology
  • national marine fisheries service
  • reef damage assessment
  • coral diseases
  • marine biology
  • coral communities
  • cred
  • pollution
  • benthos analysis
  • survey - swimmer/diver
  • transect monitoring
  • faga'alu
  • coral reef ecology
  • ocean basin
  • ecosystem sciences division
  • coral
  • esd
  • coastal processes
  • coral mortality
  • tutuila island
  • zoology
  • coral reefs
  • 917
  • pacific ocean
  • rapid assessment studies
  • country/territory
  • belt transect
  • pago pago harbor
  • south pacific ocean
  • coral reef studies
  • coral reef ecosystem program

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