I have noticed that there are a number of collectors of REEF data here on ScubaBoard. I'm curious how many users of REEF data there are. By that I mean scientists or decision makers that use the data that has been collected and submitted to REEF. Does anyone here fit that description? A primary user of REEF data?
Users of REEF data
- Thread starter Rick Brant
- Start date
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REEF HQ
Diving that Counts!
Hello Rick, thanks for asking.
REEF has been coordinating the Volunteer Fish Survey Program since 1993 as a way for divers and snorkelers to collect data on marine life (initially fishes, in temperate regions, the protocol includes a set list of invertebrates and algae to monitor as well). The program started in south Florida but has expanded all around the world and we now have surveying happening in pretty much every ocean except the Arctics. Volunteers conduct surveys anytime, anywhere they are in the water. There's no required training or experience to be involved. We have standardized survey and training materials available, including hundreds of archived "Fishinars" available for free. The survey data (which includes metadata about the survey incl. when, where, who, environmental variables, etc and the checklist of species seen along with an estimate of abundance with log-scale categories - Single, Few (2-10), Many (11-100), Abundant (>100)) are entered through an online data entry portal. All data are error checked through custom QAQC before passing into the REEF database. Surveyors have an opportunity to achieve experience levels through experience and testing. The REEF database is available to all via summary reports and other queries on the REEF website, and we also provide raw data files to researchers, students, government agencies and other partners upon request (more on that below)
To date, 273,730 REEF surveys have been conducted at 15,848 sites in 11 regions around the world. About 10-12k new surveys are done each year. 16,793 volunteers have contributed to the database over the last 30 years. There's about 1,000 active surveyors per year. All of these numbers are as of today (08/13/22), volunteers enter surveys pretty much every day so the numbers chance constantly.
It's free to participate and the survey method (the Roving Diver Technique) fits right in with a regular dive or snorkel. It's a non-point method (doesn't follow a transect) and doesn't require any special equipment or training. This is different from Reef Check and Reef Life Survey, two other marine life citizen science programs. REEF surveyors typically survey on every dive, and then might participate in a Reef Check or RLS survey once or a few times a year.
So now to the heart of your question - who is using the REEF data (apologies for the background, you might have already known much of the above, but I wanted to provide it for context for other readers)....
As mentioned above, all of the data are processed in close to real time after submission (typically 2-8 weeks). Once in the database, the data are accessible to explore through the REEF Website (www.REEF.org). Surveyors can access their personal lifelist and survey log. Anyone can generate summary reports by geographic location, species, and other variables. The data are used in that way by many for recreational and educational purposes. The bulk of the scientific, conservation, and research applications of the REEF data come from users who have requested raw data files for more detailed analytical analysis.
Each year, we respond to dozens of requests for raw data. Users include academic researchers, government scientists, and others. Many of those requests do not end in publication. However, several publications are typically issued each year that include REEF data, and to date over 100 scientific papers have included REEF data. REEF data have been used in a wide variety of publications and studies, including: stock assessments, tracking of non-native species, discovering new species, regional evaluations, taxonomy, species distributions, and fish behavior.
You can find a full list of publications here:
www.REEF.org/db/publications
Some of the more notable applications of the data have been:
Gravem, SA, WN Heady, VR Saccomanno, KF Alvstad, ALM Gehman, TN Frierson and SL Hamilton 2021. Pycnopodia helianthoides. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.
Heery, EC, AY Olsen, BE Feist, and KP Sebens. 2018. Urbanization-related distribution patterns and habitat-use by the marine mesopredator, giant pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini). Urban Ecosystems. doi:10.1007/s11252-018-0742-1.
Koenig, CC, LS Bueno, FC Coleman, JA Cusick, RD Ellis, K Kingon, JV Locascio, C Malinowski, DJ Murie, and CD Stallings. 2017. Diel, lunar, and seasonal spawning patterns of the Atlantic goliath grouper, Epinephelus itajara, off Florida, United States. Bulletin of Marine Science. 93(2): 391-406.
