GBR - Hard coral biodiversity surveys of the Great Barrier Reef - Spatial interpolation - 1994 - 2001 (MTSRF 1.1.5, AIMS)

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The purpose of this study was to quantify patterns in scleractinian biodiversity, and in the cover of the main benthos groups, on the Great Barrier Reef. Taxonomic surveys of hard corals conducted on 110 reefs (599 transects) of the GBR between 1994 and 2001. Surveys are based on rapid ecological assessments (taxonomic inventories based on swim surveys) conducted at two depth zones (deep and shallow), typically at two sites per reef. The data are abundance estimates of each species. Richness is calculated based on reef-averaged data. The data set also contains visual estimates of the cover of the main benthos groups such as hard corals, soft corals, macroalgae and crustose coralline algae. As part of the Reef Atlas project (now the eAtlas) the coral observations were interpolated over the whole GBR by Glenn De'ath using Generalized Additive Models with a Quasipoisson fit. This produced a gridded version of the dataset and is available as a KML and ASCII Grid file (WGS84). Data Units: - Abundance estimates of each species: 6-point rating (absent, rare, uncommon, common, abundant, dominant); - Richness: number of species per reef; - Cover of benthos groups: 6-point rating: 0 = none recorded; 1 = 1–10; 2 = 11–30; 3 = 31–50; 4 = 51–75; 5 = 76–100 References: - Devantier LM, De'ath G, Done TJ, Turak E (1998). Ecological assessment of a complex natural system: A case study from the Great Barrier Reef. Ecological Applications, 8, 480-496 - Fabricius KE, De’ath G, McCook L, Turak E & Williams DMc (2005) Changes in algal, coral and fish assemblages along water quality gradients on the inshore Great Barrier Reef. Marine Pollution Bulletin 51: 384–398 - Devantier L, De'ath G, Done T, Turak E, Fabricius K (2006) Species richness and community structure of reef-building corals on the nearshore Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs 25:329-340