Spatial Distribution of Reef Fish Species along the Southeast US Atlantic Coast Inferred from Underwater Video Survey Data

Bacheler, Nathan M.; Schobernd, Zebulon H.; Berrane, David J.; Schobernd, Christina M.; Mitchell, Warren A.; Teer, Bradford Z.; Gregalis, Kevan C.; Glasgow, Dawn M.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162653

Cited by 24 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…; Bacheler et al. ). Determining which measures of habitat are the most important to the statistical design of a fisheries survey requires careful consideration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In this pilot study, the reef-fish assemblage structure in the Elbow differed significantly relative to the types of reef habitat that were identified through side-scan-sonar imagery. The distribution of fish populations is often related to habitat characteristics ranging from microhabitats (e.g., substrate composition, attached biota) to broad-scale habitat features (e.g., water depth) throughout their range (Anderson and Yoklavich 2007;Purcell et al 2014;Bacheler and Ballenger 2015;Laman et al 2015;Bacheler et al 2016). Determining which measures of habitat are the most important to the statistical design of a fisheries survey requires careful consideration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Visual surveys are less selective than those that use traditional capture gear such as traps (Bacheler et al 2013), trawls (Wells et al 2008), and hooks Parker et al 2016), and they are typically less strongly influenced by depth, bottom relief, or fish behavior (Cappo et al 2003). Visual-based sampling methods used to target reef fishes in the southeastern United States include stereo baited remote underwater video (S-BRUV) arrays (Saul et al 2013;Campbell et al 2015; Thompson et al 2017;Keenan et al 2018), towed cameras (Lembke et al 2017), diver visual surveys (Smith et al 2011;Harford et al 2016), and trap-mounted video cameras (Bacheler et al 2013(Bacheler et al , 2014(Bacheler et al , 2016.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Before incorporating this habitat-classification scheme into reef-fish survey design, the transferability of the observed results to the greater eastern Gulf of Mexico needs further study. At broad spatial scales, the composition and structure of reef-fish assemblages as well as overall species richness and diversity often vary markedly with depth and latitude (Love et al 2009;Zintzen et al 2012;Easton et al 2015;Bacheler et al 2016;Harford et al 2016) and depth-associated patterns may vary regionally (Saul et al 2013). At the species level, many reef-associated fishes exhibit strong ontogenetic differences in depth and habitat preferences; larger individuals typically prefer higher-relief habitats and deeper waters (Sluka et al 2001;Love et al 2009;Bacheler and Ballenger 2015;Laman et al 2015;.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Benthic Habitats, as Derived from Classification of Side‐Scan‐Sonar Mapping Data, Are Important Determinants of Reef‐Fish Assemblage Structure in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2020

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Increasingly restrictive management regulations have greatly reduced the utility of fishery‐dependent data for characterizing temporal changes in the abundance of managed fish populations, so fishery‐independent data are becoming more important for the accurate assessment of stock status. A notable downside to fishery‐independent data is the high cost of conducting surveys, and efforts to maximize survey efficiency are critical given ongoing reductions in agency funding. We conducted a pilot study to explore the utility of classifying side‐scan‐sonar mapping data to provide a practical a priori characterization of reef habitat in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. An analysis of side‐scan‐sonar mapping data identified five distinct reef habitat types (low‐relief hard bottom, mixed hard bottom, fragmented hard bottom, ledges, and potholes) that were subsequently sampled with stereo baited remote underwater video (S‐BRUV) arrays and trap‐mounted GoPro cameras. The permutational analysis of variance indicated that the assemblage structure of reef fish differed significantly (P < 0.01) among all of the pairs of habitats except ledges and fragmented hard bottom; assemblage structure did not differ among cameras (P = 0.45). Overall species richness and diversity were significantly higher in the habitats with greater vertical relief, as were the abundances of several economically and ecologically important reef fishes, although many taxa were observed across all of the habitat types. Benthic habitats that are identified from side‐scan‐sonar mapping data are important determinants of reef‐fish assemblage structure and may prove to be useful as a stratification scheme for reef‐fish surveys, although additional research is necessary to explore the transferability of these results to the rest of the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

