NOAA National Benthic Inventory and Regional Ecological Assessments

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) maintains this quantitative database on benthic species distributions from studies conducted with partner institutions. The dataset supports regional ecological assessments in estuaries, coastal waters, and NOAA protected areas like National Marine Sanctuaries. A corresponding taxonomic voucher collection of specimens collected between 1991 and 2007 was transferred to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in 2019.

Use Cases

• Assessing baseline ecological condition and stressor impacts in estuaries and coastal-ocean waters.
• Evaluating future changes in living resources and ecosystem stressors due to natural or human-induced disturbances.
• Studying benthic species distributions across regions like the Mid-Atlantic Bight, South-Atlantic Bight, Florida Shelf, and Gulf of Mexico.
• Supporting management decisions for NOAA protected areas including National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a 16-year period from 1991 to 2007, providing a long-term baseline.
• Assessments cover multiple major coastal regions including the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Bights.
• Includes a physical taxonomic voucher collection, supporting taxonomic verification and research.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column names, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• The most recent update date is inconsistently reported, with one source listing a future date (2026-03-13).
• The primary data collection period ended in 2007, limiting contemporary observations.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and partnering institutions.

Collection Method

Quantitative studies and assessments conducted for Regional Ecological Assessments (REA).

Time Range

1991 to 2007

Freshness

2026-03 13 20:38:47.321440

Geography

U.S. estuaries, coastal-ocean waters, NOAA protected areas, and continental shelf regions of the Mid-Atlantic Bight, South-Atlantic Bight, Florida Shelf, and Gulf of Mexico.