Checklist of coral species Great Astrolabe Reefs, Kadavu, Fiji (1988-1997)

Joan Koven1, Gustav Paulay2, Kelly Brown3

1 Astrolabe Incorporated, 4812V St NW, Washington DC, United States; 2 Guam Marine Laboratory, University of Guam, Mangiola, Guam; 3 USP Marine Collection, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

Corresponding author(s): Joan KovenGustav Paulay, Kelly Brown (kelly.brown@usp.ac.fj)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Koven J, Paulay G (2023): Checklist of coral species Great Astrolabe Reefs, Kadavu, Fiji (1988-1997). v1.1. The University of the South Pacific. Dataset/Checklist. https://ipt.sprep.org/resource?r=checklist_kovan_astrolabe&v=1.1

Abstract

This checklist dataset was compiled by Astrolabe Incorporated to document coral species on the Great Astrolabe reefs in Kadavu, Fiji. 
The authors intended that the checklist provide baseline species records for researchers at the now closed Dravuni Field Research Station that was operated by The University of the South Pacific. The checklist is available at the USP Library, on the online USP Library Aquatic Repository as a scanned document, and now on GBIF for access by a wider audience. 

Keywords: Checklist, Great Astrolabe reef, Kadavu, Fiji, Derivedfromoccurrence

Project details

Project title: Strengthening Process for Invasive Species and Biodiversity Data Mobilisation
Personnel: David  Moverley, Bradley Myer

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.sprep.org/resource?r=checklist_kovan_astrolabe

Taxonomic coverage

Taxonomic ranks
Order: Scleractinia

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: The Great Astrolabe Reefs, Province of Kadavu, Fiji.
Coordinates: 19°18'40.12''S and 18°39'14.59''S Latitude; 178°9'55.02''E and 178°45'30.76''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: January 1, 1988 - January 1, 1997

Methods

Method step description: Coral species identification was made using the following references:
(1)	Veron, J. J., Pichon, M. M. (1976). Scleractinia of Eastern Australia. Parts 1 – 5. Australian Institute of Marine Sciences Monograph Series, Australia Government Publishing Service.
(2)	Hoeksena, B.W. (1989). Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of mushroom corals (Scleractinia: Fungiidae), Zoologische Verhandelingen, 254(1), 1- 295.

To compile this checklist dataset, taxonomic verification was carried out on OpenRefine using: Sistema de Información Sobre Biodiversidad de Colombia -SiB Colombia (2019). Biodiversity data quality Scripts in Open Refine (Version 1.0). https://github.com/SIB-Colombia/data-quality-open-refine/

Study extent description: Coral from the Great Astrolabe reefs in the Province of Kadavu, Fiji are covered by this dataset. Records were compiled from photographs taken between the years 1988 and 1997. 
Sampling description: Photographs of coral  were used to compile the checklist. Only specimens of the family Fungiidae were collected for comparison with specimens at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution. Identification literature was used to determine species names.
Photographs were taken on Nikonos camera using 15mm, 20mm, 28mm and 35mm lenses, with the addition of extension tubes on the 28mm and 35mm lenses in ratios of 1:3, 1:2 and 1:1.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Checklist of coral species Great Astrolabe Reefs, Kadavu, Fiji (1988-1997)
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.sprep.org/archive.do?r=checklist_kovan_astrolabe
Publication date of data: 2023-01-25
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2022-09-01
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Koven, J. F., Paulay, G. (1997). Checklist of coral species Great Astrolabe Reefs, Fiji. Technical Report Series number 97/6. Marine Studies, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. ISSN 1018-2896. http://uspaquatic.library.usp.ac.fj/gsdl/collect/kalenchits_m-moanausp/index/assoc/HASHfd16.dir/doc.pdf