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| Dataset Title: | [Coral and macroalgae abundance and distribution] - Scleractinia, macroalgae and octocoral surveys describing species abundance and distribution, in St. John, USVI in 1987–2013 (St. John LTREB project, VI Octocorals project). (LTREB Long-term coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: 1987-2019) 
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| Institution: | BCO-DMO (Dataset ID: bcodmo_dataset_664223) |
| Information: | Summary
| License
| ISO 19115
| Metadata
| Background
| Data Access Form
| Files
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![[The graph you specified. Please be patient.]](https://erddap.bco-dmo.org/erddap/tabledap/bcodmo_dataset_664223.png?year,AntillogorgiaCover_mean&.draw=markers&.marker=5%7C5&.color=0x000000&.colorBar=%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C&.bgColor=0xffccccff)
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Attributes {
s {
site {
String bcodmo_name "site";
String description "Site at which data were collected: Yawzi Point or Tektite";
String long_name "Site";
String units "unitless";
}
year {
Int16 _FillValue 32767;
Int16 actual_range 1987, 2013;
String bcodmo_name "year";
String description "Year in which photoquadrats were recorded";
String long_name "Year";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P01/current/YEARXXXX/";
String units "year";
}
AntillogorgiaCover_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.0, 1.11;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Mean relative surface percent cover of Antillogorgia";
String long_name "Antillogorgia Cover Mean";
String units "percent";
}
AntillogorgiaCover_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.0, 0.51;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Standard error of surface percent cover of Antillogoria";
String long_name "Antillogorgia Cover SE";
String units "percent";
}
GorgoniaCover_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.06, 4.8;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Mean relative surface percent cover of Gorgonia";
String long_name "Gorgonia Cover Mean";
String units "percent";
}
GorgoniaCover_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.06, 2.32;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Standard error of surface percent cover of Gorgonia";
String long_name "Gorgonia Cover SE";
String units "percent";
}
PlexauraCover_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.0, 1.46;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Mean relative surface percent cover of Plexaura";
String long_name "Plexaura Cover Mean";
String units "percent";
}
PlexauraCover_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.0, 0.57;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Standard error relative surface percent cover of Plexaura";
String long_name "Plexaura Cover SE";
String units "percent";
}
totalOctocoralCover_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.41, 14.26;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Mean relative surface percent cover of all octocorals";
String long_name "Total Octocoral Cover Mean";
String units "percent";
}
totalOctocoralCover_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.17, 2.4;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Standard error for surface percent cover of all octocorals";
String long_name "Total Octocoral Cover SE";
String units "percent";
}
AntillogorgiaAbundance_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.0, 0.47;
String bcodmo_name "abundance";
String description "Mean abundance (individual octocoral colony as defined by ist holdfast in the 1x1 m photoquadrat) of Antillogorgia";
String long_name "Antillogorgia Abundance Mean";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P03/current/B070/";
String units "count";
}
AntillogorgiaAbundance_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.0, 0.16;
String bcodmo_name "abundance";
String description "Abundance standard error (individual octocoral colony as defined by ist holdfast in the 1x1 m photoquadrat) of Antillogorgia";
String long_name "Antillogorgia Abundance SE";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P03/current/B070/";
String units "count";
}
GorgoniaAbundance_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.07, 1.27;
String bcodmo_name "abundance";
String description "Mean abundance (individual octocoral colony as defined by ist holdfast in the 1x1 m photoquadrat) of Gorgonia";
String long_name "Gorgonia Abundance Mean";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P03/current/B070/";
String units "count";
}
GorgoniaAbundance_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.05, 0.3;
String bcodmo_name "abundance";
String description "Abundance standard error (individual octocoral colony as defined by ist holdfast in the 1x1 m photoquadrat) of Gorgonia";
String long_name "Gorgonia Abundance SE";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P03/current/B070/";
