Assessing cryptic reef diversity of colonizing marine invertebrates using Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) deployed at coral reef sites in Batangas, Philippines from 2012 to 2015

Published by Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 02, 2026 at 11:22 PM | Dataset Last Updated: January 01, 2017 at 12:00 AM

Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) are used by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) to assess and monitor cryptic reef diversity across the Pacific. Developed in collaboration with the Census of Marine Life (CoML) Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems (CReefs), ARMS are designed to mimic the structural complexity of a reef and attract/collect colonizing marine invertebrates. The key innovation of the ARMS method is biodiversity is sampled over precisely the same surface area in the exact same manner. Thus, the use of ARMS is a systematic, consistent, and comparable method for monitoring the marine cryptobiota community over time. The data described here were collected by CREP from ARMS moored at fixed climate survey sites located on hard bottom shallow water (< 15 m) habitats in the Philippines. Climate sites were established by CREP to assess multiple features of the coral reef environment (in addition to the data described herein) from March 2012 to June 2015, and three ARMS units were deployed by SCUBA divers at each survey site. The data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive. Each ARMS unit, constructed in-house by CREP, consisted of 23 cm x 23 cm gray, type 1 PVC plates stacked in alternating series of 4 open and 4 obstructed layers and attached to a base plate of 35 cm x 45 cm, which was affixed to the reef. Upon recovery, each ARMS unit was encapsulated, brought to the surface, and disassembled and processed. Disassembled plates were photographed to document recruited sessile organisms and scraped clean and preserved in 95% ethanol for DNA processing. Recruited motile organisms were sieved into 3 size fractions: 2 mm, 500 µm, and 100 µm. The 500 µm and 100 µm fractions were bulked and also preserved in 95% ethanol for DNA processing. The 2 mm fraction was sorted into morphospecies. Once the data for DNA processing is published, it will be accessible in a separate record that will be added in the "Related Items" section below.

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ARMS_Specimens_Philippines_2015.csv

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@type	dcat:Dataset
accessLevel	non-public
contactPoint	{ "fn": "Not provided - Contact data.gov", "hasEmail": "mailto:datagovsupport@gsa.gov" }
describedByType	application/octet-steam
description	Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) are used by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) to assess and monitor cryptic reef diversity across the Pacific. Developed in collaboration with the Census of Marine Life (CoML) Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems (CReefs), ARMS are designed to mimic the structural complexity of a reef and attract/collect colonizing marine invertebrates. The key innovation of the ARMS method is biodiversity is sampled over precisely the same surface area in the exact same manner. Thus, the use of ARMS is a systematic, consistent, and comparable method for monitoring the marine cryptobiota community over time. The data described here were collected by CREP from ARMS moored at fixed climate survey sites located on hard bottom shallow water (< 15 m) habitats in the Philippines. Climate sites were established by CREP to assess multiple features of the coral reef environment (in addition to the data described herein) from March 2012 to June 2015, and three ARMS units were deployed by SCUBA divers at each survey site. The data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive. Each ARMS unit, constructed in-house by CREP, consisted of 23 cm x 23 cm gray, type 1 PVC plates stacked in alternating series of 4 open and 4 obstructed layers and attached to a base plate of 35 cm x 45 cm, which was affixed to the reef. Upon recovery, each ARMS unit was encapsulated, brought to the surface, and disassembled and processed. Disassembled plates were photographed to document recruited sessile organisms and scraped clean and preserved in 95% ethanol for DNA processing. Recruited motile organisms were sieved into 3 size fractions: 2 mm, 500 µm, and 100 µm. The 500 µm and 100 µm fractions were bulked and also preserved in 95% ethanol for DNA processing. The 2 mm fraction was sorted into morphospecies. Once the data for DNA processing is published, it will be accessible in a separate record that will be added in the "Related Items" section below.
distribution	[ { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "ARMS_Specimens_Philippines_2015.csv", "accessURL": "https://accession.nodc.noaa.gov/0162829", "mediaType": "text/html", "description": "ARMS specimens recovered by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) from the Philippines in 2015.", "describedByType": "application/octet-stream" }, { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "GCMD Keyword Forum Page", "accessURL": "https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords", "mediaType": "text/html", "description": "Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2026. GCMD Keywords, Version 24. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords", "describedByType": "application/octet-stream" }, { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Full Metadata Record", "accessURL": "https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/45818", "mediaType": "text/html", "description": "View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset.", "describedByType": "application/octet-stream" } ]
identifier	https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/nmfs/pifsc/iso/xml/45818.xml
issued	2017-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword	[ "483", "Climate, Biodiversity and Fisheries in the Coral Triangle: Embracing the E in Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management", "Numeric Data Sets > Biology", "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Aquatic Habitat > Benthic Habitat", "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Aquatic Habitat > Reef Habitat", "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment", "EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology > Corals > Reef Monitoring and Assessment > Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structure (ARMS)", "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 > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs", "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Coastal Processes > Coral Reefs > Coral Reef Ecology", "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Brachyura", "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Cryptobiota", "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Marine Invertebrates", "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Marine Invertebrates > Biodiversity", "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Marine Invertebrates > Census", "EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Marine Invertebrates > Macroinvertebrates", "INVERTEBRATE SPECIES", "SPECIES IDENTIFICATION", "SPECIES IDENTIFICATION - COUNT", "survey - biological", "visual estimate", "visual observation", "CORAL REEF STUDIES", "Coral Reef Conservation Program", "Coral Triangle Initiative", "US DOC; NOAA; NMFS; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center; Ecosystem Sciences Division; Coral Reef Ecosystem Program", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Philippines > Batangas > Arthur's Rock (13N120E0002)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Philippines > Batangas > Mabini (13N120E0032)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Philippines > Batangas > Tingloy (13N120E0009)", "COUNTRY/TERRITORY > Philippines > Batangas > Twin Rocks Sanctuary (13N120E0005)", "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > South China Sea > Balayan Bay > Arthur's Rock (13N120E0002)", "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > South China Sea > Balayan Bay > Mabini (13N120E0032)", "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > South China Sea > Balayan Bay > Twin Rocks Sanctuary (13N120E0005)", "OCEAN BASIN > Pacific Ocean > South China Sea > Maricaban Island > Tingloy (13N120E0009)", "NW Pacific (limit-180)", "CRED", "CREP", "Coral Reef Ecosystem Division", "Coral Reef Ecosystem Program", "PIFSC", "Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center", "USAID", "United States Agency for International Development", "Arthur's Reef", "Batalang Bato", "Batong Buhay", "Koala Reserve Area", "Philippines", "Twin Rocks", "Verde Island Passage", "ARMS", "Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures", "DOC/NOAA/NMFS/PIFSC > Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce", "Baseline data from Climate Stations in Batangas, Philippines from 2012 to 2015" ]
landingPage	https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/45818
language	[]
license	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified	2017-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher	{ "name": "Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center", "@type": "org:Organization" }
rights	otherRestrictions, unclassified
spatial	120.895127,13.658594,120.871943,13.728054
temporal	2012-03-12T00:00:00+00:00/2015-05-31T00:00:00+00:00
theme	[ "geospatial" ]
title	Assessing cryptic reef diversity of colonizing marine invertebrates using Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) deployed at coral reef sites in Batangas, Philippines from 2012 to 2015

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