Reef Life Survey (RLS) around New Zealand region: Reef fish dataset

Occurrence Observation
Latest version published on 9 August 2018
Publication date:
9 August 2018
Published by:
No organisation
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 25,882 records in English (649 KB) - Update frequency: irregular
Metadata as an EML file download in English (8 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (8 KB)

Description

Reef Life Survey is designed to develop and resource a network of skilled recreational divers for rapid and cost-effective assessment of the state of the inshore marine environment at the global scale. The project uses standardised underwater visual census methods employed by trained SCUBA divers to survey fish and invertebrate species and to record habitat type using photo quadrats - this dataset refers to the reef fish survey component only.The dataset generated by recreational divers provides a national framework for monitoring the state of the inshore environment and the identification of those threats and locations of greatest conservation concern. The project also increases awareness and interest by the recreational diving community in marine issues, and enhanced scientific capacity of personnel in regional areas.This dataset is a subset of the whole collection for the New Zealand and south western Pacific region only. For the full record, visit http://reeflifesurvey.com/reef-life-survey/survey-data/

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 25,882 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Edgar, GJ and Stuart-Smith, RD (2017): Reef Life Survey (RLS): Reef Fish. v1.0. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Dataset/Occurrence. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=reef_life_fish&v=1.0

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has not been registered with GBIF

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation

Contacts

Graham Edgar
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
  • Associate Professor
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania (UTAS)
  • Private Bag 14-901
Hobart
Tasmania
AU
Kevin Mackay
  • Metadata Provider
  • Marine Database Manager
NIWA
  • Private Bag 14-901
6241 Wellington
New Zealand
NZ
Rick Stuart-Smith
  • Author
  • Research Fellow
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Hobart
Tasmania
AU

Geographic Coverage

New Zealand and south western Pacific Ocean

Bounding Coordinates South West [-60, -105], North East [0, 160]

Sampling Methods

RLS applies globally standardised visual census methods used and developed in over 20 years of shallow reef biodiversity research. These involve divers recording fish and invertebrate species seen along underwater transects using underwater paper and a pencil. Although not high-tech, when undertaken by experienced surveyors, these allow coverage of species not able to be recorded by other methods, and are cost and time-effective. Photographs are also taken of the coral or seaweed cover on each survey. The complete methods cover the majority of plants and animals > 2.5 cm which make up the life of rocky and coral reefs.

Study Extent New Zealand and south western Pacific Ocean (taken from a global dataset)

Method step description:

  1. Data entry is completed via specially-designed Excel templates which contain species and site lists for specific regions.

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Edgar, GJ and Stuart-Smith, RD, “Systematic global assessment of reef fish communities by the Reef Life Survey program”, Scientific Data, 1 Article 140007. doi:10.1038/sdata.2014.7 ISSN 2052-4463 (2014)

Additional Metadata

marine, harvested by iOBIS

Alternative Identifiers https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=reef_life_fish