NCRMP_CoralDemographic_Protocol_2019.pdf

The National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) provides a biennial ecological characterization at a broad spatial scale of general reef condition for reef fishes, corals and benthic habitat (i.e., fish species composition/density/size, benthic cover, and coral density/size/condition). Data collection occurs at stratified random sites where the sampling domain for each region (e.g., Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary [FGBNMS]) is partitioned by habitat type and depth, sub-regional location (e.g., along-shelf position) and management zone. NCRMP will provide broader geographic context to supplement local monitoring efforts and studies of tropical reef ecosystems.

This coral demographics protocol was devised to provide more detailed and species-specific insight (signal magnitude) for coral populations than is provided by percent cover. Specifics of the protocol are based closely on other long-established monitoring programs in the Atlantic region, including Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA, Caribbean-wide), Sanctuary Coral Reef Ecosystem Assessment and Monitoring (SCREAM, Florida), Florida Reef Resilience Program (FRRP, Florida), Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project (CREMP, Florida) and the U.S. Virgin Islands Territorial Coral Reef Monitoring Program (TCRMP, USVI). However, the sampling resolution may not capture the population structure of rare or uncommon corals, including currently-listed Endangered Species Act (ESA) species.

The goal of the coral demographic surveys is to collect and report information on species composition, density, size, abundance, and specific parameters of condition (% live vs. dead, bleaching, disease) of non-juvenile scleractinian corals (>4 cm maximum diameter), and of overall species diversity (all corals) using 10m x 1m belt transects in a stratified random sampling design in hardbottom and coral reef habitats in Florida, U.S. Caribbean and FGBNMS. Surveys are concurrent with and along the same transect of the Benthic Assessment surveys, including the Line Point-Intercept (LPI) survey