Shrnutí

Popis

Shore-based belt transects were conducted at 8-13 m depths at 3 longshore sites on the leeward coast (North and South Kohala districts) of the Big Island (Hawaii Island) in the MHI during spring 2005. From 8-10 randomly positioned transects were surveyed at each site; each transect was 25-m long x 2-m wide (50 m**2 area). Raw survey data consist of species-specific and size-specific (total length, TL, in cm) numerical counts of recruit (>5 cm total length, TL) and larger (5-10 cm TL) juvenile reef fishes encountered within transect boundaries. Habitat quadrats were surveyed at 8-13 m depths using shore-based transects swum at 3 longshore sites on the leeward coast (North and South Kohala districts) of the Big Island (Hawaii Island, in the MHI) during spring 2005. Substratum percent cover and rugosity were characterized within multiple quadrats at each site. A total 90 "Reference" ('REF') quadrats (whose positions were randomly selected) and a total 89 "Target" ('TAR') quadrats (positions centered on sightings of recruit fishes), each of 1-m2** area, were surveyed at the 3 Sites. In each quadrat, the percentage cover of each of seven (7) major substratum types were estimated, as was a "Rugosity Index". The study was published in a peer-reviewed marine science journal in August 2007. The full citation is: DeMartini EE, Anderson TW (2007) Habitat associations and aggregation of recruit fishes on Hawaiian coral reefs. Bulletin of Marine Science 81(1):139-152.