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    • Reefs for the future: Resilience of coral reefs in the main Hawaiian Islands

    Metadata Updated: March 16, 2024

    Declining health of coral reef ecosystems led scientists to search for factors that support reef resilience: the ability of reefs to resist and recover from environmental disturbance. Scientists recently identified 11 measurable factors that affect the resilience of coral reefs (McClanahan et al., 2012). Reef resilience factors include characteristics of the coral assemblage, populations of fish that live on the reef, land use practices, and water temperature variability. These factors were used by NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) to conduct a quantitative assessment of the resilience potential of reefs across the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI).

    Locations of Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) surveys conducted by NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) from 2010 to 2013 were used to designate study units called "georegions". Watersheds upstream of georegions were then grouped to delineate the area that could affect adjacent reefs through pollution, runoff, and sedimentation. REA surveys provided data to evaluate biological/ecological resilience factors, and external data sources were used to inform physical and environmental factors not directly measured by CREP. Five of the resilience factors can be directly influenced by local management. Data for each factor was compiled, normalized, and averaged to produce a composite resilience score for each georegion.

    In all, twenty-nine study areas were analyzed across the MHI. Lowest composite resilience scores were earned by reefs near densely populated areas on O`ahu, while highest scores were earned near relatively sparsely populated areas of other islands. The reef resilience framework data package described herein comprises the original data sources used in this analysis, the intermediary and final data resulting from the analysis, the process documentation, and the 2-page PIFSC Special Publication published in 2014 (SP-15-001).

    Data can be accessed via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive, accession #0128219.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Date February 29, 2024
    Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
    Metadata Updated Date March 16, 2024
    Reference Date(s) 2014 (publication)
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NMFS PIFSC

    Other Data Resources

    Graphic Preview

    Final summary map from 2-page summary document.

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date February 29, 2024
    Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
    Metadata Updated Date March 16, 2024
    Reference Date(s) 2014 (publication)
    Responsible Party (Point of Contact, Custodian)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:23147
    Access Constraints Cite As: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, [Date of Access]: Reefs for the future: Resilience of coral reefs in the main Hawaiian Islands [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/23147., Access Constraints: None, Use Constraints: Please cite NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) when using these data. Example Cite as: Schumacher, Brett; Coral Reef Ecosystem Program; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (2015). Resilience of coral reefs in the main Hawaiian Islands (NCEI Accession 0128219). NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Unpublished Dataset. [access date], Distribution Liability: While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.
    Bbox East Long -154.7
    Bbox North Lat 22.4
    Bbox South Lat 18.8
    Bbox West Long -160.4
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned
    Graphic Preview Description Final summary map from 2-page summary document.
    Graphic Preview File http://data.nodc.noaa.gov/coris/data/NOAA/nmfs/810_Reef_Resilience/BrowseGraphic.jpg
    Graphic Preview Type JPG
    Harvest Object Id 03645302-3fc0-4534-8465-adaed8590729
    Harvest Source Id c0beac72-5f43-4455-8c33-1b345fbc2dfe
    Harvest Source Title NMFS PIFSC
    Licence NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose.
    Lineage The principal analytical task of this project was to calculate eleven metrics of "reef resilience" as identified by McClanahan et al. (2012). These metrics account for various aspects of the coral reef ecosystem, and are derived from several data streams, as described in the process steps.
    Metadata Language eng
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-160.4, 18.8], [-154.7, 18.8], [-154.7, 22.4], [-160.4, 22.4], [-160.4, 18.8]]]}
    Progress completed
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 2013-01-01
    Temporal Extent End 2014-12-01

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