National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Benthic Cover Derived from Analysis of Benthic Images Collected during Stratified Random Surveys (StRS) across American Samoa in 2015, 2018, and 2023.

Published by Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: December 19, 2025 | Last Modified: 2023-10-01T00:00:00.000+00:00

This data has been combined into a US Pacific-wide InPort record: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/77771. The data described here result from benthic photo-quadrat surveys conducted along transects at stratified random sites across the American Samoa in 2015, 2018, and 2023 as a part of Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) surveys for corals and fish. Benthic habitat imagery were quantitatively analyzed using the Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe; Kohler and Gill, 2006) software from 2010-2014 and using the web-based annotation tool CoralNet (Beijbom et al. 2016) from 2015 to present. Images are analyzed to produce three functional group levels of benthic cover: Taxa identification occurs at three functional group levels of benthic cover. Tier 1 (e.g., coral, soft coral, macroalgae, turf algae, etc.), Tier 2 (e.g., Coral = massive hard coral, branching hard coral, foliose hard coral, encrusting hard coral, etc.; Macroalga = upright macroalgae), and Tier 3 (e.g., Coral = Astreopora sp, Favia sp, Pocillopora, etc.; Macroalgae = Caulerpa sp, Dictyosphaeria sp, Padina sp, etc.). If Tier 3 resolution is not possible, the next finest resolution is used. A stratified random sampling (StRS) design was employed to survey the coral reef ecosystems across the region. 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 island, reef zone, and depth. Sampling effort was allocated based on strata area and sites were randomly located within strata. Sites were surveyed using photo-quadrats along transects to collect benthic imagery to ultimately produce estimates of relative abundance (benthic cover), frequency of occurrence, benthic community taxonomic composition and relative generic richness. The StRS design effectively reduces estimate variance through stratification using environmental covariates and by sampling more sites rather than sampling more transects at a site. Therefore, site-level estimates and site to site comparisons should be used with caution. The data from the benthic cover surveys can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

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accessLevel	non-public
contactPoint	{ "fn": "Oliver, Thomas", "@type": "vcard:Contact", "hasEmail": "mailto:thomas.oliver@noaa.gov" }
describedByType	application/octet-steam
description	This data has been combined into a US Pacific-wide InPort record: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/77771. The data described here result from benthic photo-quadrat surveys conducted along transects at stratified random sites across the American Samoa in 2015, 2018, and 2023 as a part of Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) surveys for corals and fish. Benthic habitat imagery were quantitatively analyzed using the Coral Point Count with Excel extensions (CPCe; Kohler and Gill, 2006) software from 2010-2014 and using the web-based annotation tool CoralNet (Beijbom et al. 2016) from 2015 to present. Images are analyzed to produce three functional group levels of benthic cover: Taxa identification occurs at three functional group levels of benthic cover. Tier 1 (e.g., coral, soft coral, macroalgae, turf algae, etc.), Tier 2 (e.g., Coral = massive hard coral, branching hard coral, foliose hard coral, encrusting hard coral, etc.; Macroalga = upright macroalgae), and Tier 3 (e.g., Coral = Astreopora sp, Favia sp, Pocillopora, etc.; Macroalgae = Caulerpa sp, Dictyosphaeria sp, Padina sp, etc.). If Tier 3 resolution is not possible, the next finest resolution is used. A stratified random sampling (StRS) design was employed to survey the coral reef ecosystems across the region. 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 island, reef zone, and depth. Sampling effort was allocated based on strata area and sites were randomly located within strata. Sites were surveyed using photo-quadrats along transects to collect benthic imagery to ultimately produce estimates of relative abundance (benthic cover), frequency of occurrence, benthic community taxonomic composition and relative generic richness. The StRS design effectively reduces estimate variance through stratification using environmental covariates and by sampling more sites rather than sampling more transects at a site. Therefore, site-level estimates and site to site comparisons should be used with caution. The data from the benthic cover surveys can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.
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identifier	gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:25274
issued	2023-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
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landingPage	https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/25274
language	[]
license	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified	2023-10-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher	{ "name": "Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center", "@type": "org:Organization" }
references	[ "https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inportserve/waf/noaa/nmfs/pifsc/dmp/pdf/25274.pdf" ]
rights	otherRestrictions, unclassified
spatial	-168.1373351,-14.559759,-171.091706,-11.04525081
temporal	2015-02-15T00:00:00+00:00/2015-03-26T00:00:00+00:00
title	National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Benthic Cover Derived from Analysis of Benthic Images Collected during Stratified Random Surveys (StRS) across American Samoa in 2015, 2018, and 2023.

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