Project Title: Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ecosystems: An integrated database and information management system (DIMS)
Task Title: OCS Reef Ecology
Task Principal Investigators: Buck Albert, R. Allen Brooks, Kenneth Sulak
Partners/Collaborators and Affiliations: Federal and state agencies and academic institutions involved in the Gulf of Mexico region.
Introduction: The Coastal Ecology & Conservation Research Group at the USGS Florida Integrated Science Center, Gainesville, Florida, has been conducting ecological research on OCS hard-bottom and sand bank areas.
Some of the specific objectives which have been addressed in the northern Gulf of Mexico include:
- Mapping of potential hard-bottom areas both east and west of the DeSoto Canyon using a high-resolution multibeam mapping system (HRMBS),
- Mapping of natural sand-bank areas in the western Gulf using a high resolution side-scan sonar system,
- Determining the community structure of fish and epifaunal assemblages on hard-bottom and natural sand bank features,
- Determining the sources of nutrients driving the system and define the trophic linkage among dominant fish and megafaunal invertebrate taxa on hard-bottom and natural sand bank features,
- Determining life history aspects of dominant forage base species on hard-bottom and natural sand bank features,
- Determining the spatial arrangement of fish spawn and recruitment.
Objective: The goal of the DIMS for the Gulf of Mexico region is to provide a comprehensive collection of consistent geological, biological, hydrological, geographical, and ecological spatial information through a database driven Internet Mapping System. This task will facilitate the establishment of the DIMS by linking the system to the CEC Group’s archived ecological information.
Approach: Task members will be in close contact with DIMS administrators to facilitate database development in terms of northern Gulf of Mexico ecological research on hard-bottom and sand bank features. Task members will provide geospatial data sets and complimentary metadata.
Benefits: The initiation of DIMS will allow the sharing and accessibility of consistent Gulf-wide geospatial data sets. This information will benefit researchers, resource managers, policy makers, and the general public and provide a synthesis of ongoing research.
Products: This task will provide the project with ecological information on fish and invertebrate communities within the northern Gulf of Mexico. The product will include geospatial data, metadata, and synthesis information.
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