Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program: Belt transect surveys of corals at U.S. Pacific reefs from 2002-02-09 to 2007-05-22 (uneven size-class bins) (NCEI Accession 0189729)

The coral demographic data described here result from belt transect surveys conducted by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) -- formerly the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division -- from 2002 to 2007 at coral reef sites in the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas as part of NOAA's Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP) with funding from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP).

Surveys were conducted at fixed sites at depths ranging between 10 m and 15 m. Sites were surveyed using belt transects to collect coral colony metrics. At each site, the surveyor listed and identified to the genus or species level, all coral colonies occurring within 0.5 sq. meters of each side of two, 25-m transect lines; and recorded the visually estimated size class to which the maximum diameter of each colony belonged (0-5 cm; >5-10 cm; >10-20 cm; >20-40 cm; >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 was amended to include all corals occurring within 1 m of each side of the transect lines.

These coral demographic data provide information on coral abundance (density, proportion occurrence, and total colony abundance), size distribution, and taxonomic richness.

本数据集所述的珊瑚种群统计数据源自太平洋岛屿渔业科学中心（Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center，PIFSC）生态系统科学部（Ecosystem Sciences Division，ESD，原名珊瑚礁生态系统部）于2002年至2007年间在夏威夷群岛和马里亚纳群岛、美属萨摩亚以及太平洋偏远岛屿地区珊瑚礁地点进行的带状横断面调查结果。该调查是作为美国国家海洋与大气管理局（NOAA）太平洋礁石评估与监测计划（Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program，Pacific RAMP）的一部分，并在美国国家海洋与大气管理局珊瑚礁保护计划（NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program，CRCP）的资助下进行的。

调查在固定地点进行，调查深度介于10米至15米之间。通过带状横断面法对地点进行调查，以收集珊瑚群落指标。在每个调查地点，调查员对两侧各0.5平方米范围内的所有珊瑚群落进行了列举和鉴定，直至属或种的水平；并记录了每个珊瑚群落最大直径所属的视觉估计大小类别（0-5厘米；>5-10厘米；>10-20厘米；>20-40厘米；>40-80厘米；>80-160厘米；或>160厘米）。在珊瑚丰富度和丰度相对于物种丰富度较高的低纬度地区较低的西北夏威夷群岛等地理区域，调查方案进行了修订，以包括横断面线两侧各1米范围内的所有珊瑚。

这些珊瑚种群数据提供了关于珊瑚丰度（密度、出现比例和总群落丰度）、大小分布和分类学丰富度的信息。