Monaco, M. E., Christensen, J. D., Friedlander, A. M., Kendall, M. S., Caldow, C.

Quantifying habitat utilization patterns of U.S. Caribbean and Hawaii reef fish to define marine protected area boundaries: The coupling of GIS and ecology

2003

Baltimore, Maryland

Proceedings of the 13th Biennial Coastal Zone Conference

6

NOAAs National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) - Biogeography Program conducts mapping, research, and monitoring of tropical coral reef ecosystems to support wise management of coastal marine resources (Monaco et al. 2001). A biogeographic approach is utilized to integrate information on the distribution and quality of habitats and associated reef fish to define species affinities for specific habitats (Monaco et al. 2001, Kendall and Monaco 2002). Defining the strength of coupling between species and habitat is facilitated by integrating spatial statistics, ecological models and indices that are visualized in geographical information systems (GIS) (Monaco et al. 1998, Gill et al. 2001). The biogeographic approach enables implementation of a suite of reef fish ecology studies (RFES) that are underway in the US Caribbean and the main eight Hawaiian Islands (MHI). High-resolution digital benthic habitat maps derived from aerial photography and hyperspectral imagery (HSI) have been completed for the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and for 60% of the MHI (Kendall et al. 2001, Coyne et al. 2003). The GIS-based maps are classified to 27 levels of habitats (e.g., seagrass, patch reef) and these habitats are located in cross-shelf zones (e.g., back reef). Complementary reef fish ecology studies are underway in St. John and St. Croix, USVI and SW Puerto Rico to determine species occurrence, abundance, size, and trophic ecology based on random stratified sampling of habitats delineated on the digital habitat maps. Analogous RFES in the MHI are conducted in marine protected areas (MPA) (e.g., Marine Life Conservation Districts) to define species habitat utilization patterns. Biogeographic products include species distribution maps depicting the probability of encountering a species or groups of species based on their habitat affinities, maps of community metrics (e.g., species richness), and a suite of other spatially-articulated models. The biogeographic approach enables the coupling of digital benthic habitat maps and species habitat utilization patterns to define biologically relevant MPA boundaries, define the strength of species habitat affinities, and evaluate MPA effectiveness. This capability is used by the US Caribbean Fisheries Management Council to define essential fish habitats, by the National Park Service in characterize US Virgin Islands marine parks and monuments, and by the University of Puerto Rico to define biologically relevant marine protected area boundaries. In the MHI, RFES support Hawaiis Department of Lands and Natural Resources (DLNR) in evaluation of MPA effectiveness based on characterizing the abundance and size of fishes. These, and other fish ecology parameters are compared and contrasted between MPAs under various management strategies (e.g., no harvest of fish, limited harvest).

FY2004 CRCP Project ID 1417; Project Title: Caribbean Reef Fish Ecology Studies; Principal Investigator: John Christensen