NCCOS spatial modeling of threatened Caribbean corals: presence-only modeling for threatened Orbicella species from the nearshore to the mesophotic from 2007-01-01 to 2018-12-31 (NCEI Accession 0241110)

This dataset is a compilation of modeled spatial distributions of Threatened corals, Orbicella annularis (lobed star coral) and Orbicella faveolata (mountainous star coral)/Orbicella franksi (boulder star coral). in the shallow and upper mesophotic waters (0 – 60 meters depth) on the eastern Puerto Rico shelf (encompassing St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands and the partial waters around Culebra and Vieques, Puerto Rico). Models for O. faveolata/O. franksi were combined into one model. All three Orbicella spp. area listed as Threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The raster datasets contain predicted probability of occurrence and prediction uncertainty for O. annularis and O. faveolata/O. franksi at four different model extents:
• 0 – 60 meter depth model: Orbicella spp. models encompassing the entire modeling region, both shallow and mesophotic depths from 0 to 60 meters (capped at 60 meters for Orbicella spp. known depth range in this region)
• 0 – 60 meter depth south shore only model: Orbicella spp. models of the south shore only removal of the mesophotic depths of the north shore, north of St. Thomas and St. John, USVI
• Shallow only model (0 – 30 meter depth): Orbicella spp. models of the shallow waters only, removal of the mesophotic depths
• Mesophotic only model (30 – 60 meter depth: Models of O. faveolata/O. franksi at mesophotic depths only remove of the shallow depths

Models were conducted using a presence/background sample model, which involves the use of presence-only data. Maximum entropy modeling was used specifically, initiated through the Java software program, MaxEnt.