National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Benthic Complexity and Urchin Abundance at Climate Stations of the Mariana Archipelago since 2014

Description

The benthic complexity and urchin abundance monitoring effort provides baselines for tracking these variables at NCRMP climate stations. Climate stations are 3-4 sites per island that were selected in a stratified random fashion to be roughly equally spaced around the island, along the 15 m contour, on hard bottom, and at least 1 km away from a river mouth or embayment. Once selected we assess multiple features of the coral reef environment including in-situ temperature (STR), seawater carbonate, net carbonate accretion (CAU), bioerosion (BMU), and cryptobiota diversity (ARMS).

Structural complexity is known to be an important component in coral reef ecosystems. Ecosystem relationships that correlate with structural complexity include reef fish density and biomass, live and branching coral cover, urchin abundance and algal cover (Graham and Nash 2013). In many cases, the benthic complexity is an important indicator of benthic and fish communities.

The data were collected around the Mariana archipelago as part of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) led missions since 2014. These data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
V0_TOPOGRAPHIC_COMPLEXITY MARIAN 2014.csv Unknown Benthic complexity and urchin abundance data captured by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program at sites across the Marianas archipelago in 2014. Open resource
V0_TOPOGRAPHIC_COMPLEXITY MARIAN 2014.csv Unknown Benthic complexity and urchin abundance data captured by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program at sites across the Marianas archipelago in 2014. Open resource
V0_TOPOGRAPHIC_COMPLEXITY MARIAN 2017.csv Unknown Benthic complexity and urchin abundance data captured by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program at sites across the Marianas archipelago in 2017. Open resource
V0_TOPOGRAPHIC_COMPLEXITY MARIAN 2017.csv Unknown Benthic complexity and urchin abundance data captured by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program at sites across the Marianas archipelago in 2017. Open resource
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program Website Unknown Link to the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program website Open resource
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program Website Unknown Link to the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program website Open resource
GCMD Keyword Forum Page Unknown Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2024. GCMD Keywords, Version 19. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords Open resource
GCMD Keyword Forum Page Unknown Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 22. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords Open resource
Full Metadata Record Unknown View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. Open resource
Full Metadata Record Unknown View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. Open resource
NOAA Data Management Plan (DMP) PDF NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. Open resource
NOAA Data Management Plan (DMP) PDF NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. Open resource
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Website Unknown Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center homepage Open resource
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Website Unknown Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center homepage Open resource

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