Open data access

Research design & methodology

We study coral reef ecology, health and resilience status, with focus on diversity and abundance of fish populations and benthic species as well as substrate lifeforms composition. We are tracking coral health and response to stressors (such as pollution, climate change, fishing activities and other human / tourists interactions, etc.). We study resilience to those pressures and the effectiveness of conservation action in minimizing them.

The monitoring method used employs the use of 20meter long transects in a stratified random sampling strategy that recognizes four depth ranges (1-3, 4-7, 9-13, 15-19). The depth ranges selected were chosen based on the spatial distribution of indicator life forms, and the difference in indicator densities at different depths.

Conducting a sufficient number of replicates is important to collect an ecologically representative dataset and ensure that all present life forms are accounted for. For each of our sites, monitoring is therefore conducted across the 4 depth ranges and repeated a calculated number of time to ensure high accuracy.

It is important to note that our methodology focuses on coral reef area only. This differs from a traditional mapping of an area. While recording data, results illustrated by our database (such as substrate composition or fish diversity) are to be understood as in the coral reef area only of the survey site. Sand, Seagrass, or other type of ecosystems often present in a site in large patches, have different ecology and are observed separately to not bias the data. These will only be represented in our data when present in small amounts inside a continuous coral reef dominated area.

We provide maps of each survey site in our full reports allowing to understand the full composition of all ecosystems presents and their sizes to give context and complement our coral monitoring dataset. This allows to determine the size of coral reef in our survey site.

Questions?

You have any questions regarding our data collection? Feel free to contact us. Please remember that the data presented on the website are simplified version of our results that should be taken with caution, read the full report or contact us if you have any question.

You would like to support our monitoring efforts?