Tracking changes on a reef in the US Virgin Islands with videography and SONAR: a new approach
Rogers C, Miller J, Waara R. Tracking changes on a reef in the US Virgin Islands with videography and SONAR: a new approach. Pages 1065-1069. In Proceedings 9th International Coral Reef Symposium. Bali, Indonesia. October 23-27, 2000. Proceedings of the International Coral Reef Symposium
Live coral and other organisms were monitored along randomly selected transects at Newfound Reef, St. John, US Virgin Islands, in March 1999, March 2000, and April 2000 using a digital video camera and an underwater position-locating system. Twenty 10m long transects were videotaped in March 1999 and March 2000, and benthic components were quantified using random dots applied to still video images. A second set of transects was videotaped in April 2000. From March 1999 to March 2000, mean percent coral cover decreased significantly from 18.0± 6.3 (SO) to 13.9 ± 6.1 (SO), possibly from coral disease or hurricane damage. Mean cover of macroalgae and other categories did not change significantly. No other differences in cover were found between March 1999 and April 2000, or between March and April 2000. Revisiting the same transects produced better power and ability to document change than sampling different transects each time.
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Rogers, C.S.; Miller, J; Waara, R.J.
- Units
- VIIS
- Keywords
- Coral cover. US Virgin Islands, Coral Reefs, Monitoring, videography