Shallow-water benthic habitats of Northeast Puerto Rico (NEPR) and Culebra Island

This dataset provides a map of benthic habitat types, including live coral cover present off northeast Puerto Rico and Culebra Island, a region selected by local managers as a priority area for habitat mapping. The map covers 744 km2 of shallow-water habitats at a high spatial resolution (the smallest habitat features mapped are 10x10 meters) and includes 250 km of shoreline for the region's 210 islands and rock outcrops. This includes the shallow habitats inside the current boundaries of the Northeast Natural Reserves, as well as surrounding areas. The habitat map, generated using a combination of semi-automated classification and visual interpretation techniques of remote sensing imagery (WV-2 satellite imagery collected 2011-2013, hydrographic data collected 1900-2012 and aerial photos collected 2007-2010) and underwater videos (2013-2014), represents the first digital map that describes nearly 100% of the seafloor in the study area. This work updates previous NOAA maps generated by Kendall et al. (2001), which covered 22% of the mapped region (78% of the study area was not previously mapped). The new fine-scale habitat map provides spatially-explicit information on habitat types, biological cover, and live coral cover extending over a large and biologically complex area. This work was conducted by NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in collaboration with the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources of Puerto Rico (DRNA) and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Mayaguez.

Kendall, M.S., C.R. Kruer, K.R. Buja, J.D. Christensen, M. Finkbeiner, R.A. Warner and M.E. Monaco. 2001. Methods Used to Map the Benthic Habitats of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS CCMA 152. Silver Spring, MD.