Mapping Seafloor Relative Reflectance and Assessing Coral Reef Morphology with EAARL-B Topobathymetric Lidar Waveforms
Topobathymetric lidar is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for benthic habitat mapping, enabling safe, efficient data acquisition over coral reefs and other fragile ecosystems. In 2014, a novel topobathymetric lidar system, the Experimental Advanced ...
Population dynamics and genotypic richness of threatened Acropora species and their hybrid in the U.S. Virgin Islands
Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata have experienced substantial losses in coral cover throughout the Caribbean, but their hybrid (A. prolifera) appears to be increasing at some sites. The shifts in relative abundance could result from hybridization with ...
Cruise report, coral reef ecosystem research NOAA ship Nancy Foster, NF-11-02 (US STATE DEPARTMENT CRUISE ID: DOS F2010-122) , 19 April 2011 through 7 May 2011
The United States Virgin Islands' (USVI) Grammanik Bank, located to the south of St. Thomas, is the site of a multi-species spawning aggregation for economically important fish including yellowfin grouper, Nassau grouper, tiger grouper, and dog snapper. F...
Habitat suitability models of elkhorn coral provide ecological insight to support coral reef restoration
Coral reefs are experiencing unprecedented levels of stress from global warming, ocean acidification, fishing, and water pollution. In the Caribbean and Western Atlantic, multiple stressors have resulted in widespread losses of the dominant reef-building ...
Comparative Use of a Caribbean Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem and Association with Fish Spawning Aggregations by Three Species of Shark
Understanding of species interactions within mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs; ~ 30–150 m) lags well behind that for shallow coral reefs. MCEs are often sites of fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) for a variety of species, including many groupers. Such re...
SCUBA divers above the waterline: Using participatory mapping of coral reef conditions to inform reef management
Coral reefs provide important ecological services such as biodiversity, climate regulation, and cultural benefits through recreation and tourism. However, many of the world's reefs are declining, with Caribbean reefs suffering a significant decline in liv...
The net buyback and ban in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
The gill and trammel net ban and buyback were two of the most politically sensitive management reforms in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The purpose of the net ban was to protect parrotfish populations, reduce by-catch, and minimize gear-habitat interact...
Cruise report: Larval Bluefin Tuna Ecology Survey (2015) NOAA SHIP Nancy Foster (NF-15-02 and NF-15-03) (US Department of State Cruise ID: F2014-098) 11 April 2015 - 02 June 2015
The United States Virgin Islands' (USVI) Grammanik Bank, located to the south of St. Thomas, is the site of a multi-species spawning aggregation for economically important fish including yellowfin grouper, Nassau grouper, tiger grouper, and dog snapper. F...
Diversity and Disease: The Effects of Coral Diversity on Prevalence and Impacts of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) in January 2019. This disease affects at least 20 scleractinian coral species; however, it is not well understood how reef diversity affects its spread or...
Coral growth, bioerosion, and secondary accretion of living orbicellid corals from mesophotic reefs in the US Virgin Islands
Growth rates of the major Caribbean reef framework-building coral Orbicella spp. decrease with increasing water depth and light attenuation. However, reliable, spatially distributed growth rates for corals deeper than 30 m are rare, and the combined influ...
3D Photogrammetry Reveals Dynamics of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) Lesion Progression Across a Thermal Stress Event
Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in the United States Virgin Islands in January 2019 on a reef at Flat Cay off the island of St. Thomas. A year after its emergence, the disease had spread to several reefs around St. Thomas causin...
Expansion of an established fishery-independent survey into the US Virgin Islandsʼ upper mesophotic zone: feasibility and management implications
A three-year pilot study, the Deep Coral Reef Monitoring Program (DCRMP), expanded the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program’s (NCRMP) established fishery-independent, diver-based reef fish visual survey to upper mesophotic reefs (>30 to 50 m) in the Uni...
Growth rates of Porites astreoides and Orbicella franksi in mesophotic habitats surrounding St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Functional profiles of microbial communities are typically generated using comprehensive metagenomic or metatranscriptomic sequence read searches, which are time-consuming, prone to spurious mapping, and often limited to community-level quantification. We...
Coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangroves : their interaction in the coastal zones of the Caribbean : report of a workshop held at West Indies Laboratory, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, May, 1982 / edited by John C. Ogden, Elizabeth H. Gladfelter ; sponsored by Unesco, IOCARIBE, West Indies Laboratory, Fairleigh Dickinson University.
The ecology of coral reefs : results of a Workshop on Coral Reef Ecology held by the American Society of Zoologists, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 1983 / edited by Marjorie L. Reaka.
The State of the coral reefs of the U.S. Virgin Islands [electronic resource] / Nicolas Drayton ... [et al.].
Describes the ecology and current status of the coral reefs of the U.S. Virgin Islands, including natural and human-caused stresses. Presents information on local research and educational activities that contribute to reef conservation, and the use of var...
Census of the marine commercial fishers of the U.S. Virgin Islands [electronic resource] / Barbara Kojis ; submitted to Caribbean Fishery Management Council.
Buck Island Reef National Monument [videorecording] : the National Park Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration : partners for protection and resource management / produced by NOAA Office of Communications Video Studio in cooperation with the National Park Service and NOAA's Biogeography Branch.
About 20-minute collaborative documentary by NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment and the National Park Service to document the shared scientific work between the agencies and partners to support management of marine resources found within ...
Grouper population assessment within bank hardbottom habitats of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands [electronic resource] / prepared by Philippe A. Mayor.
"Groupers have been an important commercial fish species in the US Virgin Islands. However, within the past decades several of the grouper populations have crashed and consequently there has been a shift in the fish community composition. Using a fisheryi...
Hope in the face of a Caribbean coral crisis [electronic resource] / by Rebecca Lindsey with contributions from Jamie Sziklay.
"Facing the possibility of a massive coral bleaching event in the Caribbean Sea in late summer and early fall 2010, a USGS biologist based at U.S. Virgin Islands National Park hopes that the season won't have the same devastating outcome as a similar even...
East End area of particular concern (APC) : a comprehensive analytic study.
"The East End, St. Croix APC was prepared under the authority of the Coastal Zone Management Commission. The Study and proposed plan is intended to serve as the overall planning and management framework within which the various planning and regulatory ent...
Mapping Seafloor Relative Reflectance and Assessing Coral Reef Morphology with EAARL-B Topobathymetric Lidar Waveforms