Dataset: Mesophotic benthic organism counts

Name: Organism counts from photo-transects collected during quantitative benthic surveys in Southwest Puerto Rico at 50 and 70 m during 2018 and 2019
Published: 2021-04-13
Keywords: Caribbean, Puerto Rico, benthic surveys, MCEs, oceans

Cite This Dataset

DOI:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.846964.1

Spatial Extent: N:17.8845 E:-67.0222 S:17.8755 W:-67.041

Temporal Extent: 2018-08-21 - 2019-10-31

Project:

The impact of Hurricane Maria on the mesophotic reefs of southwest Puerto Rico (Hurricane impacts on deep reefs)

Principal Investigator:

Nikolaos V. Schizas (University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, UPRM)

Co-Principal Investigator:

Juan Cruz-Motta (University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, UPRM)

Wilford E. Schmidt (University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, UPRM)

Clark E. Sherman (University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, UPRM)

Ernesto F. Weil (University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, UPRM)

Contact:

Nikolaos V. Schizas (University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, UPRM)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Amber D. York (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

Version Date:

2021-04-13

Restricted:

Validated:

Yes

Current State:

Final no updates expected

Organism counts from photo-transects collected during quantitative benthic surveys in Southwest Puerto Rico at 50 and 70 m during 2018 and 2019

Abstract:

Organism counts from photo-transects collected during quantitative benthic surveys in Southwest Puerto Rico at 50 and 70 m during 2018 and 2019.

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Archival Copy

Version Date	Archive	Persistent Identifier	Date Assigned
2021-04-13	Marine Biological Laboratory/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library (MBLWHOI DLA)	10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.846964.1	2021-04-13

Methods & Sampling

Location: Caribbean Sea, Southwest Puerto Rico, Lat. 17.8849 Long. -67.01546

Quantitative benthic surveys were made during 2018-2019 at two mesophotic sites El Hoyo (672.460 W, 1752.530 N) and Hole-in-the-Wall (671.330 W, 1753.070N). The two sites are located along the insular slope 11 km south of La Parguera, 44 km to the west. The benthic surveys followed the methodology in Appeldoorn et al. (2015). Diving operations involved a team of three technical divers using closed-circuit rebreathers. Dives were made to target depths of 50 and 70 m at each site. Upon reaching the target depth, divers conducted a continuous high-resolution benthic phototransect 10 m long by 40 cm wide. The photo-transect consisted of 16 sequential quadrat photographs, each 40 x 60 cm. For each 40 x 60 cm digital photograph, benthic taxa (e.g. algae and scleractinian corals) were recorded.

For each 40 x 60 cm digital photograph, percent cover was calculated by overlaying 100 random points using Coral Point Count with an Excel extension (CPCe) (Kohler and Gill 2006). Identifications associated with the random points were classified into 29 ‘‘taxa’’ that focused primarily on the algae and scleractinian corals as follows: corals (13 spp.), gorgonians, sponges, algae (12 taxa including cyanobacteria), sand and pavement.

Data Processing Description

BCO-DMO Data Manager Processing Notes:
* Zip files containing 37 Excel files were unzipped, converted to csv and imported into the BCO-DMO data system. After communication with the submitter the files starting with "Copy of..." were not imported.
* Columns for site latitude and longitude added from coordinates in the metadata.
* Columns added to dataset from information in the file names (Site, Direction, Transect, Depth, Date). Inconsistencies between filename information and metadata written inside the files were discussed with the submitter.
* Data reformatted from 16 Quadrat columns containing cover values to one column for Quadrat number and one column for Cover value (unpivot operation).
* Statistics calculated below the data table in the Excel files were not imported when the data tables were imported into the BCO-DMO data system. Formulas calculating Total" "Mean" and "Standard deviation" of cover for each quadrat were removed.
* Some date values were corrected after communicating with the submitter and the format made consistent (in ISO 8601 format yyyy-mm-dd).
* Redundant data from a source file Total_Hoyo_70m_W142_080219(1).xlsx removed from the dataset.
* Montastrea faveolata in this dataset changed to the accepted synonym Orbicella faveolata which was already used in some files.

Data Files

File
mesophotic_benthic_counts.csv (Comma Separated Values (.csv), 621.07 KB) MD5:45d0694aef5cea159058af8eba90fa5e Primary data file for dataset ID 846964

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-1809878

Deployments

None available yet

Instruments

Underwater Camera

Supplied Name:

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Underwater Camera

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L05/current/180/

Generic Description:

All types of photographic equipment that may be deployed underwater including stills, video, film and digital systems.

Parameters

Date and time formats are described in python strftime() syntax.

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
Site	description	units	site
Direction	Description	unitless	site_descrip
Transect	Transect	unitless	transect
Depth	Depth	Meters	depth
Date	Date in ISO8601 format yyyy-mm-dd Format: %Y-%m-%d	unitless	date_local
Lat	Latitude for the general area of the site.	decimal degrees	lat
Lon	Longitude for the general area of the site.	decimal degrees	lon
Quadrat	Quadrat	unitless	site_descrip
Categories	Categories of substrate	unitless	taxon
Cover	Percentage of categories	Percent (%)	percent_cover

Status message

Database

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Dataset: Mesophotic benthic organism counts