Table of Contents

• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

Pomancentrids identity, size and abundance were enumerated around 192 patch reefs. Data were collected in 2003-2006, 2009, 2012, and 2014 at 192 reefs. Beginning in 2012, reefs 129-144 and added reefs 193-198 were manipulated for a project studying the effects of vermetid removals; information pertaining to this manipulation can be found in the project “Spatial patterns of coral-vermetid interactions: short-term effects and long-term consequences”. All data collected on reefs 129-144 and 193-198 beginning in 2012 can also be found under that project. In 2012, additional data were collected – the number of vermetids on each patch reef at the time of this survey. Common Pomancetrids were recognized and size class determined. These data are part of the larger data set describing the biological and physical conditions of the 192 reefs. Together all of these data provide information about the factors that may influence (or be influenced by) Thalassoma and Vermetid.

Location: Moorea, French Polynesia (17.48 degrees S, 149.82 degrees W)

Sampling and Analytical Methodology:
A single snorkeler approaches one of the 192 patch reefs (for size of reef, see the physical characteristics file). He or she swam around the reef, recognized and estimated the size of all the common Pomacentrids in broad size categories depending on the species. The rare species were just counted.

Materials: snorkel and dive slate

Data Processing:
(NA)

BCO-DMO Processing Notes
- Generated from original file "LTR_Pomacentrids.csv" contributed by Rebecca Atkins
- Parameter names edited to conform to BCO-DMO naming convention found at Choosing Parameter Name
- Any blank rows removed

Description from NSF award abstract:
Ecologists have long been interested in the factors that drive spatial and temporal variability in population density and structure. In marine reef systems, attention has focused on the role of settlement-the transition of pelagic larvae to a benthic stage-and on density-dependent processes affecting recently settled juveniles. Recent data suggest that co-variance in settlement and subsequent density-dependent survival can obscure the patterns of density dependence at larger scales, a phenomenon called cryptic density dependence. This research will explore the mechanisms that underlie the spatial covariance of settlement and site quality - a process that has received little attention in the standard paradigm. These mechanistic studies of cryptic density dependence will facilitate the development of new frameworks for fish population dynamics that incorporate larval ecology, habitat quality, density dependence, life history, and the patterns and implications of spatial covariance among these factors. More generally, the work provides a specific empirical context, and a general theoretical treatment, of cryptic heterogeneity (hidden individual variation in demographic rates).

Note: Drs. Craig W. Osenberg and Ben Bolker were at the University of Florida at the time the NSF award was granted. Dr. Osenberg moved to the University of Georgia during the summer of 2014 (current contact information). Dr. Bolker moved to McMaster University in 2010 (current contact information).