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“…; Bacheler et al. ). Determining which measures of habitat are the most important to the statistical design of a fisheries survey requires careful consideration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Benthic Habitats, as Derived from Classification of Side‐Scan‐Sonar Mapping Data, Are Important Determinants of Reef‐Fish Assemblage Structure in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2020

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“…) or habitat data as covariates in models improves precision in abundance trends, particularly for species that are habitat specialists (Bacheler et al. , ), such as Marbled Grouper. Thus, we recommend expansion of optical‐based surveys, whether those are conducted by stationary‐ or vehicle‐based systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status and Trends of Marbled Grouper in the North‐Central Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2019

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Marbled Grouper Dermatolepis inermis were categorized as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1996, and the status of the species was set for review in 2018. Analysis used to support its global threatened status included basic parameters, such as numbers seen in a year and spatial maps of positive observations, but included no statistical approaches to interpret abundance trends. In an effort to improve the understanding of Marbled Grouper status and trends, we used the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program reef fish video survey time series in the northern Gulf of Mexico, USA, to estimate relative abundance, proportion of positive stations, and the impact of habitat variables on fish abundance. Marbled Grouper were consistently observed in low numbers on the Louisiana shelf‐edge banks throughout the survey. Generalized linear mixed models using a negative binomial data distribution showed significant effects for the presence of reef and depth, while the percent coverage of rock was marginally significant. These results indicate that detection and abundance of Marbled Grouper are strongly associated with high rugosity and deep (60–100 m) reef tracts. Interpretation of annual trends was difficult due to high interannual variability, but the data appear to show no detectable trends. Given that the previous classification of near threatened was based primarily on the consistent but rare observation of the species in its preferred habitat on a global basis, and given that the annual indices produced for the northern Gulf of Mexico region were highly variable, we recommend that the current International Union for Conservation of Nature regional status be maintained. This study highlights the utility of optical surveys for collecting data on species that are rare or that are not observed using traditional fisheries sampling gears and also indicates the importance of synchronous collection of habitat information.

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Spatiotemporal dynamics of Atlantic reef fishes off the southeastern U.S. coast

Cao,

Craig,

Damiano

2024

Ecosphere

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Understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of fish species is a central concern in fish ecology and crucial for guiding management and conservation efforts. We constructed a joint species distribution model (JSDM) to simultaneously estimate the spatiotemporal distributions and densities for 21 reef fish species in the southeastern United States (SEUS). The model separately estimates encounter probability and positive density, and accounts for unobserved spatial and spatiotemporal variation using latent factors, where the correlations among species are induced. We applied the model to video data collected from a large‐scale, fishery independent survey. A clustering method was applied to the results of the JSDM to group species based on spatial and spatiotemporal synchrony in encounter probability and positive density. We found strong spatial associations among most of the reef fish species. However, species did exhibit differences in occupied habitat that varied with latitude and/or depth. Within their area of occupied habitat, almost all the species share similar spatial pattern of average density. However, for some species, annual distributions were less correlated with their expected average distributions perhaps due to differing responses to underlying spatiotemporal drivers. Some species show significant declines in abundance, for example, black sea bass, red porgy, and blueline tilefish, while a small number of species showed evidence of shifts in distribution, for example, black sea bass. The findings suggest that spatiotemporal management strategies may be of limited utility for reducing bycatch in these highly mixed reef fisheries due to high spatial correlations in occupied habitat and spatial patterns in density. Species‐specific responses to environmental change may also influence the spatiotemporal structure of reef assemblages. This work suggests management attention is needed for some of the lesser known species as they are showing declining trends in abundance.

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Spatial Distribution of Reef Fish Species along the Southeast US Atlantic Coast Inferred from Underwater Video Survey Data

Cited by 24 publications

References 30 publications

Benthic Habitats, as Derived from Classification of Side‐Scan‐Sonar Mapping Data, Are Important Determinants of Reef‐Fish Assemblage Structure in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico

Benthic Habitats, as Derived from Classification of Side‐Scan‐Sonar Mapping Data, Are Important Determinants of Reef‐Fish Assemblage Structure in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico

Status and Trends of Marbled Grouper in the North‐Central Gulf of Mexico

Spatiotemporal dynamics of Atlantic reef fishes off the southeastern U.S. coast

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