[Coral-List] Examining Global Abundance Data of Marine Invertebrates

[Stuart Ross]

*Research Aims:*

Macro-invertebrates are an important fisheries resource in many tropical
coral reef countries, and they are of course protected in marine protected
areas. However, for most areas, the effect of MPAs on macro-invertebrates –
and even more generally the status of macro-invertebrate populations – is
largely unknown. We are developing a project to assess these questions. The
first step is that we are putting together a database of marine
invertebrate abundance data from a variety of sources (Academics, NGOs,
etc.) to map coral reef invertebrate distributions and densities. We
currently have collated 175,000 records across 8,500 sites in 74
countries from our data and open access sources but wish to expand our
database prior to conducting analysis. This study is conducted as for the
MSc research project of S Ross.


Our objectives are to:

1. Produce a worldwide database of coral reef marine invertebrate
species and map their abundances globally, now and over the past decades

     2.  Assess whether there is an effect of marine protected areas on
macro-invertebrate densities

3. Identify potential gaps in global efforts in collecting quantitative
coral reef invertebrate data



*What we are seeking:*

 We are looking for geo-referenced coral reef invertebrate abundance data,
collected with any method and for any macro-invertebrate species. If you
have collected such data and are interested in contributing to this
project, please let us know and we can talk about data sharing agreements
etc.



*What We Can Offer:*

If you have data that you would like to contribute, you would be
acknowledged as a data provider in any subsequent publications. This could
be in the form of co-authorship or through reference to you and your
organisation in the acknowledgement section, depending on your preference
and level of contribution. We of course also really welcome your
intellectual contribution to the study, not only the data!



*What survey data would be required:*

Transect coordinates

Survey method

A list of targeted species

Invertebrate count data

Year

Depth (preferable)



Please get in touch if you are interested in contributing or have any
comments/questions.

Stuart Ross (University of Leeds) gy19sr at leeds.ac.uk

Maria Beger (University of Leeds) M.beger at leeds.ac.uk