Cryptic Reef Invertebrate Counts from ARMS in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea (2009-2012)

Species counts and identifications of marine invertebrates larger than 2 mm collected from Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS). The data were collected by NOAA's Coral Reef Ecosystem Program at fixed climate survey sites in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea from September 2009 to September 2012. Three ARMS units were deployed at each site, and the dataset focuses on organisms sorted from the 2 mm fraction.

Use Cases

• Analyze cryptic reef biodiversity trends based on standardized ARMS sampling
• Compare invertebrate community composition across different reef sites based on the described survey locations
• Study recruitment patterns of motile organisms based on the sieved size fractions mentioned in the description
• Assess the effectiveness of standardized monitoring structures based on the ARMS methodology

Strengths

• Data collection follows a systematic and comparable ARMS method designed to sample biodiversity over precisely the same surface area
• Sampling occurred over a defined three-year period from September 2009 to September 2012
• Three replicate ARMS units were deployed at each survey site, likely providing spatial consistency

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• The dataset only includes information from the 2 mm fraction; smaller organisms (500 µm and 100 µm) were preserved for DNA analysis and are not included as counts

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Data collected from ARMS units deployed by SCUBA divers, disassembled, photographed, scraped, and sieved into size fractions.

Time Range

September 2009 to September 2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-14 23:02:26.423339; freshness should be verified

Geography

Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea