On May 9, 2006, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service) listed staghorn and elkhorn corals (Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These two species qualified as ESA threatened species because there was evidence they have undergone substantial declines in abundance (from historic levels) throughout their ranges. NOAA Fisheries Service is now seeking to determine the extant spatial distribution of these two species throughout the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to aid in the management and regulatory activities related to ESA listing. These data represent the potential locations of presence or absence for elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) and staghorn coral (A. cervicornis).
The overarching goal is to provide NOAA Fisheries Service with information on the extant spatial distribution of acroporid corals throughout the Caribbean Sea to aid in management and regulatory activities related to their Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing. The purpose of these data is to visually represent the potential locations of presence or absence of Acropora spp. for GIS analysis and display.
Data submitted by investigators are converted into a series of flat files in dbf format with indices that show presence and true absence (where possible) of A. cervicornis and A. palmata for each U.S. State or Territory. True absence of an Acropora species means that an active search was made to locate the coral at the given GPS coordinates, but the species were not found there.
ground condition
Users be advised that the data identifies potential locations of presence of absence for Acropora spp. and does not definitively identify all locations of Acropora spp. To determine actual presence of Acropora spp., an in-water survey must be conducted.
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Not Applicable
Complete Pending NMFS PRD Review
digital GIS shapefiles were developed using ESRI ArcGIS software to show the distribution of A. cervicornis and A. palmata separately in each location where we have data. Data submitted by investigators are converted into a series of flat files in dbf format with indices that show presence and true absence (where possible) of A. cervicornis and A. palmata for each U.S. State or Territory.
Internal feature number.
ESRI
Feature geometry.
point identifier
NOAA/NMFS
Year in which the survey was conducted
Varied Sources
decimal degrees latitude of point location
decimal degrees longitude of point location
A. cervicornis presence or absence: 1 = presence; 0 = absence or absence unknown
A. palmata presence or absence: 1 = presence; 0 = absence or absence unknown
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Please contact the Distributor (see above) regarding data access.
NOAA Fisheries Service
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