Moderate-depth benthic habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Details

• Personal Author:
  Costa, Bryan M. ; Bauer, Laurie J. ; Battista, Timothy Adams ; Mueller, Peter W. ; Monaco, Mark E.
• Corporate Authors:
  United States, National Ocean Service ; National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (U.S.), ; Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment (U.S.), Biogeography Branch ; United States, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ; Coral Reef Conservation Program (U.S.) ; United States, ; National Park Service
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NOS (National Ocean Service) ; NCCOS (National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science) ; CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System)
• Description:
  "This report describes the creation and assessment of a moderate-depth benthic habitat map for the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM) south of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The objective of this effort, conducted by NOAA's Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Branch in partnership with the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), was to provide spatially-explicit information describing the moderate-depth (30 - 60 m) benthic habitat types and live coral cover present in and around VICRNM's southern boundaries. The resulting fine-scale habitat map, generated using a combination of semi-automated classification and visual interpretation techniques, represents the first acoustically-generated digital map of these moderate-depth areas. This report consists of three primary components: 1) a description of the classification scheme used to categorize the different seafloor habitats, 2) a discussion of the techniques used to create the habitat map, and 3) an assessment of the habitat map's thematic accuracies. This habitat map will be used by the U.S. National Park Service and other local partners for planning research and monitoring activities, and will support the management and conservation of St. John's VICRNM"--Page i.
• Keywords:
  Benthos Classification Coral Reef Ecology Coral Reefs And Islands Habitat Habitat (Ecology) Research Coral Reef Ecology Coral Reefs And Islands
• Series:
  NOAA technical memorandum NOS NCCOS   105
• Document Type:
  Technical Memorandum
• Place as Subject:
  United States Virgin Islands ; Saint John
• Rights Information:
  Public Domain
• Compliance:
  Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:eb3174b3abd7de32e5e6ecdcdcb41f69a1ef8dc1f63768e251861818560c8febdd6c9145a87c84ce68e45d5f27c18547bbd9cc1b223c0d5c1bbbc9ebd2ddd81f
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/544/noaa_544_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.87 MB ]