String units "count";
}
PlexauraAbundance_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.03, 2.1;
String bcodmo_name "abundance";
String description "Mean abundance (individual octocoral colony as defined by ist holdfast in the 1x1 m photoquadrat) of Plexaura";
String long_name "Plexaura Abundance Mean";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P03/current/B070/";
String units "count";
}
PlexauraAbundance_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.03, 0.36;
String bcodmo_name "abundance";
String description "Abundance standard error (individual octocoral colony as defined by ist holdfast in the 1x1 m photoquadrat) of Plexaura";
String long_name "Plexaura Abundance SE";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P03/current/B070/";
String units "count";
}
totalAbundance_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.5, 3.55;
String bcodmo_name "abundance";
String description "Mean abundance (individual octocoral colony as defined by ist holdfast in the 1x1 m photoquadrat) of all octocoral genera";
String long_name "Total Abundance Mean";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P03/current/B070/";
String units "count";
}
totalAbundance_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.13, 0.59;
String bcodmo_name "abundance";
String description "Abundance standard error (individual octocoral colony as defined by ist holdfast in the 1x1 m photoquadrat) of all octocoral genera";
String long_name "Total Abundance SE";
String nerc_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/P03/current/B070/";
String units "count";
}
ScleractinianCover_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 5.6, 48.8;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Mean relative surface percent cover of live scleractinian corals (all genera)";
String long_name "Scleractinian Cover Mean";
String units "percent";
}
ScleractinianCover_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 1.4, 4.9;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Relative standard error surface percent cover of live scleractinian corals (all genera)";
String long_name "Scleractinian Cover SE";
String units "percent";
}
MacroalgaeCover_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 2.2, 52.4;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Mean relative surface percent cover of macroalgae (all genera) in quadrats algae greater than or equal to 1 cm height; Mostly Halimeda Lobopohra Padina and Dictyota";
String long_name "Macroalgae Cover Mean";
String units "percent";
}
MacroalgaeCover_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 0.4, 6.2;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Relative standard error surface percent cover of macroalgae (all genera) in quadrats algae greater than or equal to 1 cm height mostly Halimeda Lobopohra Padina and Dictyota";
String long_name "Macroalgae Cover SE";
String units "percent";
}
CTBcover_mean {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 9.9, 55.1;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Mean relative surface percent cover of crustose coralline algae algal turf and bare space combined";
String long_name "CTBcover Mean";
String units "percent";
}
CTBcover_SE {
Float32 _FillValue NaN;
Float32 actual_range 1.0, 6.0;
String bcodmo_name "cover_pcent";
String description "Relative standard error surface percent cover of crustose coralline algae algal turf and bare space combined";
String long_name "CTBcover SE";
String units "percent";
}
}
NC_GLOBAL {
String access_formats ".htmlTable,.csv,.json,.mat,.nc,.tsv";
String acquisition_description
"Based on Tsounis and Edmunds (In press), Ecosphere:\\u00a0
Analyses are based on ~ 1,600\\u00a0photoquadrats\\u00a0recorded annually since
1987. Photoquadrats were recorded with a Nikonos V camera fitted with
Kodachrome 64 slide film from 1987-1999, but from 2000, digital cameras were
used (2000-2006: Nikon Coolpix 990, 3.3 megapixels; 2007: Nikon D70, 6.1
megapixels; 2011, Nikon D90, 12.3 megapixels; and 2012-2013, Nikon D7000, 16.2
megapixels). Cameras were fitted with a strobe (Nikonos SB105) and mounted on
a\\u00a0quadrapod\\u00a0holding them perpendicular to the substratum (Edmunds
2002, 2013). The camera\\u00a0framer\\u00a0remained identical throughout the
study and together with the cameras, resolved objects greater than or equal to
10-mm diameter in a 1 \\u00d7 1 m\\u00a0framer. At each
site,\\u00a0photoquadrats\\u00a0were recorded at ~ 10 contiguous locations along
each of three transects that are parallel to one another
at\\u00a0constant\\u00a0depth (+/- 2 meters), and 5-m apart (30 images
y-1\\u00a0at each site). The same transects were resampled every year. Sampling
occurred in December 1987, March 1988, July 1988, December 1988, April 1989,
October 1989, March 1991, May 1992, June 1993, August 1994, May 1995 to 1997,
and July or August thereafter. Images are
archived\\u00a0online\\u00a0([http://mcr.lternet.edu/vinp/overview/](\\\\\"http://mcr.lternet.edu/vinp/overview/\\\\\")).
