Refinement of the Southern Florida Reef Tract Benthic Habitat Map with habitat use patterns of reef fish species (NCEI Accession 0224176)

This data set summarized biological and environmental sampling data from Reef Visual Census (RVC) surveys in southern Florida in conjunction with remote-sensed, high-resolution mapping data to take significant strides in moving from qualitative to quantitative habitat characterization of the RVC coral reef sampling frame. The data set contains two GIS shape files, one for the Dry Tortugas region and one for the Florida Keys, of survey sampling grids with habitat-depths quantitatively characterized to a 50 x 50 m resolution. Each sampling grid has region code, grid number, average depth (m), habitat code, zone code indicating onshore-offshore, MPA-code indicating whether inside or outside a protected area, depth strata code, rugosity strata code, fish strata code, and coral strata code. There is a dictionary file which describes the details of each habitat code categories. The refined sampling grid will have significant improvements to the accuracy, precision, and cost-effectiveness of RVC surveys in the Florida Keys and Tortugas regions. The study findings suggest some clear mapping priorities for fully characterizing the RVC sampling grid for the Florida Keys and Tortugas regions.