Dataset: reef fish surveys

Name: Results of fish surveys on experimental reefs at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas from 2009-2012 (Lionfish Invasion project)
Published: 2013-03-20
Keywords: oceans

View Data: Data not available yet

Cite This Dataset

Project:

Ecological Release and Resistance at Sea: Invasion of Atlantic Coral Reefs by Pacific Lionfish (Lionfish Invasion)

Lead Principal Investigator:

Mark Hixon (Oregon State University, OSU)

Scientist:

Mark A. Albins (Oregon State University, OSU)

Kurt Ingeman (Oregon State University, OSU)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Shannon Rauch (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

20 March 2013

Version Date:

2013-03-20

Restricted:

Validated:

Current State:

Preliminary and in progress

Results of fish surveys on experimental reefs at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas from 2009-2012 (Lionfish Invasion project)

Expand/Collapse All

Description

Results of fish surveys on reefs in the vicintiy of Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas conducted from 2009 to 2012.

Part of sub-project titled "Large-scale, Long-term, Lionfish Experiment (LLLE)".

Note: Data are embargoed until 2017, per request of the lead PI. Contact PI for more information.

Methods & Sampling

This long-term, large-scale field experiment was designed to document the community-wide effects of invasive lionfish in the vicinity of Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas. Baseline surveys of the fish community were conducted at each of ten large (1400 to 4000 m2) reefs by counting and sizing all fishes within two permanent square plots (100 m2) and four permanent strip plots (50 m2) at each reef. Square plots were centered on the area of each reef with the greatest three-dimensional structure, whereas strip transects were placed to provide a representative sample of the entire reef (biased towards hard substrate). The reefs were paired based on habitat characteristics (depth, current, predominant substrate type, etc.), and one reef in each pair was designated as either low-lionfish-density (LLD) or high-lionfish-density (HLD). Lionfish were then removed from LLD reefs and added to HLD reefs. We attempted to remove all lionfish from LLD reefs, and to augment the density of lionfish on HLD reefs to the level observed on the highest-density reefs before the experiment. Surveys of each fish community were then repeated approximately quarterly. During each survey, any new lionfish appearing on LLD reefs were removed and distributed evenly across the HLD reefs (again, ensuring that densities at HLD reefs did not exceed natural invasive densities prior to the experiment). See details in the following related publications.

Related Publications:
Albins, M.A. (2012) Effects of the Invasive Pacific Red Lionfish Pterois volitans on Native Atlantic Coral-reef Fish Communities (Chapter 6). PhD Dissertation. Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.
Albins, M.A. (in preparation) Invasive Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans reduce abundance and species richness of native Bahamian coral-reef fishes: results from a large-scale, long-term experiment. Intended for Ecological Applications.

Data Processing Description

BCO-DMO Processing Notes:
-Modified original parameter names to conform with BCO-DMO naming conventions.
-Added species names from the master species list (named 'NSF-OCE-0851162-Hixon-Albins_LLLE_SpeciesList_master.csv').
-Added all columns from the reef characteristics file (named 'NSF-OCE-0851162-Hixon-Albins_LLLE_ReefChar.csv).
-Time values of '9000' changed to '0900' (assumed to be typo).
-Added ISO_DateTime_start and ISO_DateTime_end (UTC) based on original date, time_start_local, time_end_local, and timezone of UTC-5.
-Added lenbin_min and lenbin_max to explicitly state the bin ranges.

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-0851162

Deployments

Deployment	Synonyms	Start Date	Platform	Investigator
LSI_Reef_Surveys_09-12		2009-05-30	Tropical Marine Lab at Lee Stocking Island	Mark Hixon (Lead Principal Investigator)	data info

Instruments

None available yet

Parameters

Date and time formats are described in python strftime() syntax.