Images were analyzed for percentage cover of benthic organisms using CPCe
version 3.6 software (Kohler and Gill 2006), or for\\u00a0abundance\\u00a0of
octocoral colonies (number of colonies). First, percentage cover was
determined using 200 dots randomly scattered on each image and scored by their
occurrence on scleractinians, macroalgae (algae greater than or equal to 1 cm
high, consisting mostly of\\u00a0Halimeda, Lobophora, Padina,
and\\u00a0Dictyota), and CTB. Scleractinians were scored as a single functional
group as the fauna was dominated by\\u00a0O.\\u00a0annularis\\u00a0(85 % at
Yawzi; 58 % at Tektite, 1987), and resolution in the 1 x 1
m\\u00a0photoquadrats\\u00a0made it difficult to resolve small colonies such as
those of\\u00a0Agaricia\\u00a0and juvenile\\u00a0Porites\\u00a0spp. Second, colony
abundance of octocorals (individuals m-2) was quantified with annual
resolution, and colonies were counted when their holdfasts were visible in
the\\u00a0photoquadrats\\u00a0(Lenz et al. 2015).\\u00a0Erythropodium\\u00a0spp.
and encrusting\\u00a0Briareum\\u00a0spp. were represented at low cover and
abundance, and were quantified based on the number of discrete areas of
colonies. Numerical abundance of octocorals was used at annual resolution.
Cover data with 5-year resolution were included for comparison with other
studies.
Octocorals are challenging to resolve to species underwater, because
identification typically requires analysis of sclerites (Bayer 1961) in
voucher specimens, the collection of which is restricted in the Virgin Islands
National Park. Identification is even more challenging
in\\u00a0photoquadrats\\u00a0where lighting and resolution can be limiting, and
therefore our analysis focused on the 11 genera found at these
sites:\\u00a0Briareum, Erythropodium, Plexaura, Pseudoplexaura,\\u00a0Eunicea,
Plexaurella, Muriceopsis, Antillogorgia,\\u00a0and\\u00a0Gorgonia. Small
colonies of\\u00a0Eunicea,\\u00a0Plexaurella,\\u00a0Pseudoplexaura,
and\\u00a0Plexaura\\u00a0spp. were scored as \\u201cunknowns\\u201d as they could
not be distinguished in the photographs. The height of small colonies could
not be determined in planar images, but they were ~ 12 cm
tall.\\u00a0Pterogorgia\\u00a0and\\u00a0Muricea\\u00a0were found in the region,
and either were not detected in the sampling areas, or could not be resolved
in the photographs.
References:
Edmunds, P. J. 2002. Long-term dynamics of coral reefs in St. John US Virgin
827 Islands. Coral Reefs 21:357\\u2212367.";
String awards_0_award_nid "55191";
String awards_0_award_number "DEB-0841441";
String awards_0_data_url "http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0841441&HistoricalAwards=false";
String awards_0_funder_name "National Science Foundation";
String awards_0_funding_acronym "NSF";
String awards_0_funding_source_nid "350";
String awards_0_program_manager "Saran Twombly";
String awards_0_program_manager_nid "51702";
String awards_1_award_nid "562085";
String awards_1_award_number "OCE-1332915";
String awards_1_data_url "http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=1332915";
String awards_1_funder_name "NSF Division of Ocean Sciences";
String awards_1_funding_acronym "NSF OCE";
String awards_1_funding_source_nid "355";
String awards_1_program_manager "David L. Garrison";
String awards_1_program_manager_nid "50534";
String awards_2_award_nid "562593";
String awards_2_award_number "DEB-1350146";
String awards_2_data_url "http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1350146";
String awards_2_funder_name "NSF Division of Environmental Biology";
String awards_2_funding_acronym "NSF DEB";
String awards_2_funding_source_nid "550432";
String awards_2_program_manager "Betsy Von Holle";
String awards_2_program_manager_nid "701685";
String cdm_data_type "Other";
String comment
"Biological Data
G. Tsounis and P. Edmunds, PIs
Version 10 November 2016";
String Conventions "COARDS, CF-1.6, ACDD-1.3";
String creator_email "info@bco-dmo.org";
String creator_name "BCO-DMO";
String creator_type "institution";
String creator_url "https://www.bco-dmo.org/";
String data_source "extract_data_as_tsv version 2.3 19 Dec 2019";
String date_created "2016-11-08T16:10:00Z";
String date_modified "2018-11-08T21:23:44Z";
String defaultDataQuery "&time<now";
String doi "10.1575/1912/bco-dmo.664745";
String history
"2024-11-08T06:14:31Z (local files)
2024-11-08T06:14:31Z https://erddap.bco-dmo.org/tabledap/bcodmo_dataset_664223.das";
String infoUrl "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/664223";
String institution "BCO-DMO";
String instruments_0_acronym "camera";
String instruments_0_dataset_instrument_description "Nikon D90 - 6.8 megapixel digital camera";
String instruments_0_dataset_instrument_nid "664235";
