Comparative analysis of visual census techniques for highly mobile, reef-associated piscivores (Carangidae)

SynopsisVisual census techniques applicable to coral reef-associated fishes are reviewed and the results of field tests using six (three transect-based and three point-based) to estimate the density of carangids at Carter Reef, Great Barrier Reef, are presented. Data are analyzed with respect to the effects of observers on fishes seen, observer biasses, precision of the estimates and, as far as possible, accuracy of the estimates. Transects generate estimates of population density and structure different from those of point-based estimates. Various point-based census methods, however, generate density estimates consistent with one another and are generally more precise than transect-based methods. The results of the field study obviously cannot be generalized to other quite different types of reef fishes. The problems we encountered and a review of the techniques used to census reef fishes visually in the past, however, suggest that: (1) interval counts, such as Rapid Visual Census techniques, are likely to be inaccurate and difficult to compare; (2) for species with high probabilities of detection, instantaneous area counts appear to be the most effective way to estimate densities, whereas cryptic species are best censused using instantaneous variable distance point counts, and (3) strip transects may often be less efficient than line transects, due to inconstant levels of subject detectability.

[1]  James C. Kroll,et al.  The Role of Insectivorous Birds in Forest Ecosystems , 1979 .

[2]  Kenneth H. Pollock.  Capture-recapture models: A review of current methods, assumptions and experimental design , 1980 .

[3]  J. Emlen.  Estimating Breeding Season Bird Densities from Transect Counts , 1977 .

[4]  R. Rausch,et al.  Accuracy and Precision of Aerial Moose Censusing , 1974 .

[5]  J. Ogden,et al.  Territorial Behavior of the Striped Parrotfish Scarus Croicensis Bloch (Scaridae) , 1973 .

[6]  C. E. Gates.  Simulation Study of Estimators for the Line Transect Sampling Method , 1969 .

[7]  L. Jawad,et al.  ECOLOGY OF FISHES ON CORAL REEFS , 2016 .

[8]  R. Thresher.  Social behavior and ecology of two sympatric wrasses (Labridae: Halichoeres spp.) off the coast of Florida , 1979 .

[9]  Stephen L. Granholm.  Bias in Density Estimates Due to Movement of Birds , 1983 .

[10]  Michael J. Risk,et al.  Fish Diversity on a Coral Reef in the Virgin Islands , 1972 .

[11]  R. Thresher.  Habitat effects on reproductive success in the coral reef fish, Acanthochromis polyacanthus (Pomacentridae) , 1983 .

[12]  M. Keenleyside.  The behaviour of Abudefduf zonatus (Pisces, pomacentridae) at Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef , 1972 .

[13]  C. Smith,et al.  Small rotenone stations : a tool for studying coral reef fish communities. American Museum novitates ; no. 2512 , 1973 .

[14]  F. Ramsey,et al.  Estimating population densities from variable circular plot surveys , 1979 .

[15]  E. Chave,et al.  Ecological Aspects of the Distributions of Fishes at Fanning Island , 1974 .

[16]  L. Cook,et al.  Estimating the Size of Animal Populations , 1982 .

[17]  G. Pyke.  Analysis of an instantaneous census method for heathland birds , 1983 .

[18]  P. Ehrlich,et al.  The Community Structure of Coral Reef Fishes , 1981, The American Naturalist.

[19]  R. D. Clarke.  Habitat distribution and species diversity of chaetodontid and pomacentrid fishes near Bimini, Bahamas , 1977 .

[20]  F. Yates,et al.  Sampling Methods for Censuses and Surveys , 1950 .

[21]  H. Odum,et al.  Trophic Structure and Productivity of a Windward Coral Reef Community on Eniwetok Atoll , 1955 .

[22]  C. Smith,et al.  Succession and stability in fish communities of dome-shaped patch reefs in the West Indies. American Museum novitates ; no. 2572 , 1975 .

[23]  W. Shields.  AVIAN CENSUS TECHNIQUES: AN ANALYTICAL REVIEW , 1979 .

[24]  A. Gronell.  Courtship, Spawning and Social Organization of the Pipefish, Corythoichthys intestinalis (Pisces: Syngnathidae) with Notes on two Congeneric Species , 1984 .