Tolimieri, N, EE Holmes, GD Williams, R Pacunski, and D Lowry. 2017. Population assessment using multivariate time-series analysis: a case study of rockfishes in Puget Sound. Ecology and Evolution. 7: 2846–2860. doi:10.1002/ ece3.2901.
Thorson, JT, MD Scheuerell, BX Semmens, and CV Pattengill-Semmens. 2014. Demographic modeling of citizen science data informs habitat preferences and population dynamics of recovering fishes. Ecology. doi:10.1890/13-2223.1.
Holt, BG, R Rioja-Nieto, MA MacNeil, J Lupton, and C Rahbek. 2013. Comparing diversity data collected using a protocol designed for volunteers with results from a professional alternative. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.12031.
Stallings, C.D. 2009. Fishery-Independent Data Reveal Negative Effect of Human Population Density on Caribbean Predatory Fish Communities. PLoS ONE 4(5).
Hopefully this answers your question. Feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any other specific questions. I would be happy to put you in touch with a few scientists are currently working with REEF data.
Best,
Christy
christy@REEF.org
*********
Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D. (she/hers)
Co-Executive Director: Science & Engagement
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)
www.REEF.org
Protecting Marine Life Through Education, Service, and Research
REEF has been coordinating the Volunteer Fish Survey Program since 1993 as a way for divers and snorkelers to collect data on marine life (initially fishes, in temperate regions, the protocol includes a set list of invertebrates and algae to monitor as well). The program started in south Florida but has expanded all around the world and we now have surveying happening in pretty much every ocean except the Arctics. Volunteers conduct surveys anytime, anywhere they are in the water. There's no required training or experience to be involved. We have standardized survey and training materials available, including hundreds of archived "Fishinars" available for free. The survey data (which includes metadata about the survey incl. when, where, who, environmental variables, etc and the checklist of species seen along with an estimate of abundance with log-scale categories - Single, Few (2-10), Many (11-100), Abundant (>100)) are entered through an online data entry portal. All data are error checked through custom QAQC before passing into the REEF database. Surveyors have an opportunity to achieve experience levels through experience and testing. The REEF database is available to all via summary reports and other queries on the REEF website, and we also provide raw data files to researchers, students, government agencies and other partners upon request (more on that below)
To date, 273,730 REEF surveys have been conducted at 15,848 sites in 11 regions around the world. About 10-12k new surveys are done each year. 16,793 volunteers have contributed to the database over the last 30 years. There's about 1,000 active surveyors per year. All of these numbers are as of today (08/13/22), volunteers enter surveys pretty much every day so the numbers chance constantly.
It's free to participate and the survey method (the Roving Diver Technique) fits right in with a regular dive or snorkel. It's a non-point method (doesn't follow a transect) and doesn't require any special equipment or training. This is different from Reef Check and Reef Life Survey, two other marine life citizen science programs. REEF surveyors typically survey on every dive, and then might participate in a Reef Check or RLS survey once or a few times a year.
So now to the heart of your question - who is using the REEF data (apologies for the background, you might have already known much of the above, but I wanted to provide it for context for other readers)....
As mentioned above, all of the data are processed in close to real time after submission (typically 2-8 weeks). Once in the database, the data are accessible to explore through the REEF Website (www.REEF.org). Surveyors can access their personal lifelist and survey log. Anyone can generate summary reports by geographic location, species, and other variables. The data are used in that way by many for recreational and educational purposes. The bulk of the scientific, conservation, and research applications of the REEF data come from users who have requested raw data files for more detailed analytical analysis.
Each year, we respond to dozens of requests for raw data. Users include academic researchers, government scientists, and others. Many of those requests do not end in publication. However, several publications are typically issued each year that include REEF data, and to date over 100 scientific papers have included REEF data. REEF data have been used in a wide variety of publications and studies, including: stock assessments, tracking of non-native species, discovering new species, regional evaluations, taxonomy, species distributions, and fish behavior.
You can find a full list of publications here:
www.REEF.org/db/publications
Some of the more notable applications of the data have been:
Gravem, SA, WN Heady, VR Saccomanno, KF Alvstad, ALM Gehman, TN Frierson and SL Hamilton 2021. Pycnopodia helianthoides. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.
