Pacific Coral Reef Benthic Cover Surveys from 2005 to 2012

Line-Point-Intercept surveys quantitatively document benthic cover at coral reef sites across the Pacific Ocean. The data consists of counts of benthic elements like live coral, algae, and other sessile invertebrates along transects, collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Surveys were conducted from 2005 to 2012, with sampling intervals changing from 50 cm to 20 cm after 2008.

Use Cases

• Modeling coral reef community composition based on counts of benthic elements like live coral and algae.
• Monitoring temporal changes in benthic cover percentages across the Pacific Ocean from 2005 to 2012.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of reef habitat components like coral rubble and carbonate pavement.
• Computing quantitative estimates of percent cover at functional group or genus level based on taxonomic identifications.

Strengths

• Data spans a multi-year time range from 2005 to 2012.
• Surveys follow a standardized Line-Point-Intercept methodology along transects.
• Benthic elements are identified to a low taxonomic level or functional group.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the surveyed Pacific reef sites.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Line-Point-Intercept surveys conducted by interdisciplinary teams along transect lines.

Time Range

2005 to 2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-14 23:05:17.623776; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Coral reef sites across the Pacific Ocean, including specific islands listed in platform tags.