Effects of water quality on non-coral communities: surveys of macroinvertebrates, benthic microalgae, and benthic foraminifera at sites along a water quality gradient in Aua, American Samoa in 2022

This metadata record describes the non-coral bioindicator datasets funded by the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) Project Number 31303 to study effects of land-based sources of pollution (LBSP) in Aua, American Samoa. In September 2022 Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) scientists of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) flew into American Samoa to survey 18 sites along a water quality gradient off of Aua. This specific metadata record refers to the quantitative analysis of benthic foraminifera, benthic microalgae, and macroinvertebrates from samples collected between 9-28 September 2022. Samples were preserved in the field, and brought back to the NOAA Inouye Regional Center (IRC) and analyzed via microscopy. Collection methods for each bioindicator were as follows:

(1) Benthic foraminifera: Sediment samples were collected (Sept 26, 2022) using a small sediment corer (60 ml syringe with the tip removed and a stopper placed there instead). Only the top 3 cm were retained. Under the microscope, benthic foraminifera were picked out of the sediment and identified.

(2) Benthic microalgae: Microscope slides were deployed (Sept 11-26, 2022) on the seafloor at each site for 2 to 3 weeks and the benthic microalgae that settled will be fixed and preserved in Lugol's solution and analyzed. Microalgae included diatoms (pennate and centric), dinoflagellates, chlorophyta, and cyanobacteria.

(3) Macroinvertebrates: Plastic scouring pads were deployed (Sept 11-26, 2022) and attached to the substratum via zip-ties for 2 to 3 weeks. The scouring pads were removed after the settlement period, all plastic zip-ties and additional waste were removed from the reef. Macroinvertebrates that settled on the scouring pad were placed into sampling jars and fixed and preserved with 4% formalin, and subsequently analyzed under the microscope.

Land-based sources of pollution negatively impact reef communities. Our goal here was to identify non-coral bioindicators for poor water quality. Benthic foraminifera, benthic microalgae, and macrinvertebrates are all know to respond to poor water quality. We set out to assess the impact of poor water quality on non-coral reef communities in Aua.

NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) funds research under the Land-Based Sources of Pollution. This mission (Project number 31303) sought out to examine the impacts of LBSP on reef communities (coral and non-coral) in Aua, a high priority watershed in American Samoa. This mission builds on prior assessment and monitoring surveys of benthic reef communities conducted in Faga'alu and Vatia bays in 2012, 2015, and 2022 to address National and Jurisdictional goals to reduce the impacts of LBSP in local priority watersheds. Together with periodic monitoring, this coral reef community baseline for Aua reef will allow scientists to quantify temporal changes in the condition and integrity and enable Jurisdictional and Federal resource managers to make informed decisions pertaining to the protection and preservation of critical habitats. The overall effort required to evaluate the effectiveness of management strategies is significant and requires close coordination between local and Federal efforts.

Samples were collected by NOAA divers Bernardo Angel-Vargas, Joy Smith, and Juliette Verstaen. Samples were processed via microscopy by Ro Lee, Candace Alagata, and Joy Smith.

Data dictionary for datasets of counts of major taxonomic groups for benthic foraminifera, benthic microalgae, and macroinvertebrates.

Benthic foraminifera: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/68093

Benthic microalgae: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/69918

Macroinvertebrates: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/69917

While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.

The extent of the 18 survey sites of non-coral communities in the bay off of Aua, Tutuila, American Samoa.

Not applicable

Not applicable

NOAA Ecosystem Science Division (ESD) Data Sharing Recommendations, version 9.0 updated August 12, 2015:

ESD welcomes the opportunity to collaborate on research issues contributing to the scientific basis for better management of marine ecosystems. ESD has a very diverse set of field activities that generates large volumes of data using an array of data collection protocols.

The following recommendations are for your consideration as you use this data:

1) Data analyses should take all field exigencies into account. The most effective way to do this would be active collaboration with ESD principal investigators.

2) In all presentations, product releases, or publications using data generated by ESD, proper acknowledgement of both ESD and the individuals responsible for data collection is expected. Citing the DOI (if available) is preferred, a non-DOI example is listed below.

3) If you collect or generate data for the same study areas, ESD requests that you share relevant information on complimentary data collections.

4) Those receiving data are strongly urged to inform the ESD Data Management Team of any errors and discrepancies that are discovered during the course of using these data. They are further urged to bring to the attention of the Team all problems and difficulties encountered in using these data. This information is necessary in order to improve the collections and to facilitate more efficient and economical data processing and retrieval. The users are asked to supply copies of any missing data that may be located, and to provide information as to significant subsets and special aggregations of data that are developed in using the material provided.

Example citation:

"This publication makes use of data products provided by the Ecosystem Science Division (ESD), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with funding support from the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP). The analysis and interpretations presented here are solely that of the current authors.”

Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

None

Please cite NOAA Fisheries, Ecosystem Science Division (ESD) when using the data.

Example:

Ecosystem Science Division; Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, 2023: Effects of Water Quality on Non-coral Communities: surveys of macroinvertebrates, benthic microalgae, and benthic foraminifera at sites in Aua, American Samoa in 2022, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/68092.

None

None

Settlement intruments were deployed at the beginning of the field trip, and retrieved at the end of the field trip. All samples were placed in sample jars, preserved, and returned to the laboratory for microscopy analysis.

All microscopic organisms were identified and counted from the sample. The replicates samples were collected per site.

Obviously erroneous data have been removed from the final dataset. Missing values are indicated with a blank.

The same methods of data collection were appliedto all replicate samples collected

The data is quality controlled by NOAA PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) personnel after the data is generated from laboratory results, prior to and after the data are migrated to the PIFSC enterprise Oracle database, and once again when the data are submitted to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

NOAA IRC and NOAA Fisheries ITS resources and assets.

Collection methods for each bioindicator were as follows:

(1) Benthic foraminifera: Sediment samples were collected using a small sediment corer (60 ml syringe with the tip removed and a stopper placed there instead). Only the top 3 cm were retained. Under the microscope, benthic foraminifera were picked out of the sediment and identified.

(2) Benthic microalgae: Microscope slides were deployed on the seafloor at each site for 2 to 3 weeks and the benthic microalgae that settled will be fixed and preserved in Lugol's solution and analyzed. Microalgae included diatoms (pennate and centric), dinoflagellates, chlorophyta, and cyanobacteria, and were identified and counted under the microscope.

(3) Macroinvertebrates: Plastic scouring pads were deployed and attached to the substratum via zip-ties for 2 to 3 weeks. The scouring pads were removed after the settlement period, all plastic zip-ties and additional waste were removed from the reef. Macroinvertebrates that settled on the scouring pad were placed into sampling jars and fixed and preserved with 4% formalin, and subsequently identified to major taxonomic categories and counted under the microscope.