Benthic cover derived from analysis of benthic images collected at coral reef sites in Batangas, Philippines from 2015-05-23 to 2015-06-03 (NCEI Accession 0162828)

The benthic cover data described here result from benthic photo-quadrat surveys conducted by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) in 2015 along transects at fixed climate survey sites located on hard bottom shallow water (< 15 m) habitats in the Philippines. Climate sites were established by CREP to assess multiple features of the coral reef environment (in addition to the data described herein) over time.

Benthic habitat photographs were quantitatively analyzed using a web-based annotation tool called CoralNet (Beijbom et al. 2016). Images were analyzed to produce three functional group levels of benthic cover: Tier 1 (e.g., hard coral, soft coral, macroalgae, turf algae, etc.), Tier 2 (e.g., Hard Coral = massive, branching, foliose, encrusting, etc.; Macroalgae = upright macroalgae, encrusting macroalgae, bluegreen macroalgae, and Halimeda, etc.), and Tier 3 (e.g., Hard Coral = Astreopora sp, Favia sp, Pocillopora, etc.; Macroalgae = Caulerpa sp, Dictyosphaeria sp, Padina sp, etc.).

These benthic cover data for the Philippines provide an estimate of the benthic community composition at each climate survey site, and give context to the results from the other climate survey components (archived separately).

本描述中的底栖覆盖数据源于美国国家海洋与大气管理局珊瑚礁生态系统计划（NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program，简称CREP）于2015年在菲律宾固定气候调查站点沿测线进行的底栖样方摄影调查。CREP设立了气候调查站点，旨在对珊瑚礁环境的多项特征进行长期评估（包括本描述中的数据）。底栖生境照片采用基于网络的标注工具CoralNet（Beijbom等，2016年）进行定量分析。通过对图像的分析，产生了三个功能群级别的底栖覆盖等级：一级（例如，硬珊瑚、软珊瑚、大型藻类、草皮藻类等），二级（例如，硬珊瑚=块状、分叉、叶片状、附着状等；大型藻类=直立大型藻类、附着大型藻类、蓝绿大型藻类和Halimeda等），以及三级（例如，硬珊瑚=Astreopora属、Favia属、Pocillopora等；大型藻类=Caulerpa属、Dictyosphaeria属、Padina属等）。这些菲律宾的底栖覆盖数据为每个气候调查站点的底栖群落组成提供了估计，并为其他气候调查组成部分的结果提供了背景信息（另行存档）。