Monaco, M. E., Battista, T. A., Friedlander, A. M., Callender, R.

Integrated Coral Reef Ecosystem Mapping and Monitoring to Support Living Marine Resource Management.

2006

Transactions, American Geophysical Union

87 [36 Supplement]

The Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment Biogeography Team has been conducting biogeographic mapping, research, and monitoring of tropical marine ecosystems to quantify reef fish habitat affinities and define spatial and temporal utilization of benthic habitats. The data and information collected and derived from the reef fish ecology studies are being used to address a suite of natural resource management needs and issues concerning coral reef ecosystems. A primary use of the data is to define, monitor, characterize and assess effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) throughout the US Caribbean and Pacific. The work is underway in areas where NOAA has developed high-resolution digital benthic habitat maps derived from remote sensing imagery in the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the coral reef ecosystems of the Hawaiian Islands. The GIS-based maps are classified to 27 levels of habitats (e.g., seagrass, patch reef) and these habitats are organized in space by cross-shelf zones (e.g., backreef). The maps enable the complementary reef fish ecology studied to be conducted within and outside MPAs found around St. John, USVI (National Park and Monument), St. Croix, USVI (National Monument), SW Puerto Rico (proposed MPA areas), and within Hawaii Marine Life Conservation Districts. Species occurrence, abundance, size, and trophic ecology studies have been underway (5 years in Caribbean; 3 years in Hawaii) at stations selected by random stratified sampling of the digital habitats maps. The integrated mapping and reef fish ecology studies across Caribbean and Hawaii MPAs enables defining species habitat utilization patterns within and outside MPAs under various management regimes and ecological comparisons between ocean basins. Biogeographic products include species distribution maps depicting the probability of encountering a species or groups of species based on their habitat affinities and maps of ecological indices (e.g., species richness). This work has been designed to support the US Caribbean Fisheries Management Council in defining essential fish habitats and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in defining biologically relevant marine protected area boundaries. In Hawaii, the biogeographic assessments are supporting the Hawaii Department of Lands and Natural Resources in defining species distribution patterns and evaluating the effectiveness of Marine Life Conservation Districts under various levels of marine resource protection.

Reef fishes /Benthic environment /Biogeography /Coral reef ecology /habitat mapping /Geographic information systems /U.S. Virgin Islands /Puerto Rico /Hawaii /remote sensing /Caribbean Sea /Marine parks and reserves

CSA Abstract