Heery, EC, AY Olsen, BE Feist, and KP Sebens. 2018. Urbanization-related distribution patterns and habitat-use by the marine mesopredator, giant pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini). Urban Ecosystems. doi:10.1007/s11252-018-0742-1.
Koenig, CC, LS Bueno, FC Coleman, JA Cusick, RD Ellis, K Kingon, JV Locascio, C Malinowski, DJ Murie, and CD Stallings. 2017. Diel, lunar, and seasonal spawning patterns of the Atlantic goliath grouper, Epinephelus itajara, off Florida, United States. Bulletin of Marine Science. 93(2): 391-406.
Tolimieri, N, EE Holmes, GD Williams, R Pacunski, and D Lowry. 2017. Population assessment using multivariate time-series analysis: a case study of rockfishes in Puget Sound. Ecology and Evolution. 7: 2846–2860. doi:10.1002/ ece3.2901.
Thorson, JT, MD Scheuerell, BX Semmens, and CV Pattengill-Semmens. 2014. Demographic modeling of citizen science data informs habitat preferences and population dynamics of recovering fishes. Ecology. doi:10.1890/13-2223.1.
Holt, BG, R Rioja-Nieto, MA MacNeil, J Lupton, and C Rahbek. 2013. Comparing diversity data collected using a protocol designed for volunteers with results from a professional alternative. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.12031.
Stallings, C.D. 2009. Fishery-Independent Data Reveal Negative Effect of Human Population Density on Caribbean Predatory Fish Communities. PLoS ONE 4(5).
Hopefully this answers your question. Feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any other specific questions. I would be happy to put you in touch with a few scientists are currently working with REEF data.
Best,
Christy
christy@REEF.org
*********
Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Ph.D. (she/hers)
Co-Executive Director: Science & Engagement
Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)
www.REEF.org
Protecting Marine Life Through Education, Service, and Research
OP
Hi Christy,
Thank you for that summary. I did see that list of publications on your website but it's good to get the additional insight. My question was really two-fold, to see how many potential users of REEF data are aware of the existence of the data and also to see how many people are actually using it. I'm looking at collecting data for your site but I want to make sure the data is actually getting used. I have a field marine biologist friend and she was not aware of your data, but that is obviously a sample size of one.
I spent some time looking at the data parsing on your website, specifically I wanted to compare species counts over time for a specific location -- create a graph that shows population counts over the range of collected data. I was not able to find an option to do that. I assume for that one would use the "raw data files" that you mention above and then tabulate the data individually -- is that correct? If so, how is the raw data accessed? Is there any cost involved in accessing the raw data? Is there any sort of an API or use document that describes how to do anything more sophisticated than a simply table request? Thank you.
Thank you for that summary. I did see that list of publications on your website but it's good to get the additional insight. My question was really two-fold, to see how many potential users of REEF data are aware of the existence of the data and also to see how many people are actually using it. I'm looking at collecting data for your site but I want to make sure the data is actually getting used. I have a field marine biologist friend and she was not aware of your data, but that is obviously a sample size of one.
I spent some time looking at the data parsing on your website, specifically I wanted to compare species counts over time for a specific location -- create a graph that shows population counts over the range of collected data. I was not able to find an option to do that. I assume for that one would use the "raw data files" that you mention above and then tabulate the data individually -- is that correct? If so, how is the raw data accessed? Is there any cost involved in accessing the raw data? Is there any sort of an API or use document that describes how to do anything more sophisticated than a simply table request? Thank you.
REEF HQ
Diving that Counts!
Hello Rick,
You are correct that raising awareness about the availability of the REEF data is an ongoing priority and struggle. There are a lot of potential users of the data out there who aren't aware of it (yet! - that's great that your field marine biologist friend now knows about us). We attend scientific conferences and present about the data. And every time a new paper comes out, that definitely helps. But there's always more work to do on that front.
