Quantifying Habitat Utilization Patterns of U.s.caribbean and Hawaii Reef Fish to Define Marineprotected Area Boundaries:the Coupling of Gis & Ecology

INTRODUCTION NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Biogeography Program conducts mapping, research, and monitoring of tropical coral reef ecosystems to support wise management of coastal marine resources (Monaco et al. 2001). A biogeographic approach is utilized to integrate information on the distribution and quality of habitats and associated reef fish to define species affinities for specific habitats (Monaco et al. 2001, Kendall and Monaco 2002). Defining the strength of coupling between species and habitat is facilitated by integrating spatial statistics, ecological models and indices that are visualized in geographical information systems (GIS) (Monaco et al. 1998, Gill et al. 2001). The biogeographic approach enables implementation of a suite of reef fish ecology studies (RFES) that are underway in the US Caribbean and the main eight Hawaiian Islands (MHI). High-resolution digital benthic habitat maps derived from aerial photography and hyperspectral imagery (HSI) have been completed for the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and for 60% of the MHI (Kendall et al. 2001, Coyne et al. 2003). The GIS-based maps are classified to 27 levels of habitats (e.g., seagrass, patch reef) and these habitats are located in cross-shelf zones (e.g., back reef).