SFCN Coral Reef Community Monitoring (1999 - Ongoing)

Feeley M and Richter L . SFCN Coral Reef Community Monitoring (1999 - Ongoing). 1999. National Park Service

The South Florida/Caribbean Network (SFCN) conducts long-term coral reef monitoring as part of the nationwide Inventory and Monitoring Division of the National Park Service. The benthic marine communities of the SFCN are part of a complex and diverse ecological system that includes algae, corals, and other marine invertebrates. Reef-building corals are the primary architectural organisms and are sensitive to environmental degradation; therefore, they are good indicators of overall health for a park’s reef ecosystem. The objectives for this monitoring project include to determine whether percent cover of stony coral as well as other major taxonomic groups (e.g., algae [turf, calcareous, macroalgae], gorgonians, sponge, and substrate), coral species diversity, coral community structure, and rugosity are changing through time within selected coral reef sites, to determine how the above mentioned response variables vary in space within park reefs and how these variables, which describe coral reef health and composition, are changing through time in parks with different management zones (e.g., DRTO), and to provide a visual comparison of change through time and allow future analyses of benthic components not identified in this protocol by archiving and maintaining the video and photographic record of transects. Monitoring is conducted via permanent 10-meter (32.8 ft) transects, filmed underwater by a diver with a digital camera. In the lab, the videos are broken into sequential still image “frames” and 10 dots (per image) are randomly placed upon each image and identified to major category [coral (by species), algae (macroalgae, turf, or crustose coralline), gorgonians (sea fans, etc.), sponges, and substrate]. This project is a repository for all datasets, protocols, reports, and other types of publications pertaining to coral reef monitoring at Biscayne National Park, Buck Island Reef National Monument, Dry Tortugas National Park, Salt River Bay Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, and Virgin Islands National Park.

Type

Project

Authors

Feeley, Mike; Richter, Lee

Publisher

National Park Service

Units

BISC , BUIS , DRTO , SARI , VIIS

Keywords

Algae, Benthic, Biscayne National Park, Bleaching, Buck Island Reef National Monument, Caribbean, Coral, Coral Reef, Coral Reef Protocol, Diadema, Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, Gorgonian, Marine, National Park Service, Protocol, Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, South Florida/Caribbean Network, Sponge, Stony Coral, Virgin Islands National Park

Program

• South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network (SFCN)

Products

• Coral reef monitoring: Protocol narrative—Version 2.0
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedures - Biscayne National Park, Buck Island Reef National Monument, Dry Tortugas National Park, Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, Virgin Islands National Park (2025)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Protocol Data Package: Coral Video dataset for U.S. Virgin Islands parks (1999-2020)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Protocol Data Package: Colony Counts, Diadema and Rugosity dataset for U.S. Virgin Islands parks Parks (2004-2020)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Protocol Data Package: Species dataset for South Florida Caribbean Network Parks (2009-2020)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Protocol Data Package: Disease datasets for South Florida Caribbean Network Parks (2005-2020)
• Coral reefs in U.S. national parks: A snapshot of status and trends in eight parks
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2022)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Buck Island Reef National Monument (2022)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Dry Tortugas National Park (2022)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (2022)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Virgin Islands National Park (2022)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Data Package Version 2 (1999-2024): CDR, Disease, Species List, and Video Datasets
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring - List of Offline Video Files
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Virgin Islands National Park (2021)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (2021)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Dry Tortugas National Park (2021)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Virgin Islands National Park (2020)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Database Exports - Biscayne National Park, Buck Island Reef National Monument, Dry Tortugas National Park, Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (Internal Snapshot) (1998-2019)
• NPS Inventory and Monitoring Technical Documentation: South Florida Caribbean Network Coral Monitoring Application
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Dry Tortugas National Park (2016)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Virgin Islands National Park (2016)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (2016)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Dataset - Biscayne National Park, Buck Island Reef National Monument, Dry Tortugas National Park, Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, Virgin Islands National Park (2017)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2014)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2012)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Buck Island Reef National Monument (2012)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Dry Tortugas National Park (2012)
• Coral Reef Monitoring in Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve 2012
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (2012)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Virgin Islands National Park (2012)
• Collaboration in Monitoring Coral Reef Ecosystems in the US Virgin Islands
• Coral Monitoring Captures 2005 U.S. Virgin Islands Bleaching and Disease Mortality Event
• Eight years of coral reef community monitoring: Results from inside and outside the Dry Tortugas National Park Research Natural Area
• Dynamics of an acute coral disease outbreak associated with the macroalgae Dictyota spp. in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, USA
• RNA Performance Topic 4 - Coral reef community monitoring at Bird Key Reef and sites inside and outside the Research Natural Area at Dry Tortugas National Park -
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Database - Biscayne National Park, Buck Island Reef National Monument, Dry Tortugas National Park, Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, Virgin Islands National Park (1998-2017)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2016)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Virgin Islands National Park (2019)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Biscayne National Park (2019)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Buck Island Reef National Monument (2019)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Dry Tortugas National Park (2019)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Resource Brief - Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (2019)
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Field Collection Database
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR01: Using videography to monitor coral reefs—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR02: Counting long-spined sea urchin, Diadema antillarum, on coral reefs—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR05: Collecting coral species diversity data on benthic transect—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR06: Measuring rugosity on coral reefs—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR07: Selecting and locating random sampling points using GPS—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR08: Conducting rapid habitat assessments—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR09: Installing monitoring sites—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR10: Video and image transfer and capture—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR11: Dotting captured images with Adobe Photoshop Script—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR12: Conducting analysis of HD images—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR13: Coral reef video transect database user’s guide—Version 3.0
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR16: Capture images for relocation of transect using Adobe Photoshop and VLC—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR17: Rapid habitat assessment database data entry and verification—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR20: QA/QC procedures—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR22: File Storage and Archiving—Version 2.1
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR23: Revising the protocol—Version 2.0
• SFCN Coral Reef Monitoring Standard Operating Procedure CR24: iPad Preparation, Data Entry, and Download—Version 1.0
• Coral reef monitoring: Standard operating procedures
• Draft Coral Reef Monitoring Protocol Database

Browse the catalog