Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Supplemental Files
• Related Publications
• Related Datasets
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Project Information
• Funding

Example quadrat photo.  See "Data Files" section to access the full set of quadrat photos bundled in zip files by year.

[Example image IMG_1603.JPG is also included in the file bundle 2014_quadrat_photos.zip]

See Related Datasets and Supplemental Files sections for other data collected as part of the same transect and quadrat surveys.

Photoquadrat framer constructed from PVC pipe, PVC cement, galvanized bolts, wing nuts, and washers.  Quadrat was 50 x 50 cm.

Benthic quadrat procedure:

- records dive and transect attributes:
            - dive number
            - transect number
            - site name
            - date
            - time
            - observer initials
            - visibility (meters)
            - depth at start of transect (feet)
            - depth at end of transect (feet)
            - transect length (meters)
            - quadrat number

- places 5 quadrats in fixed or random locations along transect
            - random locations were selected prior to the start of the transect
            - fixed locations were returned to each year
                        - nails were driven into the reef the first year to mark locations
- observes and records the primary benthic cover within the quadrat
            - family of invertebrate or abiotic benthic cover
- measures rugosity within the quadrat using the chain method. Rugosity was measured with a 6 m chain. (See EPA Field Manual for Coral Reef Assessments, Santavy et al. (2012).
- records any additional notes
- takes photo and records photo file number

Issue report:

Some photos could not be taken if the reef was too shallow and the camera was above water.

BCO-DMO Data Manager Processing notes:
* Imported data tables each sheet named "Quadrats" within files submitted to BCO-DMO as Transect_and_quadrat_data/GPSSurveys.*.xlsx
* Supplemental transect locations table from Transect_locations/Transect_locations.*.xlsx concatenated together and attached to this dataset and Fish and Invertebrate Transects dataset as a supplemental file.  See file description for details about one location lat/lon that was updated based on a comment in the file.
* replaced semicolons in time values to colons to match the rest of the time format.
* Column Image_nums listed file image numbers delimited with either a space, comma, or comma and space.  Changed to semicolon delimiter for consistency.
* Date format changed to ISO 8601 format YYYY-MM-DD
* Column ISO_DateTime_UTC added to data table from local dates and times.
* Dataset contains variable missing data identifiers (blank,?,X, and a period alone in a cell).  These were left as-is though the difference is unknown.

Description from NSF award abstract:
When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines it had sustained winds of 305 to 315 kph and was the strongest storm ever to make landfall. Storms are one of the most important disturbances to coral reef ecosystems. Previous research has primarily emphasized that habitat recovery is important for the recovery of reef fish communities after disturbance. We understand little, however, about the role of larval dispersal in mediating species responses to disturbance. Reef fish function as metapopulations connected by larval dispersal among reefs, and larval connectivity is therefore a critical process for their dynamics. A field site directly in Typhoon Haiyan's path provides an ideal opportunity to address the role of larval dispersal during recovery. Over the course of four field seasons (2008 to 2013), nearly two thousand clownfish were surveyed along 20km of coastline. Clownfish possess the same basic life history as most reef fish (sedentary adults and pelagic larvae), but are sufficiently rare and visible that genetic parentage methods can be used to follow larval dispersal. This study site is therefore a unique location in which to understand the metapopulation impacts of a massive storm. This project will focus on three hypotheses: 1) Habitat destruction determines the short-term impacts of storms disturbance, 2) Metapopulation processes shape recolonization after disturbance, and 3) Disturbance allows rare competitors to increase in abundance. The project will address these questions with a combination of fixed and random transects to assess reef habitat and reef fish abundance and diversity, as well as detailed, spatially explicit surveys of anemones and clownfish. Genetic mark-recapture and parentage methods with yellowtail clownfish will pinpoint the origin of new recruits that recolonize the reef post-typhoon.