dc.contributor.author | Edgar, Graham J. | |
dc.contributor.author | Stuart-Smith, Rick D. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-07-05T14:01:58Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-07-05T14:01:58Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2014 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Edgar, G.J. and Stuart-Smith, R.D. (2014) Systematic global assessment of reef fish communities by the
Reef Life Survey program. Scientific Data, 1, 140007, 8pp. DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2014.7. | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11329/448 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://dx.doi.org/10.25607/OBP-34 | |
dc.description.abstract | Discussion of the Reef Life Survey Methods Manual: https://www.oceanbestpractices.net/handle/11329/447. Established in 2007 as a means to overcome the shortage of resources and capacity to provide
quantitative data on marine species over large temporal and spatial scales, the Reef Life Survey (RLS)
program has involved data collection by an international network of trained volunteer (or ‘citizen’)
scientists and professional biologists largely acting in a voluntary capacity. Focussing on quality
of outputs and consistency of data through selective inclusion and training of volunteer participants,
rather than broader engagement of all interested, RLS fills a niche between other citizen science programs
and large-scale professional initiatives such as the Census of Marine Life. The RLS program represents a
marine analogue to well-organized and large-scale amateur bird watching programs (e.g., eBird and the
Christmas Bird Count), but with a more structured quantitative sampling methodology than most.
Through the long term, it aims to provide a biological equivalent to the synoptic picture of the physical
parameters generated for the world’s oceans through sensor networks such as the ARGO float array10 and
the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS).
Here we describe the global reef fish dataset collected by the Reef Life Survey program, which
can be used to assess large-scale spatial patterns in diversity and community structure, and as a
baseline for comparison with future surveys, to address long-standing ecological questions or
conservation goals. These data have already been used to describe global patterns in reef fish functional
diversity11 and have provided the most comprehensive empirical assessment of key features for successful
marine protected area (MPA) design and management12. The dataset described here includes all survey
sites analysed for the latter study, with the exception of data collected using the same methodology from
107 sites that were provided to us for analysis but belong to other organisations or are otherwise
confidential. Some transects surveyed at different depths at the same site, but on different days, have also
been excluded from this dataset, which only includes surveys from the latest date (at the time of writing)
at any given site. | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Coral reefs | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Biodiversity | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Community ecology | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Macroecology | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Conservation | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Species abundance | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Survey methods | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Invertebrates | |
dc.title | Systematic global assessment of reef fish communities by the Reef Life Survey program. | en_US |
dc.type | Journal Contribution | en_US |
dc.description.refereed | Refereed | en_US |
dc.format.pagerange | 8pp. | en_US |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1038/sdata.2014.7 | |
dc.subject.parameterDiscipline | Parameter Discipline::Biological oceanography::Zooplankton | en_US |
dc.subject.parameterDiscipline | Parameter Discipline::Biological oceanography::Fish | en_US |
dc.subject.parameterDiscipline | Parameter Discipline::Biological oceanography::Rock and sediment biota | en_US |
dc.subject.instrumentType | Instrument Type Vocabulary::observers | en_US |
dc.subject.instrumentType | Instrument Type Vocabulary::manual biota samplers | |
dc.subject.dmProcesses | Data Management Practices::Data acquisition | en_US |
dc.subject.dmProcesses | Data Management Practices::Data processing | en_US |
dc.bibliographicCitation.title | Scientific Data | en_US |
dc.bibliographicCitation.volume | 1 | en_US |
dc.bibliographicCitation.issue | 140007 | en_US |
dc.description.sdg | 14.2 | en_US |
dc.description.sdg | 14.4 | |
dc.description.eov | Hard coral cover and composition | en_US |
dc.description.eov | Fish abundance and distribution | en_US |
dc.description.eov | Macroalgal canopy cover | en_US |
dc.description.bptype | Best Practice | en_US |
dc.description.bptype | Manual | en_US |
obps.contact.contactname | rick.stuartsmith@utas.edu.au | |
obps.resourceurl.publisher | www.nature.com/scientificdata | en_US |