Iliana Chollett, Smithsonian Institution

Marine habitat surveys in Honduras

Iliana Chollett, Smithsonian Institution Andres Alegria, Centro de Estudios Marinos September 2016

HND_marine_habitat_surveys Type: point vector data Datum: WGS84 EPSG: 4326 Extent: 15.122-17.419 N; 82.581-88.015W

Description: this layer contains information on 374 point surveys of marine benthic habitats carried out in Honduras. The information was collated and summarized on a numeric database (csv file), a shapefile and a google earth file (Figure 1). All input coordinates were assumed in WGS84 datum (datum not given by data sources). Data was recorded ‘as is’ and any errors in original data (e.g. misplaced coordinates) were left as the original database indicated. Data with suspected erroneous location, however, were flagged (field ‘flag’, see Table I below).

The database is intended to be comprehensive in extent and include all information available in the country. The database is not intended to be detailed in content but a quick reference to information available in the area with pointers to data sources indicating where to obtain further information. All source information is available in the folder “Data_sources/”. The database can be continuously updated as new information becomes available.

The fields included in the file (Table I) are related to ID, location, date, information useful for habitat classification (geographic zone, geomorphological structure and type of biological cover, as per Table II), depth, rugosity, coral cover, methods for gathering the last two variables, and information on data source. Values without information were indicated as “NA”.

Figure 1. In situ surveys conducted along the Honduran Caribbean contained in the spatial database HND_marine_habitat_surveys Table I. Information (fields) collected in database Field Description ID Unique identifier per dataset, site and date ID_dataset Unique identifier per dataset Data_source Short description of the dataset source Latitude Latitude in decimal degrees by data provider Longitude Longitude in decimal degrees by data provider Code Site code given by data provider Site_name Site name given by data provider Area Geographic area name Date Date of survey, if a range available in source document, first date given Geog_zone Geographic zone habitat category, per Zitello et al. 2009 (Table II) Geom_structure Geomorphological structure habitat category, per Zitello et al. 2009 (Table II) Biol_cover Biological cover habitat category, per Zitello et al. 2009 (Table II) Depth_m Depth in meters Rugosity Rugosity Coral_cover Coral cover (%) Methods Method used in the field to collect rugosity and coral cover information Reference Full reference of data source or data files Internal_provider Name of contact who provided the data A flag of “0” indicates no obvious issues with the coordinates of the dataset. A flag of “1” Flag indicates issues with coordinates, either missing seconds or coordinates falling in land Notes Any other relevant information

Table II. Habitat, zone classification according to Zitello et al. (2009) Geographic zone Geomorphological structure Biological cover Land Rock outcrop Algae Salt pond Boulder Live coral Shoreline intertidal Aggregate reef Coralline algae Lagoon Individual patch reef Mangrove Reef flat Aggregate patch reefs Seagrass Back reef Spur and groove No cover Reef crest Pavement Unknown Fore reef Pavement with sand channels Bank/shelf Reef rubble Escarpment Rhodoliths Channel Unconsolidated sediment Dredged Unknown Unknown

Description of the datasets included

(1) AGRRA 2006 – 61 sites along Bay Islands, Cayos Cochinos, Tela and Puerto Cortes Data extracted from report (Fonseca 2006) Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: coral Also in report: additional sampling (time, number of surveyors, transects, quadrats) and biotic information (colonies per transect, recruits, dominant corals, cover of main benthic groups, number of damselfish gardens and Diadema, relative abundance of fishes) Source file: Fonseca_2006_AGRRA.pdf Notes:  Their field ‘Geomorphology’ was a mixture of both geographic zone and geomorphological structure, therefore the fields are mix and match.

(2) AGRRA 2009-2012 – 69 sites along Bay Islands, Tela, Cayos Cochinos and Swan Islands Data extracted from AGRRA source Excel files Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: coral Also in database: other data collected by the AGRRA protocol Source folder: 2012 AGRRA Products-MAR/ Notes:  Their field ‘Geomorphology’ was a mixture of both geographic zone and geomorphological structure, therefore the fields are mix and match.  These files (obtained at a later date) also included data from 2006, which I didn’t use because I had already included that information from dataset 1.  Data was extracted from the books ‘ReliefBySite’ and ‘CoralCoverBySite’

(3) AGRRA 2013-2014 – 33 sites along Swan Islands, Tela and Cayos Cochinos Data extracted from Excel file Internal provider: Ian Drysdale Site main biological cover: coral Also in file: summaries for other data collected by the AGRRA protocol Source file: Honduras Sites for Iliana Nov 2015.xlsx Notes:  Their field ‘Geomorphology’ was a mixture of both geographic zone and geomorphological structure, therefore the fields are mix and match.

