NRAS Conservation - Natural Resources Assessments Surveys

Methods | Surveys in the Marshall Islands

 

Name

Data collected

Method

Coral and fish biodiversity

Record presence - absence (corals) and semi-qualitative abundance (fish) for all species

Timed swims by experts

Line intercept transects for coral and benthos

Records of distance since interception, percent cover

4 x 50m line, life form, genera and target species level of identification

Belt transects for invertebrates

Counts of target invertebrates

4 x 50m line, 5m width, target species identification

Belt transects for fish (ID, size and abundance)

Fish counts, commercially important species, size estimation

4 x 50m line; length - biomass conversion

Algae density

Percent cover and semi-quantitative abundance for major species

Algae quadrats (25 x 25 cm)

Macrofauna time swims

Counts of sharks, rays, napoleon wrasses, giant groupers, tunas off transects, size estimation

30' time swims

Reef health transects

Counts of Acanthaster planci, (Crown- of- thorns starfish), Drupella sp., dead coral and bleached and diseased coral

4 x 50m line, target species level of identification

Reef Check

Global volunteer reef health assessment scheme (www.reefcheck.org)

Low detail assessment, ideal for community participation and training. Details see website.

Sites connectivity

Target species of damselfish

Genetic analysis of different populations of a species from different areas and atolls

 

   

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