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
reef_pair_code	Reef pair code. Reefs with same code were paired based on similarities in reef area; type; depth and location. One reef in each pair was assigned to one of the two lionfish treatments.	dimensionless	no_bcodmo_term
reef_id	Reef Identification code.	dimensionless	Site_ID
site	Full name of experimental reefs. Column originally named 'ReefName'.	text	site
treatment	Experimental Treatment. LOW = low lionfish density; HIGH = high lionfish density.	dimensionless	no_bcodmo_term
treatment_code	Alternate code defining reef treatment. LLD = low lionfish density; HLD = high lionfish density. Numbers used to match up paired reefs.	dimensionless	no_bcodmo_term
lat	Latitude of experimental reefs.	decimal degrees	lat
lon	Longitude of experimental reefs.	decimal degrees	lon
area_substrate	Approximate area of hard substrate at each reef location.	square meters	no_bcodmo_term
depth_min	Approximate minimum depth at reef location.	meters	depth_min
depth_max	Approximate maximum depth at reef location.	meters	depth_max
nearest_reef	Approximate distance to nearest natural reef. Column originally named 'Nearest'.	meters	no_bcodmo_term
nearest_channel	Approximate distance to nearest tidal channel. Column originally named 'TidalChan'.	meters	no_bcodmo_term
nearest_edge_of_sound	Approximate distance to nearest edge of Exuma Sound. Column originally named 'ExSound'.	meters	no_bcodmo_term
substrate_type	Short description of predominant substrate type.	text	no_bcodmo_term
full_census	Were fish of all sizes enumerated during the survey? Y = yes; N = no; note: this value is Y for all rows.	Y or N	no_bcodmo_term
survey	Column originally named 'TimeStep'. BL = first round of pre-treatment surveys (Spring 2009). 1 = first round of post-treatment surveys (Summer 2009). 2 = second round (Fall 2009). 3 = third round (Winter 2010) note: no surveys carried out on plot 1 or strips C or D at CNY; or at plot 2 strip c or D at TRT due to poor weather and visibility conditions. 4 = fourth round (Spring 2010). 5 = fifth round (Summer 2010). 6 = sixth round (Fall 2011). 7 = seventh round (Spring 2011). 8 = no eighth round of surveys conducted due to Hurricane Irene. 9 = ninth round (Fall 2011) note: no surveys carried out on plot 2 strips A, C, or D at NWC; or at plot 1 or 2 strips A, B, C, or D at SEC due to poor weather and visibility conditions. 10 = tenth round (Spring 2012). 11 = eleventh round (Summer 2012).	dimensionless	no_bcodmo_term
year	4-digit year of survey. Local time for the Bahamas (UTC-5).	year	year
month	2-digit month of survey. Local time for the Bahamas (UTC-5).	month	month
day	2-digit day-of-month of survey. Local time for the Bahamas (UTC-5).	day-of-month	day
sample_type	PLOT = 10m x 10m (100m^2) plot; STRIP = 2m x 25m (50m^2) strip transect.	text	sample_type
subsample	Identifies the individual subsample (can take values of 1 or 2 for plots and values of A, B, C, or D for strip transects).	dimensionless	no_bcodmo_term
time_start_local	Time of day of the start of the survey (24-hr clock). Local time for the Bahamas (UTC-5).	HHMM	time_start_local
time_end_local	Time of day at the end of the survey (24-hr clock). Local time for the Bahamas (UTC-5).	HHMM	time_end_local
ISO_DateTime_start	Date/time (UTC) at start of survey formatted to ISO8601 standard. Converted from original date, time, and time zone.	YYYY-mm-ddTHH:MM:SS.ss	ISO_DateTime_UTC
ISO_DateTime_end	Date/time (UTC) at end of survey formatted to ISO8601 standard. Converted from original date, time, and time zone.	YYYY-mm-ddTHH:MM:SS.ss	ISO_DateTime_UTC
species_code	4-letter genus species code (typically first two letters are the first two of the genus and last two letters are the first two of the species).	dimensionless	taxon_code
species	Scientific name of species (Genus species).	text	species
stage	Originally named 'Phase'. N = juvenile or intermediate or fish without distinct post-settlement life stages; T = terminal phase.	dimensionless	stage
count_non_fish	0 if species is a fish; otherwise count of specific invertebrate on particular subsample.	integer	no_bcodmo_term
notes	NONE if no notes associated with observation; otherwise may refer to data entry related or QA/QC related notes or notes about the particular observation (including poor visibility during survey or status of lionfish on LOW treatment reef etc.)	text	no_bcodmo_term
bin	Original name of length bin.	dimensionless	no_bcodmo_term
lenbin_min	Minimum of length bin range.	centimeters	lenbin_min
lenbin_mx	Maximum of length bin range.	centimeters	no_bcodmo_term
count	The integer represents the count of a particular species on a particular subsample falling into the size bin.	integer	count

Status message

Database

Contribute Data

Dataset: reef fish surveys