Indopacific coastal fish-habitat video data for understanding ecological value and spatial relationships

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Data was collected as described in:  Bradley, M., Baker, R., Nagelkerken, I., & Sheaves, M. (2019). Context is more important than habitat type in determining use by juvenile fish. Landscape Ecology, 34(2), 427–442. doi:10.1007/s10980-019-00781-3

Video were collected from a range of locations throughout the Indo-Pacific, including: Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia), Papua New Guinea (New Britain), French Polynesia (Tahiti). Videos are point census surveys of fish assemblages, and are either unbaited or baited. This provided a point census of fish taxa present, as well as an indication of local biological and structural habitat characteristics. Surveys were conducted during daylight hours and periods of relatively low turbidity to ensure conditions appropriate for video sampling. Accordingly, sampling occurred between June and December, outside the Austral monsoon. Sampling was carried out during the full breadth of variation in tidal inundation in a region both in terms of the tidal cycle (high-low) and tidal periods (springs and neaps). Independence of video samples was maintained by leaving more than 20 m between deployments, with cameras usually spaced 50–100 m apart. Efforts were made to sample the entire breadth of habitat variation present in the region. Initially, the study areas were sampled randomly, with cameras placed at random intervals from the shore, to achieve broad spatial replication. After reviewing the metadata, targeted sampling was performed to boost replication in substrate/biota combinations with low representation, though for some rare combinations of biota and substrate, this could not be achieved.