Bronze level automatically awarded US beta

This data has achieved Bronze level on 25 October 2015 which means this data makes a great start at the basics of publishing open data.

Inter-disciplinary study of flow dynamics and sedimentation stress effects on coral colonies using a Modified Belt Survey in Faga'alu Bay, American Samoa in March 2012

Description

The field data described herein are part of the CRCP-funded project aimed at establishing baseline Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) surveys for coral reef benthic cover and composition at Faga'alu Bay, Tutuila, American Samoa. Quantitative belt transect surveys for coral generic abundance and diseases condition were conducted, from 20120326 to 20120331 at 21 sites by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). As a part of REA surveys, the coral belt surveys were focused on quantifying the diversity, abundance, and density, of the anthozoan and hydrozoan corals as well as the condition and health state of the coral reef populations. The surveys were conducted along two consecutively-placed, 25 m transect lines. The belt width was 1 m wide, 0.5 m on each side of the transect line. Within each 25 m transect, five 2.5 m segments were surveyed (beginning at points: 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 meters), whereby in each segment, all coral colonies whose center fell within 0.5 m of either side of the transect line were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible (genus or species) and two planar size metrics were collected: maximum diameter and diameter perpendicular to the maximum diameter. In addition, the extent of mortality, both recent and old, was estimated for each colony. Observers paid special attention to identifying as best as possible the extent of the former live colony. When a coral colony exhibited signs of disease or compromised health, additional information was recorded including type of affliction (bleaching, skeletal growth anomaly, white syndrome, tissue loss other than white syndrome, trematodiasis, necrosis, other, pigmentation responses, algal overgrowth, and predation), severity of the affliction (mild, moderate, marked, severe, acute), as well as photographic documentation and occasional tissue samples. Tissue samples were cataloged and fixed in buffered zinc-formalin solution for further histopathological analyses. Raw survey data included species presence and relative abundance, colony counts per taxon, size (width and length), mortality, predation, and health status. A surveyed area was ranging from 10 m^2 to 25 m^2 per site.

General Information

Legal Information

This dataset has been created by US Government which means it is required to be in the public domain. However US copyright law only allows open access by US citizens, we have assumed the data is equivalently licensed as CC0 for the rest of the world as this is in the spirit of the US Government’s Open Data policy.

Practical Information

  • The data appears in this collection

    http://catalog.data.gov/organization/noaa-gov Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The accuracy or relevance of this data will

    go out of date but it is timestamped Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The data is

    backed up offsite Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

Technical Information

Social Information

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    title Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    description Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    identifier Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    landing page Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    release frequency Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    publisher Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    distribution(s) Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    release date Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    modification date Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    temporal coverage Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation includes machine-readable data for

    spatial/geographical coverage Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation about each distribution includes machine-readable data for

    release date Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation about each distribution includes machine-readable data for

    a URL to access the data Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • The documentation about each distribution includes machine-readable data for

    a URL to download the dataset Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • Find out how to contact someone about this data at

    http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/inter-disciplinary-study-of-flow-dynamics-and-sedimentation-stress-effects-on-coral-coloni-2012aa316 Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

  • Find out how to suggest improvements to publication at

    http://www.data.gov/issue/?media_url=http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/inter-disciplinary-study-of-flow-dynamics-and-sedimentation-stress-effects-on-coral-coloni-2012aa316 Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know