String instruments_0_description "All types of photographic equipment including stills, video, film and digital systems.";
String instruments_0_instrument_external_identifier "https://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L05/current/311/";
String instruments_0_instrument_name "Camera";
String instruments_0_instrument_nid "520";
String instruments_0_supplied_name "camera";
String keywords "abundance, antillogorgia, AntillogorgiaAbundance_mean, AntillogorgiaAbundance_SE, AntillogorgiaCover_mean, AntillogorgiaCover_SE, bco, bco-dmo, biological, chemical, cover, ctbcover, CTBcover_mean, CTBcover_SE, data, dataset, dmo, erddap, gorgonia, GorgoniaAbundance_mean, GorgoniaAbundance_SE, GorgoniaCover_mean, GorgoniaCover_SE, macroalgae, MacroalgaeCover_mean, MacroalgaeCover_SE, management, mean, oceanography, octocoral, office, plexaura, PlexauraAbundance_mean, PlexauraAbundance_SE, PlexauraCover_mean, PlexauraCover_SE, preliminary, scleractinian, ScleractinianCover_mean, ScleractinianCover_SE, site, total, totalAbundance_mean, totalAbundance_SE, totalOctocoralCover_mean, totalOctocoralCover_SE, year";
String license "https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/664223/license";
String metadata_source "https://www.bco-dmo.org/api/dataset/664223";
String param_mapping "{'664223': {}}";
String parameter_source "https://www.bco-dmo.org/mapserver/dataset/664223/parameters";
String people_0_affiliation "California State University Northridge";
String people_0_affiliation_acronym "CSU-Northridge";
String people_0_person_name "Peter J. Edmunds";
String people_0_person_nid "51536";
String people_0_role "Principal Investigator";
String people_0_role_type "originator";
String people_1_affiliation "California State University Northridge";
String people_1_affiliation_acronym "CSU-Northridge";
String people_1_person_name "Dr Georgios Tsounis";
String people_1_person_nid "565353";
String people_1_role "Co-Principal Investigator";
String people_1_role_type "originator";
String people_2_affiliation "Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution";
String people_2_affiliation_acronym "WHOI BCO-DMO";
String people_2_person_name "Hannah Ake";
String people_2_person_nid "650173";
String people_2_role "BCO-DMO Data Manager";
String people_2_role_type "related";
String project "St. John LTREB,VI Octocorals";
String projects_0_acronym "St. John LTREB";
String projects_0_description
"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)";
String projects_0_end_date "2014-04";
String projects_0_geolocation "St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands; California State University Northridge";
String projects_0_name "LTREB Long-term coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: 1987-2019";
String projects_0_project_nid "2272";
String projects_0_project_website "http://coralreefs.csun.edu/";
String projects_0_start_date "2009-05";
String projects_1_acronym "VI Octocorals";
String projects_1_description
"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";
String projects_1_end_date "2016-08";
String projects_1_geolocation "St. John, US Virgin Islands: 18.3185, 64.7242";
String projects_1_name "Ecology and functional biology of octocoral communities";
String projects_1_project_nid "562086";
String projects_1_project_website "http://coralreefs.csun.edu/";
String projects_1_start_date "2013-09";
String publisher_name "Biological and Chemical Oceanographic Data Management Office (BCO-DMO)";
String publisher_type "institution";
String sourceUrl "(local files)";
String standard_name_vocabulary "CF Standard Name Table v55";
String summary "\\u00a0Scleractinian, octocoral, and macroalgae abundance and percent cover.";
String title "[Coral and macroalgae abundance and distribution] - Scleractinia, macroalgae and octocoral surveys describing species abundance and distribution, in St. John, USVI in 1987–2013 (St. John LTREB project, VI Octocorals project). (LTREB Long-term coral reef community dynamics in St. John, USVI: 1987-2019)";
String version "1";
String xml_source "osprey2erddap.update_xml() v1.3";
}
}
Data Access Protocol (DAP) and its
selection constraints.
The URL specifies what you want: the dataset, a description of the graph or the subset of the data, and the file type for the response.
Tabledap request URLs must be in the form
https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/datasetID.fileType{?query}
For example,
https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/pmelTaoDySst.htmlTable?longitude,latitude,time,station,wmo_platform_code,T_25&time>=2015-05-23T12:00:00Z&time<=2015-05-31T12:00:00Z
Thus, the query is often a comma-separated list of desired variable names,
followed by a collection of
constraints (e.g., variable<value),
each preceded by '&' (which is interpreted as "AND").
For details, see the tabledap Documentation.