(4) SAM 2005 – 10 sites with coordinates in Cayos Cochinos and Utila Data extracted from source file with description of sites Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: coral, seagrass, mangrove Also in database: for reef sites: benthic point intercept data; coral species data (diameter, height, mortality, diseases and bleaching); fish species and length category data. For seagrass sites: biomass; leaf index. For mangrove sites: species; structure; seedlings; salinity Source folder: SAM_2005/

(5) Drysdale 2015 – 5 sites along Trujillo Data extracted from report (Drysdale 2015) Internal provider: Ian Drysdale Site main biological cover: coral Also in report: Data summaries of AGRRA surveys, but because they are not by site it’s not possible to extract specific values. Source file: Drysdale_2015_Reporte Evaluacion Arrecifes Trujillo.pdf

(6) Alegria and Perez 2015 – 26 sites along Cuero y Salado Data extracted from report (Alegria and Perez 2015) Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: coral, algae, no cover Also in report: relative rugosity (low/medium/high) Source file: Arrecifes Cuero y Salado (DRAFT-AA-DICO7).docx

(7) Alegria and Perez 2007 – 14 sites along Tela Data extracted from report (Alegria and Perez 2007) Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: sand Source file: Alegria_2007_BahiadeTela.doc

(8) WWF Media Luna - 6 sites along Media Luna Reef (Misquito Cays) Data extracted from report (Rodriguez and Cupul 2009) Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: coral Also in report: fish species present, fish biomass, cover of main benthic groups, density of urchins and lobsters Source file: Rodriguez_2009_WWF_MediaLuna.pdf Notes  Values for rugosity and depth were extracted from a figure

(9) SI Misquito Cays – 14 sites along the Misquito Cays Data extracted from summary excel files Internal provider: Stephen Box (summary coral cover) and Iliana Chollett (coordinates and depth) Site main biological cover: coral Also in excel file: percent cover main benthic groups Source files: Miskito_2013_fieldtrip_coordinates.xlsx; Miskito_2013_Steve_field_averages.xlsx Notes:  Complete AGRRA surveys were conducted at each sites but summary data only has coral cover. Other data in very raw format is available in folder “Miskito_2013_AGRRA/”

(10) Hay 1984 – 2 sites in the Misquito Cays Data extracted from paper (Hay 1984) Internal provider: Iliana Chollett Site main biological cover: coral Also in paper: sea urchin density, herbivory rates Source file: Hay_1984_grazing_caribbean_reefs.pdf Notes:  Coordinates in paper in degrees and minutes, no seconds (indicated in the ‘notes’ field), Therefore flag=1

(11) PMAIB 2000 – 82 sites along the Bay Islands Data extracted from report (Bouchon et al. 2000) Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: coral and seagrass Also in file: unprocessed CARICOMP data for stations (fish abundance, benthic cover by group for reefs and new leaves, old growth, old standing crop, productivity, turnover and number of shoots for seagrass beds) Source file: 2000 CARICOMP (PMAIB).pdf Notes:  Many depths given in ranges, annotated the mean, and range in the ‘notes’ field.  Zone “outer reef slope” was substituted by “fore reef”. “outer reef slope (wall)” was substituted by “outer reef slope”. “reef front and reef flat” was substituted by “reef flat”. These edits are reflected in the “notes” field

(12) PMAIB 2008 -38 sites along the Bay Islands Data extracted from report (Portillo 2008) Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: coral Source file: 2008 CARICOMP Honduras comparacion.pdf Notes  No explicit dates for samplings, just that they were collected between 2007 and 2008  Zone translations: “Meseta arrecifal” =“reef flat”; “Pendiente externa Arrecifal” = “Fore reef”; “Pendiente externa Arrecifal (pared)” = “Fore reef”  A Geog_zone of ‘pinnacle’ was added to the categories described in Table II  No raw data in report, but raw excel files for sites G8, R1, R9 and U1 in folder “2008 CARICOMP Honduras/”  Geomorphological maps for three small areas are presented in Fig 13 and 48

