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     data   graph     files  public Mean density of coral and the percentage of encrusting coral on long-term sampling sites in
St. John, USVI.
   ?     I   M   background (external link) RSS Subscribe BCO-DMO bcodmo_dataset_745600

The Dataset's Variables and Attributes

Row Type Variable Name Attribute Name Data Type Value
attribute NC_GLOBAL access_formats String .htmlTable,.csv,.json,.mat,.nc,.tsv
attribute NC_GLOBAL acquisition_description String Methodology from Wegener et al., 2017

Reefs were censused between Cabritte Horn (18\u00b018.4560 N, 63\u00b043.6620
W) and White Point (18\u00b018. 8610 N, 64\u00b043.9090 W) on the south shore
of St. John, and surveys were completed at multiple sites that were
haphazardly selected as the field schedule permitted. The same vicinities were
censused in 2 years, but replicate areas of reef were not relocated. Fringing
reefs along the south shore of St. John are richly populated by octocorals and
scleractinians that have been studied since 1987 (Rogers & Miller 2006;
Edmunds 2013; Edmunds & Lasker 2016), and in this study, they were evaluated
for interactions between colonies of Millepora spp. and octocorals. Surveys
were completed in two summers (July and August of 2014 and 2016) at 9\u201314
m depth, and they focused on arborescent octocorals at sites close to those
that have been surveyed for decades (Edmunds 2013).

Objective 1: Abundance of octocoral encrustation

To calculate the percentage of arborescent octocorals encrusted by colonies of
Millepora spp., reefs were censused using band transects (2014, 10 9 2 m) and
quadrats (2015, 1 9 1 m), that were randomly placed along a constant isobath
at each site, but with depths varying among sites. Arborescent octocorals were
counted by genus when their holdfasts were vis- ible within the band transects
and quadrats, and colonies were inspected for encrustations of Millepora spp.
Colonies of octocorals were scored as encrusted if any portion of their
surface was covered by colonies of Millepora spp., and octocorals were
identified to genus where this was possible; fully encrusted colonies often
were impossible to identify and were scored as \u201cunknown\u201d octocorals.
For all octocorals (i.e., pooled among taxa) and for each genus (where
possible), densities of encrusted and Millepora-free colonies were calculated
using data pooled among sites. The abundance of encrusted octocorals was
expressed as a percentage of all colo- nies censused each year.

Objective 2: Initiation of octocoral encrustations

The likelihood that octocorals became encrusted through pursuit by Millepora
spp. was evaluated from evidence that Millepora spp. colonies were orienting
their growth toward nearby octocorals (sensu Wahle 1980). This possibility was
determined by searching for examples of this growth orientation and, further,
by measuring the distance from octocorals encrusted by Millepora spp. to other
Millepora spp. colonies (called originating colonies), from which pursuit
leading to encrustation could have been staged. The reef adjacent to encrusted
octocorals was searched for originating colonies, and in 2014, these surveys
were completed up to 1.5 m from the holdfasts of encrusted octocorals. In
2015, this distance was increased to 2.0 m to provide a more exhaustive census
for possible originating colonies.

