Guam Long-term Coral Reef Monitoring Program Benthic Images since 2010

Description

The Government of Guam's Comprehensive Long-term Monitoring at Permanent Sites in Guam project, also known as the Guam Long-term Coral Reef Monitoring Program (GLTMP), is a NOAA-funded project currently coordinated through the University of Guam Marine Laboratory. The program involves the regular, intensive collection of data for a suite of coral reef ecosystem health parameters at high priority reef areas (HPRAs) around Guam, as well as critical support for coral bleaching response and other activities carried out by the multi-partner Guam Coral Reef Response Team. The program currently utilizes a split-panel sampling approach, whereby a mix of permanent and non-permanent sampling stations (one sampling station = one transect) are visited within each HPRA. The HPRAs were selected by an advisory body comprised of reef managers, researchers, and technicians. The locations of the sampling stations within each HPRA are generated randomly using GIS software. Various coral reef surveys are carried out on an annual basis along the seaward slope between 7 and 15 m depth in the Tumon Bay Marine Preserve and in East Agana Bay, while surveys are carried out biennially within the Piti Bomb Holes Marine Preserve, the Achang Reef Flat Marine Preserve, the eastern side of the Cocos Barrier Reef (Cocos-East), and Fouha Bay. Surveys were also carried at along reef margin (1–2 m) and slope (2–15 m) of Western Shoals, in Apra Harbor, in 2011. The surveys, which are currently conducted by University of Guam Marine Laboratory biologists, and which were supported by NOAA PIRO through 2019, currently include benthic photo transects, stationary point count fish surveys, macroinvertebrate belt transects, and chain-length rugosity surveys. The GLTMP has conducted surveys at the Tumon and East Agana HPRAs since 2010 and the Piti HPRA since 2012. Data collection for the Achang and Cocos-East HPRAs began in 2014 and at the Fouha Bay HPRA in 2015. Baseline data is available for the Western Shoals HPRA from 2011 but this site has not been re-visited since its establishment due to shifting management priorities. The data products described herein include the benthic photo transect images used to document the status and trends for benthic cover and composition at the monitoring sites mentioned above. Benthic cover and coral and algal generic diversity are currently assessed using digital photo transects. The still images provide a permanent record of the transects. Benthic cover estimates were initially derived from the photo transect images using Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe; Kohler and Gill 2006) point sampling software, but the web-based image analysis platform CoralNet (Beijborn et al. 2012, Beijborn 2015) was used beginning with the 2019 images.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
0 Benthic imagery obtained at Guam Long-term Monitoring Program sites https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/accession#
0 Link to the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program website https://coralreef.noaa.gov
21 CPCe website https://cnso.nova.edu/cpce/index.html
0 Guam Long-term Coral Reef Monitoring Program website https://guamcoralreefmonitoring.wordpress.com/
33 NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inportserve/waf/noaa/nmfs/pifsc/dmp/pdf/47788.pdf
0 View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/47788
33 End-of-grant report that includes detailed information about the monitoring program's background and survey methodology, as well as the results of analyses of data collected at several High Priority Reef Areas (HPRAs) between 2010 and 2021, at island-wide bleaching response and recovery sites between 2013 and 2021, at Reef Flat Monitoring Program sites between 2009 and 2022, and at staghorn coral communities between 2015 and 2021. https://www.uog.edu/_resources/files/ml/technical_reports/UOGML_TechRep170_GLTMP_2023.pdf
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 End-of-grant report that includes detailed information about the monitoring program's background and survey methodology, as well as the results of an analysis of baseline data collected at the Fouha Bay, Achang, Tepungan (Piti) Bay and the modified Tumon Bay site, and an analysis of time series data collected at the Tumon Bay, East Agana Bay, and Tepungan (Piti) Bay sites. https://guamcoralreefmonitoring.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/guam_ltmp_spring2019_report_final-2.pdf

Tags

  • coral reef ecosystem
  • coral cover
  • doc/noaa/nmfs/pifsc
  • united states of america
  • western pacific ocean
  • reef monitoring and assessment
  • aquatic habitat
  • marine ecosystem
  • corals
  • tridacna
  • benthic habitat
  • benthic
  • marine plants
  • photograph analysis
  • biosphere
  • east agana bay (13n144e0063)
  • photographic analysis
  • oceans
  • algae
  • long-term monitoring program
  • marine invertebrates
  • benthic cover
  • guam coral reef monitoring data management initiative
  • hard coral cover
  • achang (13n144e0064)
  • noaa
  • guam
  • numeric data sets
  • marianas
  • algal cover
  • hard coral cover live percentage
  • piti bay (13n144e0061)
  • macroinvertebrates
  • sponges
  • guam reefs
  • quadrat monitoring
  • guam (13n144e0000)
  • fouha bay (13n144e0024)
  • rapid ecological assessments
  • pacific islands fisheries science center
  • obsolete
  • u.s. department of commerce
  • earth science
  • guam long-term coral reef monitoring program
  • national marine fisheries service
  • seagrass
  • vegetation
  • rea
  • crustose coralline algae
  • coral diseases
  • mariana archipelago
  • cyanobacteria
  • marine biology
  • mollusks
  • encrusting macroalgae
  • bleaching
  • microbiota
  • benthos analysis
  • mariana islands
  • blue-green algae
  • western shoal (13n144e0062)
  • reef habitat
  • coral reef ecology
  • ocean basin
  • coastal processes
  • octocoral cover
  • zoology
  • coral reefs
  • 488
  • pacific ocean
  • rapid assessment studies
  • country/territory
  • cocos barrier reefs (13n144e0001)
  • tumon bay (13n144e0004)
  • turf algae

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