This data set contains data from visual surveys by snorkelers using handheld GPS units to map extant live colonies of the threatened corals Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis in the upper Florida Keys. Appropriate habitat strata were targeted and prioritized from habitat maps in 2005. An initial survey was conducted in 2005-2007 of these reef areas. Follow-up surveys are being conducted in 2013-2015 to assess potential substantial changes in distribution and/or abundance in the same reef areas.

This data set consists of an ArcView shapefile set that contains locations of sampled coral reef fish species at the National Marine Sanctuary along the Florida Keys. The dataset contains information about 5 classes of coral reefs, 216 fish species, and 6 benthic habitat.

This data release contains time-series photographs taken of corals and coral habitats in the Florida Keys between 1959 and 2015 at Carysfort Reef and Grecian Rocks (a total of six sites). The original intent was to show coral reef recovery after Hurricane Donna devastated the area in 1960. Corals, especially elkhorn and staghorn coral, grew prolifically after the storm until the late 1970s, then began to decline, with the maximum period of decline centered around 1983 and 1984. These time-series photographs, showing the same individual coral colonies year after year, document the decline in coral health observed at these locations, mirroring patterns seen region-wide across the western Atlantic. A selection of the photographs was previously published (in low resolution) in Lidz and others (2006), wherein findings and conclusions related to these data were discussed. Lidz, B. H., Reich, C. D., Peterson, R. L., and Shinn, E. A. (2006). New maps, new information: Coral reefs of the Florida Keys. Journal of Coastal Research, 22(2), 260-282, https://doi.org/10.2112/05A-0023.1

Temperature loggers were deployed at various monitoring sites off the upper Florida Keys where other ecological studies were underway, most focused on aspects of Acropora spp. status or ecology. Hobo Tidbit® or Pendant® loggers were secured to the substrate at a site and were programmed to record temperature every thirty minutes. In most cases loggers were exchanged every 3-4 months. Gaps in the data exist where loggers failed or were lost. Data collection began in 2003 and is ongoing at certain sites. The time ranges vary at each site. Sites include reef tract and patch reef sites from as far north as Turtle Rocks to as far south as Little Conch Reef.