Our methods to evaluate the origins of colonies of Millepora spp. on
octocorals were limited by the inability to census colonies over time in order
to observe the progression of pursuit (by Millepora) or its outcome
(overgrowth of octocorals). As an alternative to repeated censuses, we focused
our 2015 measurements of distances between hydrocoral and octocoral colonies
to include only those octocoral colonies encrusted by just a few centimeters
of hydrocoral growth. Because these encrustations were at least as common in
St. John as they were in Jamaica in the 1970s, when pursuit by Millepora was
first observed (Wahle 1980) (described below), it was reasonable to expect
that among large numbers of encrusted octocorals, we would observe
interactions of varying ages including pursuit in its earliest stages. These
encrustations likely had a recent origin and, therefore, signs of initiation
by pursuit were more likely to be evident. Partially encrusted colonies were
identified to genus where this was possible, and the distance to the nearest
colony of Millepora spp. within 2 m of the holdfast was recorded.
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_0_award_nid String 562085
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_0_award_number String OCE-1332915
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_0_data_url String http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=1332915 (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_0_funder_name String NSF Division of Ocean Sciences
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_0_funding_acronym String NSF OCE
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_0_funding_source_nid String 355
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_0_program_manager String David L. Garrison
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_0_program_manager_nid String 50534
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_1_award_nid String 562593
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_1_award_number String DEB-1350146
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_1_data_url String http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1350146 (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_1_funder_name String NSF Division of Environmental Biology
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_1_funding_acronym String NSF DEB
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_1_funding_source_nid String 550432
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_1_program_manager String Betsy Von Holle
attribute NC_GLOBAL awards_1_program_manager_nid String 701685
attribute NC_GLOBAL cdm_data_type String Other
attribute NC_GLOBAL comment String Mean density of coral
P. Edmunds, PI
Version 5 September 2018
attribute NC_GLOBAL Conventions String COARDS, CF-1.6, ACDD-1.3
attribute NC_GLOBAL creator_email String info at bco-dmo.org
attribute NC_GLOBAL creator_name String BCO-DMO
attribute NC_GLOBAL creator_type String institution
attribute NC_GLOBAL creator_url String https://www.bco-dmo.org/ (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL data_source String extract_data_as_tsv version 2.3 19 Dec 2019
attribute NC_GLOBAL date_created String 2018-09-05T21:38:52Z
attribute NC_GLOBAL date_modified String 2019-06-10T18:04:13Z
attribute NC_GLOBAL defaultDataQuery String &time<now
attribute NC_GLOBAL doi String 10.1575/1912/bco-dmo.745600.1
attribute NC_GLOBAL infoUrl String https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/745600 (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL institution String BCO-DMO
attribute NC_GLOBAL keywords String all, All_Mean, All_SE, bco, bco-dmo, biological, chemical, data, dataset, dmo, encrusted, Encrusted_Mean, Encrusted_SE, erddap, management, mean, oceanography, office, panel, percent, preliminary, taxon, total, year
attribute NC_GLOBAL license String https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/745600/license (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL metadata_source String https://www.bco-dmo.org/api/dataset/745600 (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL param_mapping String {'745600': {}}
attribute NC_GLOBAL parameter_source String https://www.bco-dmo.org/mapserver/dataset/745600/parameters (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_0_affiliation String California State University Northridge
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_0_affiliation_acronym String CSU-Northridge
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_0_person_name String Peter J. Edmunds
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_0_person_nid String 51536
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_0_role String Principal Investigator
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_0_role_type String originator
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_1_affiliation String California State University Northridge
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_1_affiliation_acronym String CSU-Northridge
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_1_person_name String Chelsey Wegener
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_1_person_nid String 746047
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_1_role String Contact
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_1_role_type String related
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_2_affiliation String Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_2_affiliation_acronym String WHOI BCO-DMO
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_2_person_name String Hannah Ake
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_2_person_nid String 650173
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_2_role String BCO-DMO Data Manager
attribute NC_GLOBAL people_2_role_type String related
attribute NC_GLOBAL project String St. John LTREB,VI Octocorals,RUI-LTREB
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_0_acronym String St. John LTREB
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_0_description String Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB) in US Virgin Islands:
