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Item Identification
Keywords
Physical Location
Data Set Info
Support Roles
Extents
Access Info
URLs
Data Quality
Data Management
Lineage
Related Items
Catalog Details

Summary

Short Citation
Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 2024: Habitat characterization of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve south using photographic and quadrat methods, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/24266.
Full Citation Examples

Abstract

We supply habitat characterization data along a single randomly oriented transect at each of 16 sampling stations in the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve. This information is collected from multiple stations on an intermittent or biennial basis.

Distribution Information

No Distributions available.

Access Constraints:

None

Use Constraints:

None

Controlled Theme Keywords

environment, oceans

Child Items

No Child Items for this record.

Contact Information

Point of Contact
Michael Burton
Michael.Burton@noaa.gov
252-728-8756

Metadata Contact
Michael Burton
Michael.Burton@noaa.gov
252-728-8756

Extents

Geographic Area 1

-83.15° W, -82.95° E, 24.7° N, 24.4833° S

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary - Tortugas Ecological Reserve

Time Frame 1
2007 - Present

Item Identification

Title: Habitat characterization of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve south using photographic and quadrat methods
Short Name: Habitat characterization of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve south
Status: In Work
Publication Date: 2012
Abstract:

We supply habitat characterization data along a single randomly oriented transect at each of 16 sampling stations in the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve. This information is collected from multiple stations on an intermittent or biennial basis.

Purpose:

Collection of habitat type data for the characterization of habitat within marine protected areas and spawning aggregation sites in the Tortugas Ecological Reserves

Notes:

Work was performed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research (CCFHR)

Keywords

Theme Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
ISO 19115 Topic Category
environment
ISO 19115 Topic Category
oceans
UNCONTROLLED
CoRIS Discovery Thesaurus Numeric Data Sets > Habitats
CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Aquatic Habitat > Reef Habitat > Description
CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > Hard Coral Cover
CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > OctoCoral Cover
CoRIS Theme Thesaurus EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Marine Protected Areas

Spatial Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
UNCONTROLLED
CoRIS Place Thesaurus COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > Florida > Monroe County > Dry Tortugas (24N082W0001)
CoRIS Place Thesaurus OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > North Atlantic Ocean > Florida Reef Tract > Dry Tortugas > Dry Tortugas (24N082W0001)

Physical Location

Organization: Southeast Fisheries Science Center
City: Miami
State/Province: FL
Country: USA

Data Set Information

Data Set Scope Code: Data Set
Data Set Type: Files
Maintenance Frequency: Annually
Data Presentation Form: Table (digital)
Entity Attribute Overview:

Logistic information - diver name, dive buddy, date, time of survey, station code, transect bearing, visibility, temperature

Entity Attribute Detail Citation:

NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC/CCFHR

Distribution Liability:

These data were prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Although all data have been used by NOAA, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by NOAA in the use of these data or related materials.NOAA makes no warranty regarding these data, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA can not assume liability for and damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data, nor as a result of the failure of these data to function on a particular system.

Support Roles

Data Steward

CC ID: 195580
Date Effective From: 2012
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Burton, Michael
Address: 101 Pivers Island Road
Beaufort, NC 28516-9722
Email Address: Michael.Burton@noaa.gov
Phone: 252-728-8756
Fax: 252-728-8784

Distributor

CC ID: 289489
Date Effective From: 2012
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC)
Address: 75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami, FL 33149
USA
Phone: (305)361-5761
URL: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/southeast-fisheries-science-center
Business Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST

Metadata Contact

CC ID: 195582
Date Effective From: 2012
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Burton, Michael
Address: 101 Pivers Island Road
Beaufort, NC 28516-9722
Email Address: Michael.Burton@noaa.gov
Phone: 252-728-8756
Fax: 252-728-8784

Originator

CC ID: 195581
Date Effective From: 2012
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC)
Address: 75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami, FL 33149
USA
Phone: (305)361-5761
URL: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/southeast-fisheries-science-center
Business Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST

Point of Contact

CC ID: 195579
Date Effective From: 2012
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Burton, Michael
Address: 101 Pivers Island Road
Beaufort, NC 28516-9722
Email Address: Michael.Burton@noaa.gov
Phone: 252-728-8756
Fax: 252-728-8784

Publisher

CC ID: 205073
Date Effective From: 2012
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC)
Address: 75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami, FL 33149
USA
Phone: (305)361-5761
URL: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/southeast-fisheries-science-center
Business Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST

Publisher

CC ID: 205074
Date Effective From: 2012
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): NCCOS Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research (CCFHR)
Address: 1305 East West Highway -- Room 810
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: 301-713-3020
URL: http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/about/centers/ccfhr