However, to your concern, these data are most certainly used and have repeatedly enabled researchers to answer questions that otherwise couldn't be addressed. A regional example is the recent Critically Endangered listing for the Sunflower Sea Star with the IUCN. REEF provided one of the dozens of datasets included in the analysis and report that led to that ruling, but the proportion of data that came from REEF was significantly higher and from a longer time span and over a larger geographic area than pretty much any other data source available to the researchers. REEF shared data from 32,517 REEF surveys conducted at hundreds of sites between California and Alaska from 1998 to 2019, which included 18,035 records of the Sunflower Sea Star. This represented almost 1/3 of total data used in the analysis.
Another regional example is the rockfish assessment done a while back in WA. The species the NOAA scientists were evaluating are at such low population levels that they are not showing up in more traditional fisheries datasets (catches, dockside sampling, etc). The REEF data provided information that the researchers would not have otherwise had.
We have examples of this over and over. So, I hope you will consider becoming a REEF surveyor. Not only will your data be important, but it will likely enhance your time in the water. We hear from people all the time who have been diving for decades and it's like a whole new world when they start doing REEF surveys.
As far as your request to look at species counts at a specific location over time, you could do this through the REEF reports, a bit manually. Start by doing a Geographic Report for the site of interest (e.g. Geographic Zone Report | Reef Environmental Education Foundation for La Jolla Shores). Then under 'Click for Report Options', change the date range to a given year, re-run the report. Then re-run the report for the other years of interest. You can download the CSV file of each report. It's important to note survey effort in the time-frame, because that will obviously affect species counts if effort is too low. (as an aside, uneven survey effort in space and time is something that needs to be addressed when doing more detailed analysis, but is easily accounted for with certain analytical approaches, you can see more on these in the various publications).
I am happy to provide you with raw data if you want, just send me your request by email. There is no charge. We do not have an API. We prefer that data requests come through us so that we know who is using the data and for what - that's really important information for our volunteers, and our funders
best,
Christy
You are correct that raising awareness about the availability of the REEF data is an ongoing priority and struggle. There are a lot of potential users of the data out there who aren't aware of it (yet! - that's great that your field marine biologist friend now knows about us). We attend scientific conferences and present about the data. And every time a new paper comes out, that definitely helps. But there's always more work to do on that front.
However, to your concern, these data are most certainly used and have repeatedly enabled researchers to answer questions that otherwise couldn't be addressed. A regional example is the recent Critically Endangered listing for the Sunflower Sea Star with the IUCN. REEF provided one of the dozens of datasets included in the analysis and report that led to that ruling, but the proportion of data that came from REEF was significantly higher and from a longer time span and over a larger geographic area than pretty much any other data source available to the researchers. REEF shared data from 32,517 REEF surveys conducted at hundreds of sites between California and Alaska from 1998 to 2019, which included 18,035 records of the Sunflower Sea Star. This represented almost 1/3 of total data used in the analysis.
Another regional example is the rockfish assessment done a while back in WA. The species the NOAA scientists were evaluating are at such low population levels that they are not showing up in more traditional fisheries datasets (catches, dockside sampling, etc). The REEF data provided information that the researchers would not have otherwise had.
We have examples of this over and over. So, I hope you will consider becoming a REEF surveyor. Not only will your data be important, but it will likely enhance your time in the water. We hear from people all the time who have been diving for decades and it's like a whole new world when they start doing REEF surveys.
As far as your request to look at species counts at a specific location over time, you could do this through the REEF reports, a bit manually. Start by doing a Geographic Report for the site of interest (e.g. Geographic Zone Report | Reef Environmental Education Foundation for La Jolla Shores). Then under 'Click for Report Options', change the date range to a given year, re-run the report. Then re-run the report for the other years of interest. You can download the CSV file of each report. It's important to note survey effort in the time-frame, because that will obviously affect species counts if effort is too low. (as an aside, uneven survey effort in space and time is something that needs to be addressed when doing more detailed analysis, but is easily accounted for with certain analytical approaches, you can see more on these in the various publications).
I am happy to provide you with raw data if you want, just send me your request by email. There is no charge. We do not have an API. We prefer that data requests come through us so that we know who is using the data and for what - that's really important information for our volunteers, and our funders
best,
Christy
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