From the NSF award abstract:
In an era of growing human pressures on natural resources, there is a critical need to understand how major ecosystems will respond, the extent to which resource management can lessen the implications of these responses, and the likely state of these ecosystems in the future. Time-series analyses of community structure provide a vital tool in meeting these needs and promise a profound understanding of community change. This study focuses on coral reef ecosystems; an existing time-series analysis of the coral community structure on the reefs of St. John, US Virgin Islands, will be expanded to 27 years of continuous data in annual increments. Expansion of the core time-series data will be used to address five questions: (1) To what extent is the ecology at a small spatial scale (1-2 km) representative of regional scale events (10's of km)? (2) What are the effects of declining coral cover in modifying the genetic population structure of the coral host and its algal symbionts? (3) What are the roles of pre- versus post-settlement events in determining the population dynamics of small corals? (4) What role do physical forcing agents (other than temperature) play in driving the population dynamics of juvenile corals? and (5) How are populations of other, non-coral invertebrates responding to decadal-scale declines in coral cover? Ecological methods identical to those used over the last two decades will be supplemented by molecular genetic tools to understand the extent to which declining coral cover is affecting the genetic diversity of the corals remaining. An information management program will be implemented to create broad access by the scientific community to the entire data set.
The importance of this study lies in the extreme longevity of the data describing coral reefs in a unique ecological context, and the immense potential that these data possess for understanding both the patterns of comprehensive community change (i.e., involving corals, other invertebrates, and genetic diversity), and the processes driving them. Importantly, as this project is closely integrated with resource management within the VI National Park, as well as larger efforts to study coral reefs in the US through the NSF Moorea Coral Reef LTER, it has a strong potential to have scientific and management implications that extend further than the location of the study.
The following publications and data resulted from this project:
2015    Edmunds PJ, Tsounis G, Lasker HR (2015) Differential distribution of octocorals and scleractinians around St. John and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Hydrobiologia. doi: 10.1007/s10750-015-2555-zoctocoral - sp. abundance and distributionDownload complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2015    Lenz EA, Bramanti L, Lasker HR, Edmunds PJ. Long-term variation of octocoral populations in St. John, US Virgin Islands. Coral Reefs DOI 10.1007/s00338-015-1315-xoctocoral survey - densitiesoctocoral counts - photoquadrats vs. insitu surveyoctocoral literature reviewDownload complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2015   Privitera-Johnson, K., et al., Density-associated recruitment in octocoral communities in St. John, US Virgin Islands, J.Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. DOI 10.1016/j.jembe.2015.08.006octocoral recruitmentDownload complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2014    Edmunds PJ. Landscape-scale variation in coral reef community structure in the United States Virgin Islands. Marine Ecology Progress Series 509: 137–152. DOI 10.3354/meps10891.
Data at MCR-VINP.
Download complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2014    Edmunds PJ, Nozawa Y, Villanueva RD.  Refuges modulate coral recruitment in the Caribbean and Pacific.  Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 454: 78-84. DOI: 10.1016/j.jembe.2014.02.00
Data at MCR-VINP.Download complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2014    Edmunds PJ, Gray SC.  The effects of storms, heavy rain, and sedimentation on the shallow coral reefs of St. John, US Virgin Islands.  Hydrobiologia 734(1):143-148.
Data at MCR-VINP.Download complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2014    Levitan, D, Edmunds PJ, Levitan K. What makes a species common? No evidence of density-dependent recruitment or mortality of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum after the 1983-1984 mass mortality.  Oecologia. DOI 10.1007/s00442-013-2871-9.
Data at MCR-VINP.Download complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2014    Lenz EA, Brown D, Didden C, Arnold A, Edmunds PJ.  The distribution of hermit crabs and their gastropod shells on shallow reefs in St. John, US Virgin Islands.  Bulletin of Marine Science 90(2):681-692. https://dx.doi.org/10.5343/bms.2013.1049
Data at MCR-VINP.Download complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2013    Edmunds PJ.  Decadal-scale changes in the community structure of coral reefs in St. John, US Virgin Islands.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 489: 107-123.
Data at MCR-VINP.Download complete data for this publication (zipped Excel files)
2013    Brown D, Edmunds PJ.  Long-term changes in the population dynamics of the Caribbean hydrocoral Millepora spp.  J. Exp Mar Biol Ecol 441: 62-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jembe.2013.01.013Millepora colony sizeMillepora cover - temps - storms 1992-2008Millepora cover 1992-2008seawater temperature USVI 1992-2008storms USVI 1992-2008Download complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2012    Brown D, Edmunds PJ. The hermit crab Calcinus tibicen lives commensally on Millepora spp. in St. John, United States Virgin Islands.  Coral Reefs 32: 127-135. doi: 10.1007/s00338-012-0948-2crab abundance and coral sizecrab displacement behaviorcrab nocturnal surveyscrab predator avoidanceDownload complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2011    Green DH, Edmunds PJ.  Spatio-temporal variability of coral recruitment on shallow reefs in St. John, US Virgin Islands.  Journal of Experimenal Marine Biology and Ecology 397: 220-229.