Extents

Currentness Reference: Ground Condition

Extent Group 1

Extent Group 1 / Geographic Area 1

CC ID: 195583
W° Bound: -83.15
E° Bound: -82.95
N° Bound: 24.7
S° Bound: 24.4833
Description

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary - Tortugas Ecological Reserve

Extent Group 1 / Time Frame 1

CC ID: 195585
Time Frame Type: Continuing
Start: 2007

Access Information

Security Class: Unclassified
Data Access Procedure:

Get from url

Data Access Constraints:

None

Data Use Constraints:

None

URLs

URL 1

CC ID: 195584
URL: http://www.ccfhr.noaa.gov/
URL Type:
Other

Data Quality

Completeness Report:

This data consists of habitat characterization surveys conducted in the offshore marine habitats of the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary annually from 2007-2009, and again in 2011. Original station selections were made based on gross habitat characterizations made from echosounders/fathometers aboard a NOAA research vessel. Additional stations were added using knowledge and observations provided by local experienced fishermen used in the project

Quality Control Procedures Employed:

Visual data was reviewed by two or more people. Data was verified as it was entered into speadsheets

Data Management

Have Resources for Management of these Data Been Identified?: No
Approximate Percentage of Budget for these Data Devoted to Data Management: Unknown
Do these Data Comply with the Data Access Directive?: No
Is Access to the Data Limited Based on an Approved Waiver?: No
Approximate Delay Between Data Collection and Dissemination: 365
Actual or Planned Long-Term Data Archive Location: To Be Determined
If To Be Determined, Unable to Archive, or No Archiving Intended, Explain:

To be determined

Approximate Delay Between Data Collection and Archiving: 365
How Will the Data Be Protected from Accidental or Malicious Modification or Deletion Prior to Receipt by the Archive?:

It is stored on an SEFSC server requiring authentication in order to access

Lineage

Process Steps

Process Step 1

CC ID: 195587
Description:

Once in the field, the boat captain navigates to previously selected station locations using a GPS. On-site, divers are deployed on the exact station GPS numbers and maintain contact with each other throughout the entire dive. Upon arrival at the bottom, one diver is responsible for swimming out the 30 m transect tape along a predetermined random compass heading obtained from a data sheet. From 2007-2009, the procedure used was photographic transects done in the following manner: As this diver swims out the tape, the second diver takes photographs of the bottom around the tape, approximately 0.5m above the seafloor, with a digital camera in an underwater housing. The photographs are taken every 5 m along the tape (i.e., at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 m. When the first diver who swims out the tape gets to the end of the 30 m distance, he lays down the tape and swims back to the photographer and stays with him/her, as called for by the diver buddy system. Once the photographic transect is finished, diver #1 reels the tape back in, taking the two divers back to their starting point. Only one photographic transect is done per station. Images were analyzed later by determining the percentage of total area that belonged to each of four functional habitat types: coral, octocoral, sponge and macroalgae. In 2011, the procedure was changed from photographic transects to a quadrat characterization approach, completed as follows: Diver #1 swam out a 30 m transect tape as was done in previous years. Diver #2 followed behind, deploying a 0.25 m2 quadrat beside the transect tape at 0, 10, 20, and 30 m along the length of the tape. Total percent cover of abiotic substrate, defined as sand, hardbottom and rubble, was estimated within each quadrat. Biotic cover was estimated within four general functional habitat groups: coral, octocoral, sponge and macroalgae. Abiotic cover within each quadrat always totaled 100%, as the underlying substrate was quantified. Biotic cover did not necessarily total 100%, as there were often regions of uncolonized substrate. As time permitted, divers also recorded the dominant species within each quadrat to the finest taxonomic level. The habitat is never altered in any manner by lifting or moving structure, and the photographer made every effort in the early years to include the measuring tape in the photograph, as it is an aid to estimating the amount of total area in the image. Sometimes it is necessary for the photographer to turn the tape over so that the measuring marks appear in the photograph. On-site, no attempt to avoid structural features within a habitat such as a sand patch or large coral head should be made as these are real component of the habitats. The only instance when the transect should deviate from the designated path is to stay above 130 ft (limitations imposed by diving). The typical photographic transect should take only approximately 15 minutes regardless of habitat type, and the typical quadrat transect should take approximately 20 minutes.

Catalog Details

Catalog Item ID: 24266
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:24266
Metadata Record Created By: Sarah A O'Connor
Metadata Record Created: 2015-04-03 09:23+0000
Metadata Record Last Modified By: SysAdmin InPortAdmin
Metadata Record Last Modified: 2023-05-30 18:10+0000
Metadata Record Published: 2021-10-20
Owner Org: SEFSC
Metadata Publication Status: Published Externally
Do Not Publish?: N
Metadata Last Review Date: 2021-10-20
Metadata Review Frequency: 1 Year
Metadata Next Review Date: 2022-10-20