Puerto Rico Long-Term Coral Reef Monitoring Program Database Compilation

OBIS and OBIS USA

The Puerto Rico Long-Term Coral Reef Monitoring Program (PRCRMP) database compilation includes raw biological data (by transect) from reef locations around the Puerto Rican archipelago. Substrate cover by sessile-benthic categories and fish, and motile megabenthic invertebrate taxonomic composition and densities have been characterized in these stations, with variable sampling event frequencies between 1999 to 2019. At present, 42 permanent stations are surveyed biannually (21 per year). For the benthic characterization, a set of five 10-meter-long permanent transects are surveyed at each station. Sessile-benthic reef communities are characterized by the continuous intercept chain-link method, following the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity (CARICOMP) (1994) protocol. Demersal diurnal non-cryptic reef fish populations and motile megabenthic invertebrates are surveyed by sets of five 10 x 3 meters wide (30 m2) belt-transects centered along the reference line of transects used for sessile-benthic characterizations at each reef station. From 2004-2013, a diver completed an Active Search Census (ASEC) survey for 30 minutes annotating sizes and abundances of fish and macroinvertebrate species of interest. From 2015-2019, the ASEC survey methodology was replaced by 20 x 3 meters (60 m2) band transects to identify commercially and ecologically important fish and megabenthic invertebrate species. Upon completion of the 10 meters belt-transect survey, the diver swims along the same depth and physiographic reef zone for an extra 10 meters to complete the 60 m2 transect. For each fish individual within the ASEC survey (2004-2013) and 60m2 band transects (2015-2019), a visual fork length (FL) estimate in centimeters is recorded. Fish length estimations are provided by the median of 5cm interval size classes. The cephalothorax length (measurement from the tip of the rostrum to end of the thorax), also known as carapace length (CL) in centimeters is used to report the size of lobsters (Panulirus spp., Scyllarides spp.) within belt-transects. Queen conch (Lobatus gigas) length is reported as the total (diagonal) shell length in centimeters. With the length-weight relationship information available in FishBase.org, biomass estimates are calculated for a subset of commercially and ecologically important fish species. The PRCRMP database was made possible with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Coral Reef Conservation Program.

N/A

This dataset was downloaded from OBIS (https://obis.org/). The records for only marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles and rays and sharks were extracted. Records with no longitude/latitude or no date (eventDate) were excluded.
OBIS dataset page:
https://obis.org/dataset/52f99f08-fc90-4684-aea8-a015150968ea
Data Provider's dataset page:
https://www1.usgs.gov/obis-usa/ipt/resource?r=prcrmp_database

Overview

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
All attributes are included in the downloadable file (CSV or ESRI File Geodatabase) for "Complete Set of Dataset".

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	Internal ID
id	Record ID
dataset_id	Dataset ID
scientificname	Scientific name
vernacularname	Vernacular name
aphiaid	Aphia ID
taxonrank	taxononic rank
individualcount	Group size / individual count
eventdate	Event date (precision varies)
eventtime	Event time
decimallatitude	Latitude in decimal degrees
decimallongitude	Longitude in decimal degrees
coordinateprecision	Coordinate precision
catalognumber	Catalog number
collectioncode	Collection code
occurrencestatus	Occurrence status
basisofrecord	Basis of record (HumanObservation / MachineObservation)
modified	Date/time the record was modified
node_id	Node ID
occurrenceid	Occurrence ID
occurrenceremarks	Occurrence remarks
eventid	Event ID
institutioncode	Institution code
lifestage	Life stage
sex	Gender of the animal if known
species	Species by provider
datasetid	Dataset ID by provider
country	Country
locality	Location of ocean
waterbody	Details of ocean
dropped	Flag indicating the record was dropped (always false)
absence	Flag indicating the record represents the absence of the species (always false)
marine	Flag indicating the record is for marine life (always true)