REEF fish survey data collected from Bonaire in 2015 were used to help evaluate the impact of terrestrial degradation on nearby coral reefs, specifically investigating the link between vegetation ground cover and tree biomass index to coral cover, fish communities and visibility. The authors found a positive relationship between ground cover and coral cover below 10 m depth, and a negative relationship between tree biomass index and coral cover below 10 m.
The Grouper Moon Project is always looking for new and/or better ways of accurately estimating the number of spawning Nassau Grouper at the aggregation sites being monitored. In 2014, we tested the use of a split-beam echosounder as a tool for surveying the abundance and size of fish at the aggregation site; the results of the study are detailed in this peer-reviewed paper. We found that the echosounder performs fairly well at providing an index of abundance, although the absolute accuracy of the method was not sufficient to replace other survey methods (e.g.
From 1958-67, Walter A. Starck II conducted marine biological studies in the area of Alligator Reef, off of Islamorada in the Florida Keys, these included extensive fish collecting. In 1968, he published A list of fishes of Alligator Reef.
Over the half-century since the original Alligator Reef survey, there have been great advances in the taxonomy of Greater Caribbean reef fishes, with numerous changes in scientific names and classification. As part of the update these changes are addressed so as to bring the list to current status.
In this paper, authors use data regarding where REEF divers did or did not encounter three species of fisheries importance: red snapper, red grouper, and gag grouper. They then combined these data with 36 other data sets, each sampling different areas of the Gulf of Mexico, and created distribution maps for use in ecosystem models of the Gulf of Mexico. These distribution maps picked up fish hotspots that are not identifiable by any individual data set, highlighting the complementary nature of the REEF data.
The study used REEF's Volunteer Fish Survey Project database to produce a new map of marine fish biodiversity across the Caribbean and tropical western Atlantic. The work, performed by scientists from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution & Climate in Denmark and the Marine Biological Association, studied REEF’s extensive data base collected by our volunteer surveyors to produce the map and find that fish biodiversity is strongly linked to sea temperatures.
Estimating a population’s growth rate and year-to-year variance is a key component of population viability analysis (PVA). However, standard PVA methods require time series of counts obtained using consistent survey methods over many years. The authors of this study used REEF data along with two other fisheries datasets to evaluate the long-term trends of rockfish in Puget Sound, Washington State. The time-series analysis was performed with a multivariate autoregressive state-space (MARSS) model.
This paper is the introduction to a special issue of the journal, Marine Ecology Progress Series, titled "Invasion of Atlantic coastal ecosystems by Pacific lionfish". The issue is a compilation of papers presented at the 2015 special session of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute meeting, which was co-organized by REEF and partner organizations.
Sea star wasting disease has devastated sea star populations on the West coast from Mexico to Alaska. The disease broke out in 2013, causing massive death of several species of sea stars. Infected animals develop lesions that eat away tissue, with limbs dropping off as the animals die. The disease has been linked to a virus, although environmental factors may also be involved. This study presents an analysis of REEF survey data on several asteroid species collected by divers in the Salish Sea over the last 15 years.
The authors of this study examined drivers of public involvement and success at invasive removal in tournaments (derbies) to catch Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) in the Western Atlantic. Information on 69 lionfish derbies held in the wider Caribbean region from 2010 to 2015 was compiled, including REEF Lionfish Derbies. The authors found that the number of lionfish caught increased with effort and with time since lionfish were established in an area.
The US Pacific Northwest and western Canada experienced a mass mortality of sea stars between 2013 and 2015. The sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), a previously abundant predator, began to show signs of a wasting syndrome in early September 2013, and dense aggregations disappeared from many sites in a matter of weeks. REEF surveyors certainly noticed, and the decline was reflected in the REEF database.