(13) CCC 2001 – 14 sites along Utila Data extracted from report (Young et al. 2001) Internal provider: Andres Alegria Site main biological cover: coral Source file: 2001 CCC Utila Reef Chek Report.pdf Also available in report: cover of other benthic classes, coral species richness, diversity and evenness, mean abundance of fish and invertebrates

Notes – desirable but not obtained so far  AGRRA 2014 data for the Bay Islands, missing from database sent by Ian Dryesdle  Drysdale 2015 locations for attempted AGRRA sites, where reefs were not found in Trujillo  Drysdale 2015 data on coral cover and rugosity, not available in report  Roger Flores data for Omoa (available according to Andres)  AGRRA 2015 and 2016 – requested to Mayra

Notes – Documents revised but information not included in the database (all in folder “Data_sources_not_used/”  Report by Perez 2007 supplied by Andres Alegria with data for three sites in the Swan Islands. The coordinates come in a weird format (neither geographic nor UTM). Source file: arrecife coralino de islas del cisne –completo.doc  KMZ file ‘Acropora (AMATELA).kmz’ supplied by Andres Alegria – with point data and number of Acropora colonies per point along Punta Sal (Bahia de Tela)  Report by Enoc Burgos “2011 Humedales Trujillo Guaimoreto.pdf” with information on substrate type and biological cover (e.g. sand, algae mats, sponges, coral) on 7 transects along the Trujillo coast of about 700 m each. Interesting information – Check section 8- but is not georeferenced (maps and photos are provided though)  Reportf on Coral Cay’s Conservation mapping of Utila, because there is no raw data (file “2001 CCC Utila Habitat Mapping.pdf”). If data looks interesting, I could contact the first author, but note that this was produced by volunteers  The PMAIB collected ortofotos for all the islands (I have not been able to get information on exact source details though), which are available. If you want to have a copy let me know.

References Bouchon C, Y Bouchon-Navaro, S de Lavigne, M Louis, W Thompson. 2000. Los ecosistemas marinos y costeros de las islas de la Bahia. Informe Tecnico Preliminar No AMC 01. Proyecto Manejo Ambiental de las Islas de la Bahia. 104 pp. Drysdale 2015. Proyecto impulsando el manejo integrado del Refugio de Vida Silvestre Laguna de Guaimoreto en Trujillo, Honduras. Reporte 15p. Alegria A, H Perez. 2007. Obtención de Muestras de Arena en Bahía de Tela. Reporte presentado a O Torres y S Romero. 6 p. Alegria A, C Perez. 2015. Exploración de arrecifes coralinos en el Refugio de Vida Silvestre Barras de Cuero y Salado. Reporte CEM. 11 p. Fonseca A. 2006. Rapid Reef Assessment of Guatemala and Honduras sites in the MAR region towards the identification of bleaching resilient and resistant reefs. TNC report 86 p. Hay ME. 1984. Patterns of fish and urchin grazing on Caribbean coral reefs:Are previous results typical? Ecology 65:446–454 Perez HI. 2007. Arrecife Coralino en Swan Islands, Honduras. Instituto Hondureño de Turismo y la Dirección de Biodiversidad Report. 12 p. Portillo P. 2008. Complemento al diagnostic Arrecifal y studio temporal de las estaciones de monitoreo Arrecifal de West End Wall, Roatan y Turtle Harbour, Utila (1999-2002/2007- 2008). Programa de Manejo Ambiental de las Islas de la Bahia. 167 pp. Purkis L. 2015. Summary report of Satellite mapping of morphological and benthic habitats for the Eastern Honduras Cays and Banks. Smithsonian Institution, Fort Pierce. 24 pp. Rodriguez FA, AL Cupul. 2009. Evaluacion de las habitats arrecifales coralinos en el arrecife de Media Luna, Honduras. WWF report 49 p. Young S, A Harborne and P Raines. 2001. Summary of Coral Cay Conservation’s reef check data from Utila, Honduras. Coral Cay Conservation Ltd. 44 p. Zitello AG, LJ Bauer, TA Battista, PW Mueller, MS Kendall, ME Monaco. 2009. Shallow-water benthic habitats of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 96. Silver Spring, MD. 53 p.