Reef Check Belt Transect

Fish and Invertebrates

Site Name: Country/Island:

Depth: Team Leader:
Date: Time:

Enter the number of animals or impacts level you observed in the white boxes - just as you
did on your field sheet

Fish
Data recorded by:

0-20m 25-45m 50-70m 75-95m Total Mean SD

Butterflyfish 0 ### ###
Haemulidae 0 ### ###
Snapper 0 ### ###
Barramundi cod 0 ### ###
Humphead wrasse 0 ### ###
Bumphead parrot 0 ### ###
Parrotfish 0 ### ###
Moray eel 0 ### ###

Grouper sizes (cm):

30-40 cm 0 ### ###
40-50 cm 0 ### ###
50-60 cm 0 ### ###
>60 cm 0 ### ###
Total # grouper observed 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Invertebrates
Data recorded by:

0-20m 25-45m 50-70m 75-95m Total Mean SD

Banded coral shrimp 0 ### ###
Diadema urchin 0 ### ###
Pencil urchin 0 ### ###
Collector urchin 0 ### ###
Sea cucumber 0 ### ###
Crown-of-thorns 0 ### ###

Indo-Pacific 2006
 Reef Check Belt Transect
Fish and Invertebrates

Triton 0 ### ###

Lobster 0 ### ###

Giant clam sizes

<10 cm 0 ### ###
10-20 cm 0 ### ###
20-30 cm 0 ### ###
30-40 cm 0 ### ###
40-50 cm 0 ### ###
>50 cm 0 ### ###
Total # giant clams observed 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Impacts: Coral Disease/ Bleaching//Trash/Other

0 = none, 1 = low, 2 =
medium and 3 = high 0-20m 25-45m 50-70m 75-95m
Coral damage: Boat/Anchor 0 ### ###
Coral damage: Dynamite 0 ### ###
Coral damage: Other 0 ### ###
Trash: Fish nets 0 ### ###
Trash: General 0 ### ###
Bleaching (% of coral population) 0 ### ###
Bleaching (% of colony) 0 ### ###
Coral Disease (% of coral
affected if yes) 0 ### ###
Rare animals sighted (type/#)

Comments:

Indo-Pacific 2006
 Reef Check Fish Graphs for <<RC reef name, depth and date>>
Mean Abundance +- SE

Mean Fish Abundance For <<RC Reef name, depth and date>>

12

10

0
Mean Abundance +- SE

Mean Size Class of Grouper Observed at << RC Reef name, depth and date>>

12

10

0
30-40 40-50 50-60 >60
Size Classes (cm)
 Reef Check Invertebrates Graphs for <<RC reef name, depth and date>>
Mean Abundance +- SE

Mean Abundance Of Invertebrates For << RC Reef name, depth and date>>

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

Mean Size Class for Giant Clams at << RC Reef name, depth and date>>

12

10
Mean Abundance +- SE

0
<10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 >50
Size Classes (cm)
 8

Mean Abundance +- S
6

0
<10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 >50
Size Classes (cm)

Reef Check Impacts, Bleaching and Disease Graphs for <<RC Reef name, depth and
date>>
Impact rank +-SE

Incidence Of Impacts For <<RC Reef name, depth and

date>> 0 = None
1 = Low
2 = Medium
3 = High
10
7.5
5
2.5
0

Estimated Percentage Of Coral Population Estimated Percentage Of Coral Colony

Affected By Bleaching For << RC Reef Surface Affected By Bleaching For << RC
name, depth and date>> Reef name, depth and date>>

% Bleached
% Not Bleached % Bleached
% Not Bleached
 Estimated Percentage Of Coral Population
Affected By Disease For << RC Reef name,
depth and date>>

% Diseased Coral
% Healthy Coral
HOW TO USE THE DATA SHEET
1. Enter your data into the white boxes on the DATA worksheet. You will find that you can't type
anywhere else because the rest of the sheet is locked.

2. Put the number of counted animals and level of impacts in the relevant white boxes. Please
remember to put ZERO when you didn't see anything. Seeing nothing is still important data. If a
box is left blank we will assume you weren't looking for that animal or impact.

3. Please double check that all of the data are entered in correctly from the spreadsheet.

4. We'd also like you to double check that all of the codes were entered in correctly from the
spreadsheet.

5. When you have finished entering the data, this page is ready to print

HOW TO ANALYSE THE DATA

1. As you enter your data, graphs are produced simultaneously and automatically on the
GRAPHS worksheet.

2. All you have to do is enter the site name, date and depth of the survey by replacing the words
in blue on the graph title. You can then change the blue writing to black by selecting the text and
using the text colour button in the formatting toolbar.

