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Benthic Surveys in Faga'alu, American Samoa since 2012: benthic images collected during belt transect surveys in 2012, 2015, 2020

Published by Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 02, 2026 at 11:19 PM | Dataset Last Updated: January 01, 2022 at 12:00 AM
The data described herein are part of a NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) funded project aimed establishing a baseline and assessing the status and trends for coral demographics and benthic cover and composition via Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) surveys conducted by the NOAA Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) -former Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP), at Faga'alu Bay, Tutuila, American Samoa in 2012, 2015, and 2020. Photoquadrat benthic images were collected in 2012, 2015, and 2020 only, via belt transect surveys of coral demography according to protocols established by ESD in 2012 and by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) in 2015. In 2012 through 2015, the survey implemented a two-stage stratified random sampling (StRS) design to assess the Faga'alu benthic coral reef community, and a one-stage StRS design in 2020. The survey domain encompassed the majority of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitats in the 0–30 m depth range. The stratification scheme included cardinal position (i.e., north and south), reef zone (i.e., backreef and forereef), and depth (i.e., shallow: >0–6 m and mid-depth: >6–18 m). Sampling effort allocation was determined based on strata area and sites randomly located within strata. The StRS design effectively reduces estimate variance through stratification using environmental covariates and by sampling more sites rather than more transects per site. Therefore, site-to-site comparisons should proceed with caution. Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive, accession #0146682. The 2015 and 2020 photos have been analyzed for benthic cover (documented separately). Data from coral demographic surveys in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2020, in addition benthic cover data from line-point intercept surveys in 2012 were also collected ESD and are documented separately.

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31259 917 Comprehensive baseline assessment and pilot test of outcome performance measures in Faga'alu Bay, American Samoa Status and trends assessment for LBSP impacts on reef communities in Faga'alu Bay and Vatia Bay Visual Images > Habitats EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Baseline studies

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
contactPoint 
{
  "fn": "Not provided - Contact data.gov",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:datagovsupport@gsa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description The data described herein are part of a NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) funded project aimed establishing a baseline and assessing the status and trends for coral demographics and benthic cover and composition via Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) surveys conducted by the NOAA Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) -former Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP), at Faga'alu Bay, Tutuila, American Samoa in 2012, 2015, and 2020. Photoquadrat benthic images were collected in 2012, 2015, and 2020 only, via belt transect surveys of coral demography according to protocols established by ESD in 2012 and by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) in 2015. In 2012 through 2015, the survey implemented a two-stage stratified random sampling (StRS) design to assess the Faga'alu benthic coral reef community, and a one-stage StRS design in 2020. The survey domain encompassed the majority of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitats in the 0–30 m depth range. The stratification scheme included cardinal position (i.e., north and south), reef zone (i.e., backreef and forereef), and depth (i.e., shallow: >0–6 m and mid-depth: >6–18 m). Sampling effort allocation was determined based on strata area and sites randomly located within strata. The StRS design effectively reduces estimate variance through stratification using environmental covariates and by sampling more sites rather than more transects per site. Therefore, site-to-site comparisons should proceed with caution. Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive, accession #0146682. The 2015 and 2020 photos have been analyzed for benthic cover (documented separately). Data from coral demographic surveys in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2020, in addition benthic cover data from line-point intercept surveys in 2012 were also collected ESD and are documented separately.
distribution 
[
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Site Information (Fagaalu 2012).csv",
    "accessURL": "https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0146682",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "List of survey sites, including site id, location (latitude/longitude), and survey date, where photoquads were collected.",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Site_Information_Fagaalu_2020.csv",
    "accessURL": "https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0259389",
    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "List of survey sites, including site id, location (latitude/longitude), and survey date, where photoquadrat benthic images collected in 2020",
    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "GCMD Keyword Forum Page",
    "accessURL": "https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords",
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    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
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    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
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    "mediaType": "text/html",
    "description": "View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset.",
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identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/nmfs/pifsc/iso/xml/25371.xml
issued 2022-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
[
  "31259",
  "917",
  "Comprehensive baseline assessment and pilot test of outcome performance measures in Faga'alu Bay, American Samoa",
  "Status and trends assessment for LBSP impacts on reef communities in Faga'alu Bay and Vatia Bay",
  "Visual Images > Habitats",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Baseline studies",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > In Situ Biological",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef monitoring and assessment > Rapid assessment studies",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology > Benthic biology",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral reef ecology > Coral cover",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Coral",
  "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Coral Communities",
  "PHOTOQUADRAT IMAGES",
  "imagery",
  "Coral Reef Conservation Program",
  "US DOC; NOAA; NMFS; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center; Ecosystem Sciences Division; Coral Reef Ecosystem Program",
  "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > United States of America > American Samoa > Tutuila Island > Faga'alu (14S170W0005)",
  "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > Pago Pago Harbor > Faga'alu (14S170W0005)",
  "South Pacific Ocean",
  "CRED",
  "CREP",
  "Coral Reef Ecosystem Division",
  "Coral Reef Ecosystem Program",
  "Faga'alu",
  "PIFSC",
  "Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center",
  "REA",
  "Rapid Ecological Assessments",
  "DOC/NOAA/NMFS/PIFSC > Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "Benthic Missions"
]
landingPage https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/25371
language 
[]
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2022-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
{
  "name": "Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
rights otherRestrictions, unclassified
spatial -170.6787708,-14.29325329,-170.6808019,-14.28890124
temporal 2012-08-14T00:00:00+00:00/2012-08-16T00:00:00+00:00
theme 
[
  "geospatial"
]
title Benthic Surveys in Faga'alu, American Samoa since 2012: benthic images collected during belt transect surveys in 2012, 2015, 2020

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