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OAS accession Detail for 0278598
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Title: Octocoral colony heights measured during transect surveys at four sites on the south shore of St. John, US Virgin Islands during June-October 2019 (NCEI Accession 0278598)
Abstract: This dataset contains biological and survey - biological data collected at Virgin Islands during deployment Lasker_St_John from 2019-07-10 to 2019-10-03. These data include genus, species, and taxon_code. These data were collected by Peter J. Edmunds of California State University Northridge and Howard Lasker of State University of New York at Buffalo as part of the "Collaborative Research: Pattern and process in the abundance and recruitment of Caribbean octocorals (Octocoral Community Dynamics)" project. The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) submitted these data to NCEI on 2020-02-24.

The following is the text of the dataset description provided by BCO-DMO:

Octocoral colony heights measured during transect surveys at four sites on the south shore of St. John, US Virgin Islands in June-October 2019

Dataset Description:
This dataset contains octocoral colony heights measured during transect surveys at four sites on the south shore of St. John, US Virgin Islands in June-October 2019.

These data are a continuation of BCO-DMO project 562086 (http://www.bco-dmo.org/project/562086) and BCO-DMO project 749653 (https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/749653).
Date received: 20200224
Start date: 20190710
End date: 20191003
Seanames:
West boundary: -64.7299
East boundary: -64.7104
North boundary: 18.3167
South boundary: 18.3029
Observation types:
Instrument types:
Datatypes:
Submitter:
Submitting institution: Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office
Collecting institutions:
Contributing projects:
Platforms:
Number of observations:
Supplementary information: Acquisition Description:
Survey design:
All sites were located at 6 to 9 meters depth.

Censuses at East Cabritte, Europa, and Tektite were based on 50x10m areas that were arbitrarily selected and permanently marked with stainless steel eyebolts at the corners of the sites. A total of six transect lines, also marked with eyebolts, were laid out at 10 m intervals. All octocorals present in 1 x 1 m quadrats along the 10-meter long transects were scored. The transect identifier "transect_pos" has values 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 which represent position in meters within the 50x10 survey area corresponding to each of the 6 transects (e.g. 20 = 20m).

The census at Booby Rock was conducted in a single day in which transects were randomly placed along a 50 m line that was arbitrarily placed on a constant depth contour. The transect identifier (transect_pos) for transects at Booby Rock refers to position along the 50 m line.

Yawzi and Deep Tektite surveys: 20 quadrats at each transect (3 transects). Yawzi transects were censused over two field trips, July/August and September.

Sampling methods:
Identifications were based on traits visible in the field, and samples of representative colonies were collected for further analysis in cases in which field identification was uncertain. Sclerites from those samples were examined for species identification.

Two height measures are present, height of living tissue, which only includes that part of the axis with living tissue and total height which is the distance from the base to the tip of the farthest branch from the base (i.e. not necessarily perpendicular to the substrate), regardless of whether the tips or base had living tissue. (Only colonies with some living tissue were measured). All measures rounded to the nearest cm with the exception of 5 cm which only includes colonies >= 5 cm. Starting in 2016, measures less than 5 cm reflect colonies with thick branches which could only have
Availability date:
Metadata version: 1
Keydate: 2023-05-22 04:23:45+00
Editdate: 2023-05-22 04:24:06+00