3. This page is ready to print, or you can select the graphs you want and copy them into a Word
document.

HOW TO SEND THE DATA

1. First you need to name the data sheet. Please use our standard format:

site name, date (dd-mm-yy), datasheet type (site, belt, or line), depth (s or m for shallow, 2 – 6 m,
or medium >6 – 12 m). Site description sheet should just have: site name date (dd-mm-yy) site

For example, if we did a survey at Paradise Reef on December 13, 2002 at 3m and 11m:
Paradise 13-12-02 site
Paradise 13-12-02 belt s
Paradise 13-12-02 belt m
Paradise 13-12-02 line s
Paradise 13-12-02 line m

Note that there are 5 files associated with a complete Reef Check survey done at two depths at
one site.
2. Please send these sheets to rcdata@reefcheck.org

HOW TO INTERPRET THE GRAPHS

The graphs show the abundance of the various indicator species or impacts. The bars on each of
the column graphs are called "error bars" and represent the Standard Error (SE). The SE tells us
to what degree our data represents the real world (how accurately our sample mean estimates
the population mean). Where SE is low, the data are precise and closely represent the true
population of where you sampled on the coral reef. Where SE is high, the data do not precisely
represent the real world. To increase precision, and decrease your SE, more replicates (more
Reef Check transects) can be done.

Where these SE error bars overlap with one another, the differences in species or impact
abundance are not statistically significant (regardless of how different the means may be).
Where these SE error bars do not overlap, the differences in species or impact abundance MAY
be statistically significantly different.

Another useful measure to help us interpret our data is the Standard Deviation (SD), calculated
on the DATA worksheet. The SD tells us how widely the distribution of observations are
distributed around the mean - or how variable our sample is. However, the SD does not tell us
how closely the sample mean estmates the population mean.

If it is important for you to determine if differences are statistically significantly different, you will
need to do further statistical tests e.g. t-test or ANOVA for data with a normal distribution, and
non-parametric tests such as Kruskal-Wallis or Mann-Whitney U test for data with non-normal
distributions. Should statistical differences be found, post hoc tests may be required to determine
where statistical differences lie.

Bear in mind that what we are most interested in is whether changes on the coral reef are
ecologically significant, and in some circumstances it may be enough just to look at the graphs.

For mobile invertebrates and reef fish, the replication of a single Reef Check survey once per
year is generally considered too low for a meaningful stock assessment at one site (but when
repeated at many sites, the snapshot becomes very meaningful). Therefore results should be
considered snapshot unless more frequent surveys can be conducted. A suggested rule of thumb
would be to carry out three replicate surveys at each site (i.e. three repeat surveys of one
transect deployment) to first determine variability, and then to resurvey each site at quarterly
intervals. See the section on "Long term monitoring" on our website www.reefcheck.org
Useful Publications:
For a really basic, but very good, stats primer, try "The Statistical Sleuth - A Course in Methods of
Data Analysis", by F. Ramsey and D. Schafer, 2002, Duxbury Press.

For ANOVAs, try "Experiments in ecology: their logical design and interpretation using analysis of
variance" by A. J. Underwood, 1997, Cambridge University Press.

For general stats, "Experimental Design and Data Analysis for Biologists", by G. P. Quinn and M.
J. Keough, 2002, Cambridge University Press.
 Site Name: Country/Island:
Depth: Team Leader:
Date: Time:

Fish
Data recorded by:
0-20m 25-45m 50-70m 75-95m

Butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae)

Sweetlips (Haemulidae)

Snapper (Lutjanidae)
Barramundi cod (Cromileptes
altivelis)
Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus
undulatus )
Bumphead parrotfish
(Bolbometopon muricatum )
Other parrotfish (Scaridae) only >20
cm

Moray eel (Muraenidae)

Grouper (Serranidae) sizes (cm)

(count ONLY >30cm): 0-20m 25-45m 50-70m 75-95m

30-40 cm

40-50 cm

50-60 cm

>60 cm

Total # grouper

Rare animals sighted (type/#)

Comments:
 Site Name: Country/Island:
Depth: Team Leader:
Date: Time:
Data recorded by:
Invertebrates 0-20m 25-45m 50-70m 75-95m

Banded coral shrimp (Stenopus hispidus)

Diadema urchins (including Echinothrix
spp.)
Pencil urchin (H. mammilatus)
Collector urchin (Tripneustes spp.)
Sea cucumber (Holothuridae)
Crown of thorns (Acanthaster plancii)
Triton (Charonia tritonis)
Lobster ( Palinuridae)

Giant clam (Tridacna sp.) sizes 0-20m 25-45m 50-70m 75-95m

<10 cm
10-20 cm
20-30 cm
30-40 cm
40-50 cm
>50 cm
Total # giant clams observed

Impacts: Coral Disease/

0 = none, 1 = low, 2 = medium and 3 = high
Bleaching/Trash/Other
0-20m 25-45m 50-70m 75-95m
Coral damage: Boat/Anchor
Coral damage: Dynamite
Coral damage: Other
Trash: Fish nets
Trash: General
Bleaching (% of coral population)
Bleaching (% of colony)
Coral Disease (% of coral affected if yes)
Rare animals sighted (type/#)

Comments: