Description

To support a long-term NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) for sustainable management and conservation of coral reef ecosystems, from 3 - 26 February 2004, marine invertebrate quantitative assessments were conducted, as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments (REA), during the Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise OES0402 in the American Samoa. Such cruises are conducted at biennial intervals by the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). At specific reef sites, marine invertebrate zoologists along with coral and algal biologists entered the water and conducted a fine-scale (~100 m2) and high degree of taxonomic resolution benthic REA survey for coral, algae, and key invertebrate species. Invertebrate surveys were focused on quantifying key non-coral invertebrate species common to the reef habitats, and were conducted using a combination of different survey techniques to quantify the diverse communities. These methods included belt-transect surveys, roving-swim surveys, and quadrat surveys. In belt-transect surveys, quantitative counts of key invertebrates were recorded along two consecutively-placed 25m long and 2m wide belt transects (total area = 100 m2). For any species that cannot be identified in the field, a photograph and a representative specimen, if possible, is collected for later identification. Roving-swim surveys were conducted in the general area with the goal to collect qualitative data for rare, larger, and cryptic organisms, such as Crown of Thorns Starfish and Triton's Trumpet snails which may not be seen during belt-transect surveys, and to survey any additional habitats present at the site, e.g. sand, sea grass, pavement, etc. This was accomplished by swimming a zig-zag pattern that extends roughly 5 m on either side of the two transect lines (total length = 500 m). Quadrat surveys were used to quantify the smaller, more cryptic invertebrates which were sometimes overlooked or too numerous to count during belt-transect surveys. Ten 0.25-m2 quadrats were laid out at 2-m intervals along two of the 25-m transects (total area = 5 m2). For each quadrat the percent cover of sponges, octocorals and zoanthids was recorded, as well as urchins, hermit crabs of the genus Calcinus, trapezid crabs, and coralliophilid snails. In addition, up to 25 cm diameters of all urchin species are measured. Based on data from previous REA surveys, a group of target invertebrate species was chosen for quantitative counts at 22 REA sites at Tutuila Island in the American Samoa. The species in the list were chosen because they have been shown to be common components of the reef habitats and they are species that are generally visible (i.e.; non-cryptic) and easily enumerated during the course of a single 50-60 minute SCUBA survey.

General Information

• This data is described at

  http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/cred-rea-invertebrate-quantitative-assessments-at-tutuila-island-american-samoa-in-2004 Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• This data is published by

  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

Legal Information

• The rights statement is at

  http://catalog.data.gov/dataset/cred-rea-invertebrate-quantitative-assessments-at-tutuila-island-american-samoa-in-2004 Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• Outside the US, this data is available under

  Creative Commons CCZero Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• There are

  yes, and the rights are all held by the same person or organisation Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• The content is available under

  Creative Commons CCZero Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

• This data contains

  no data about individuals Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

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

• This data is published at

  http://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/cred/inverts.php Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know

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/cred-rea-invertebrate-quantitative-assessments-at-tutuila-island-american-samoa-in-2004 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/cred-rea-invertebrate-quantitative-assessments-at-tutuila-island-american-samoa-in-2004 Do you think this data is incorrect? Let us know