Data at MCR-VINP.Download complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2011    Colvard NB, Edmunds PJ. (2011) Decadal-scale changes in invertebrate abundances on a Caribbean coral reef.  Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 397(2): 153-160. doi: 10.1016/j.jembe.2010.11.015benthic invert codesinverts - Tektite and Yawzi Ptinverts - pooledDownload complete data for this publication (Excel file)
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_0_end_date String 2014-04
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_0_geolocation String St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands; California State University Northridge
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_0_name String LTREB Long-term coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: 1987-2019
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_0_project_nid String 2272
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_0_project_website String http://coralreefs.csun.edu/ (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_0_start_date String 2009-05
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_1_acronym String VI Octocorals
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_1_description String The recent past has not been good for coral reefs, and journals have been filled with examples of declining coral cover, crashing fish populations, rising cover of macroalgae, and a future potentially filled with slime. However, reefs are more than the corals and fishes for which they are known best, and their biodiversity is affected strongly by other groups of organisms. The non-coral fauna of reefs is being neglected in the rush to evaluate the loss of corals and fishes, and this project will add on to an on-going long term ecological study by studying soft corals. This project will be focused on the ecology of soft corals on reefs in St. John, USVI to understand the Past, Present and the Future community structure of soft corals in a changing world. For the Past, the principal investigators will complete a retrospective analysis of octocoral abundance in St. John between 1992 and the present, as well as Caribbean-wide since the 1960's. For the Present, they will: (i) evaluate spatio-temporal changes between soft corals and corals, (ii) test for the role of competition with macroalgae and between soft corals and corals as processes driving the rising abundance of soft corals, and (iii) explore the role of soft corals as "animal forests" in modifying physical conditions beneath their canopy, thereby modulating recruitment dynamics. For the Future the project will conduct demographic analyses on key soft corals to evaluate annual variation in population processes and project populations into a future impacted by global climate change.
This project was funded to provide and independent "overlay" to the ongoing LTREB award (DEB-1350146, co-funded by OCE, PI Edmunds) focused on the long-term dynamics of coral reefs in St. John.
Note: This project is closely associated with the project "RAPID: Resilience of Caribbean octocorals following Hurricanes Irma and Maria". See: https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/749653.
The following publications and data resulted from this project:
2017 Tsounis, G., and P. J. Edmunds. Three decades of coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: a contrast of scleractinians and octocorals. Ecosphere 8(1):e01646. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1646Rainfall and temperature dataCoral and macroalgae abundance and distributionDescriptions of hurricanes affecting St. John
2016 Gambrel, B. and Lasker, H.R. Marine Ecology Progress Series 546: 85–95, DOI: 10.3354/meps11670Colony to colony interactionsEunicea flexuosa interactionsGorgonia ventalina asymmetryNearest neighbor surveys
2015 Lenz EA, Bramanti L, Lasker HR, Edmunds PJ. Long-term variation of octocoral populations in St. John, US Virgin Islands. Coral Reefs DOI 10.1007/s00338-015-1315-xoctocoral survey - densitiesoctocoral counts - photoquadrats vs. insitu surveyoctocoral literature reviewDownload complete data for this publication (Excel file)
2015 Privitera-Johnson, K., et al., Density-associated recruitment in octocoral communities in St. John, US Virgin Islands, J.Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. DOI: 10.1016/j.jembe.2015.08.006octocoral density dependenceDownload complete data for this publication (Excel file)
Other datasets related to this project:octocoral transects - adult colony height
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_1_end_date String 2016-08
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_1_geolocation String St. John, US Virgin Islands: 18.3185, 64.7242
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_1_name String Ecology and functional biology of octocoral communities
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_1_project_nid String 562086
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_1_project_website String http://coralreefs.csun.edu/ (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_1_start_date String 2013-09
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_2_acronym String RUI-LTREB
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_2_description String Describing how ecosystems like coral reefs are changing is at the forefront of efforts to evaluate the biological consequences of global climate change and ocean acidification. Coral reefs have become the poster child of these efforts. Amid concern that they could become ecologically extinct within a century, describing what has been lost, what is left, and what is at risk, is of paramount importance. This project exploits an unrivalled legacy of information beginning in 1987 to evaluate the form in which reefs will persist, and the extent to which they will be able to resist further onslaughts of environmental challenges. This long-term project continues a 27-year study of Caribbean coral reefs. The diverse data collected will allow the investigators to determine the roles of local and global disturbances in reef degradation. The data will also reveal the structure and function of reefs in a future with more human disturbances, when corals may no longer dominate tropical reefs.
