Florida Keys Coral Reef Health and Species Monitoring Data

Annual monitoring data tracks the status and trends of coral reef populations in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The dataset includes species counts, percent cover of corals and other organisms, and coral disease incidence from 40 sampled sites. Data was collected by the Coral Reef Monitoring Project, with the last recorded update in 1999.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in coral species number (s) over time across different reef types.
• Model relationships between coral percent cover and the incidence of coral disease.
• Compare reef health metrics like percent cover across 9 hardbottom, 10 patch, and 23 offshore reef sites.
• Assess spatial variation in reef organism functional groups between the Upper, Middle, and Lower Florida Keys.

Strengths

• Data from 40 distinct monitoring sites provides spatial breadth across the sanctuary.
• Annual sampling supports analysis of temporal trends for key metrics.

Limitations

• Data recency is limited, with the last known update in 1999, making it stale for current analysis.
• Specific sample sizes (row counts) and the number of measured variables are unknown.

Provenance

Source

Coral Reef Monitoring Project, organization listed as SCIOPS.

Collection Method

Annual sampling at fixed sites for species number, percent cover, and disease incidence.

Time Range

Annual sampling; specific start year unknown, last update 1999.

Freshness

Last updated 1999-12-31; update frequency unknown.

Geography

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, from Key Largo to Key West.