Description
The Puerto Rico Long-Term Coral Reef Monitoring Program (PRCRMP) database compilation includes raw biological data (by transect) from reef locations around the Puerto Rican archipelago. Substrate cover by sessile-benthic categories and fish, and motile megabenthic invertebrate taxonomic composition and densities have been characterized in these stations, with variable sampling event frequencies between 1999 to 2021. At present, 42 permanent stations are surveyed biannually (21 per year). For the benthic characterization, a set of five 10-meter-long permanent transects are surveyed at each station. Sessile-benthic reef communities are characterized by the continuous intercept chain-link method, following the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity (CARICOMP) (1994) protocol. Demersal diurnal non-cryptic reef fish populations and motile megabenthic invertebrates are surveyed by sets of five 10 x 3 meters wide (30 m2) belt-transects centered along the reference line of transects used for sessile-benthic characterizations at each reef station. From 2004-2013, a diver completed an Active Search Census (ASEC) survey for 30 minutes annotating sizes and abundances of fish and macroinvertebrate species of interest. From 2015, the ASEC survey methodology was replaced by 20 x 3 meters (60 m2) band transects to identify commercially and ecologically important fish and megabenthic invertebrate species. Upon completion of the 10 meters belt-transect survey, the diver swims along the same depth and physiographic reef zone for an extra 10 meters to complete the 60 m2 transect. For each fish individual within the ASEC survey (2004-2013) and 60m2 band transects (2015-2021), a visual fork length (FL) estimate in centimeters is recorded. Fish length estimations are provided by the median of 5cm interval size classes. The cephalothorax length (measurement from the tip of the rostrum to end of the thorax), also known as carapace length (CL) in centimeters is used to report the size of lobsters (Panulirus spp., Scyllarides spp.) within belt-transects. Queen conch (Lobatus gigas) length is reported as the total (diagonal) shell length in centimeters. With the length-weight relationship information available in FishBase.org, biomass estimates are calculated for a subset of commercially and ecologically important fish species. The PRCRMP database was made possible with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Coral Reef Conservation Program.
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 4,180 records.
2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Department of Natural and Environmental Resources of Puerto Rico (2019) Puerto Rico Long-Term Coral Reef Monitoring Program Database Compilation (1999-2019). [indicate subset used]. Ocean Biogeographic Information System. Dataset. https://obis.org/dataset/52f99f08-fc90-4684-aea8-a015150968ea
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is United States Geological Survey. To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0). Users may copy, modify, distribute and use the work, including for commercial purposes, without restriction.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: b3b7d5c4-f73a-475b-a203-c6a1ddd040cd. United States Geological Survey publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by U.S. Geological Survey.
Keywords
Samplingevent; Samplingevent
Contacts
- Metadata Provider
- Originator
- Metadata Provider
- Point Of Contact
- Point Of Contact
- Point Of Contact
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4391-107X
Geographic Coverage
This dataset covers the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, Western North Atlantic Ocean. The Puerto Rican archipelago includes east to west: Culebra-Vieques islands, the main island of Puerto Rico, Caja de Muertos (south coast of Puerto Rico), and Desecheo-Mona islands.
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [17.884, -67.949], North East [18.49, -65.197] |
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Additional Metadata
marine, harvested by OBIS
| Alternative Identifiers | b3b7d5c4-f73a-475b-a203-c6a1ddd040cd |
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| https://www1.usgs.gov/obis-usa/ipt/resource?r=prcrmp_database |