Biscayne National Park Coral Inventory and Monitoring Project; Final Report
Moulding A and Patterson M. 2002. Biscayne National Park Coral Inventory and Monitoring Project; Final Report. National Park Service. University of Miami, Florida
Biscayne National Park’s coral reefs are one of the rare and beautiful areas that the park was created to protect and preserve. The Resource Management division began collecting data about the park’s coral reef resources in 1998 using underwater videography. Twenty-five meter long transects were video taped along the reef for archival and analysis. In 1998 and 1999 eight sites were surveyed (5 offshore bank reefs, 2 transitional reefs, and 1 patch reef). The number of coral colonies were counted from the videos, and density was estimated. Species richness and diversity were calculated from these colony counts. In 2000, the survey was expanded in two ways, both spatially and in the types ofdata collected. Two methods were used: 25 meter long underwater video transects and in site 2m by 25m belt transects where stony coral censuses were conducted. The underwater video transect is important for archive purposes and allows for further analysis including percent cover of the various biologic communities. However, underwater video of coral reef systems underestimates the amount of coral due to the cryptic nature of some species. The in situ under water coral census is important to use in conjunction with the video to make up for this shortcoming. It provides a more robust estimate of species richness for the area and allows for more exact species identification in the field, which becomes much harder in the lab from the video tape. The coral census also collects data on coral bleaching, black band disease, white diseases, other diseases, and the number of Diadema antillarum urchins. Ten replicate transects were surveyed at each site using these two methods. Surveys were conducted at 11 sites (4 patch reefs, 2 transitional reefs, and 5 offshore bank reefs). In 2001, videos from 1998, 1999, and 2000 were analyzed for percent cover data. No new data was collected.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Moulding, Alison; Patterson, Matt
- Date of Issue
- 2002-05
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- BISC
- Keywords
- Ball Buoy Reef, Biscayne National Park, Black band disease, Brewster Reef, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Preservation, Species Richness, Star Reef