The broad societal impacts of this project include advancing understanding of an ecosystem that has long been held emblematic of the beauty, diversity, and delicacy of the biological world. Proposed research will expose new generations of undergraduate and graduate students to natural history and the quantitative assessment of the ways in which our planet is changing. This training will lead to a more profound understanding of contemporary ecology at the same time that it promotes excellence in STEM careers and supports technology infrastructure in the United States. Partnerships will be established between universities and high schools to bring university faculty and students in contact with k-12 educators and their students, allow teachers to carry out research in inspiring coral reef locations, and motivate children to pursue STEM careers. Open access to decades of legacy data will stimulate further research and teaching.
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_2_end_date String 2019-04
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_2_geolocation String USVI
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_2_name String RUI-LTREB Renewal: Three decades of coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: 2014-2019
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_2_project_nid String 734983
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_2_project_website String http://coralreefs.csun.edu/ (external link)
attribute NC_GLOBAL projects_2_start_date String 2014-05
attribute NC_GLOBAL publisher_name String Biological and Chemical Oceanographic Data Management Office (BCO-DMO)
attribute NC_GLOBAL publisher_type String institution
attribute NC_GLOBAL sourceUrl String (local files)
attribute NC_GLOBAL standard_name_vocabulary String CF Standard Name Table v55
attribute NC_GLOBAL summary String Mean density of coral and the percentage of encrusting coral on long-term sampling sites in St. John, USVI.
attribute NC_GLOBAL title String Mean density of coral and the percentage of encrusting coral on long-term sampling sites in St. John, USVI.
attribute NC_GLOBAL version String 1
attribute NC_GLOBAL xml_source String osprey2erddap.update_xml() v1.3
variable Taxon   String  
attribute Taxon bcodmo_name String taxon
attribute Taxon description String Taxon sampled
attribute Taxon long_name String Taxon
attribute Taxon units String unitless
variable Year   short  
attribute Year _FillValue short 32767
attribute Year actual_range short 2014, 2015
attribute Year bcodmo_name String year
attribute Year description String Year of sampling
attribute Year long_name String Year
attribute Year nerc_identifier String https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P01/current/YEARXXXX/ (external link)
attribute Year units String unitless
variable Panel   String  
attribute Panel bcodmo_name String sample
attribute Panel description String Panel of data in paper
attribute Panel long_name String Panel
attribute Panel nerc_identifier String https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P02/current/ACYC/ (external link)
attribute Panel units String unitless
variable All_Mean   float  
attribute All_Mean _FillValue float NaN
attribute All_Mean actual_range float 0.0, 4.58
attribute All_Mean bcodmo_name String density
attribute All_Mean description String Density of all species
attribute All_Mean long_name String All Mean
attribute All_Mean units String meter squared
variable All_SE   float  
attribute All_SE _FillValue float NaN
attribute All_SE actual_range float 0.0, 0.4
attribute All_SE bcodmo_name String standard error
attribute All_SE description String Standard error of all species
attribute All_SE long_name String All SE
attribute All_SE units String meter squared
variable Encrusted_Mean   float  
attribute Encrusted_Mean _FillValue float NaN
attribute Encrusted_Mean actual_range float 0.0, 0.56
attribute Encrusted_Mean bcodmo_name String density
attribute Encrusted_Mean description String Density of encrusted species
attribute Encrusted_Mean long_name String Encrusted Mean
attribute Encrusted_Mean units String meter squared
variable Encrusted_SE   float  
attribute Encrusted_SE _FillValue float NaN
attribute Encrusted_SE actual_range float 0.0, 0.07
attribute Encrusted_SE bcodmo_name String standard error
attribute Encrusted_SE description String Standard error of encrusted species
attribute Encrusted_SE long_name String Encrusted SE
attribute Encrusted_SE units String meter squared
variable Total   short  
attribute Total _FillValue short 32767
attribute Total actual_range short 0, 1684
attribute Total bcodmo_name String count
attribute Total description String Total count of colonies sampled
attribute Total long_name String Total
attribute Total units String count
variable Encrusted   short  
attribute Encrusted _FillValue short 32767
attribute Encrusted actual_range short 0, 131
attribute Encrusted bcodmo_name String count
attribute Encrusted description String Total count of encrusted colonies sampled
attribute Encrusted long_name String Encrusted
attribute Encrusted units String count
variable Percent   float  
attribute Percent _FillValue float NaN
attribute Percent actual_range float 0.0, 12.9
attribute Percent bcodmo_name String unknown
attribute Percent colorBarMaximum double 100.0
attribute Percent colorBarMinimum double 0.0
attribute Percent description String Percent encrusted of colonies sampled
attribute Percent long_name String Percent
attribute Percent units String percent

The information in the table above is also available in other file formats (.csv, .htmlTable, .itx, .json, .jsonlCSV1, .jsonlCSV, .jsonlKVP, .mat, .nc, .nccsv, .tsv, .xhtml) via a RESTful web service.


 
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