Reliability and utility of citizen science reef monitoring data collected by Reef Check Australia, 2002-2015.
Reef Check Australia (RCA) has collected data on benthic composition and cover at >70 sites along >1000km of Australia's Queensland coast from 2002 to 2015. This paper quantifies the accuracy, precision and power of RCA benthic composition data, to guide its application and interpretation. A simulation study established that the inherent accuracy of the Reef Check point sampling protocol is high (<±7% error absolute), in the range of estimates of benthic cover from 1% to 50%. A field study at three reef sites indicated that, despite minor observer- and deployment-related biases, the protocol does reliably document moderate ecological changes in coral communities. The error analyses were then used to guide the interpretation of inter-annual variability and long term trends at three study sites in RCA's major 2002-2015 data series for the Queensland coast.
Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB #3, Townsville MC, QLD 4810, Australia; Reef Check Australia, PO Box 13204, George St, Brisbane, QLD 4003, Australia; Museum of Tropical Queensland, 78-102 Flinders St, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia. Electronic address: t.done@aims.gov.au.
Terence
T
Done
Reef Check Australia, PO Box 13204, George St, Brisbane, QLD 4003, Australia; Remote Sensing Research Centre, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
Chris
C
Roelfsema
Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; MantaWatch, 20-22 Wenlock Road, London, N1 7GU, United Kingdom.
Andrew
A
Harvey
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Laura
L
Schuller
Coral Reef Alliance, 1330 Broadway, Suite 1602, Oakland, CA 94612, USA.
Jocelyn
J
Hill
Environmental Research Institute, University of Highlands and Islands, Thurso, UK.
Marie-Lise
ML
Schläppy
Reef Check Australia, PO Box 13204, George St, Brisbane, QLD 4003, Australia.
Alexandra
A
Lea
Reef Check Australia, PO Box 13204, George St, Brisbane, QLD 4003, Australia.
Anne
A
Bauer-Civiello
Reef Check Australia, PO Box 13204, George St, Brisbane, QLD 4003, Australia.
Jennifer
J
Loder
D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D001315:Australia; D003256:Community Participation; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011793:Queensland; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
Benthos; Citizen science; Coral monitoring; Great Barrier Reef, subtropical reefs