[25]  J. Emlen.  Population Densities of Birds Derived from Transect Counts , 1971 .

[26]  B. Luckhurst,et al.  Analysis of the influence of substrate variables on coral reef fish communities , 1978 .

[27]  R. Thresher,et al.  Male success, courtship complexity and patterns of sexual selection in three congeneric species of sexually monochromatic and dichromatic damselfishes (Pisces: Pomacentridae) , 1983, Animal Behaviour.

[28]  D. Jones,et al.  FIELD TESTS OF STRIP CENSUS METHODS , 1974 .

[29]  James E. Hines,et al.  Remarks on the use of mark-recapture methodology in estimating avian population size , 1981 .

[30]  E. S. Reese.  Duration of Residence by Coral Reef Fishes on "Home" Reefs , 1973 .

[31]  L. Fishelson,et al.  Ecology and behavior of Anthias squamipinnis (peters, 1855) (Anthiidae, Teleostei) in the coral habitat of eilat (Red Sea) , 1973 .

[32]  Richard T. Reynolds,et al.  A Variable Circular-Plot Method for Estimating Bird Numbers , 1980 .

[33]  R. W. Hiorns,et al.  The mathematical theory of the dynamics of biological populations : based on a conference organised by the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications in association with the Institute of Biology , 1975 .

[34]  P. Sale,et al.  Precision and accuracy of visual census technique for fish assemblages on coral patch reefs , 1981, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[35]  Graeme Caughley,et al.  Experiments in Aerial Survey , 1976 .

[36]  W. Johnson,et al.  Feeding Niche Separation in a Guild of Tropical Reef Fishes (Holocentridae) , 1983 .

[37]  J. Barra,et al.  Recent Developments in Statistics , 1978 .

[38]  G. Caughley.  Bias in Aerial Survey , 1974 .

[39]  S. Nilsson.  Methods of Estimating Bird Population Densities during the Winter , 1974 .

[40]  A. B. Williams.  The Composition and Dynamics of a Beech-Maple Climax Community , 1936 .

[41]  L. L. Eberhardt,et al.  Transect Methods for Population Studies , 1978 .

[42]  David R. Anderson,et al.  Line transect estimation of bird population density using a Fourier series , 1981 .

[43]  Byron J. T. Morgan,et al.  Estimating Numbers of Terrestrial Birds. , 1981 .

[44]  J. Kimmel.  A new species-time method for visual assessment of fishes and its comparison with established methods , 2004, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[45]  J. Bardach.  On the Movements of Certain Burmuda Reef Fishes , 1958 .

[46]  E S Reese,et al.  A comparative field study of the social behavior and related ecology of reef fishes of the family Chaetodontidae1)2). , 2010, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie.

[47]  B. Russell,et al.  CORAL REEF FISH COMMUNITIES: UNSTABLE, HIGH-DIVERSITY SYSTEMS?' , 1978 .

[48]  J. Randall.  Tagging reef fishes in the Virgin Islands , 1962 .

[49]  J. Roughgarden,et al.  A Technique For estimating the Size of Lizard Populations , 1979 .

[50]  Dm Williams,et al.  Structure of Fish Communities on Outer Slopes of Inshore, Mid-Shelf and Outer Shelf Reefs of the Great Barrier Reef , 1983 .

[51]  G. Caughley,et al.  Analysis of vertebrate populations , 1977 .

[52]  Alan Stuart,et al.  Basic ideas of scientific sampling , 1963 .

[53]  David R. Anderson,et al.  Wildlife Monographs: Estimation of Density from Line Transect Sampling of Biological Populations , 1981 .

[54]  Graham H. Pyke,et al.  Optimal Foraging: A Selective Review of Theory and Tests , 1977, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[55]  J. T. Moyer,et al.  Population Structure, Reproductive Behavior and Protogynous Hermaphroditism in the Angelfish. , 1978 .

[56]  G. D. Amman,et al.  A Comparison of Methods for Censusing Woodpeckers in Spruce‐Fir Forests of Colorado , 1960 .

[57]  David R. Anderson,et al.  Estimation of Density from Line Transect Sampling of Biological Populations. , 1982 .

[58]  L. Slobodkin,et al.  The Effect of the Cleaner-Fish Labroides dimidiatus on the Point Diversity of Fishes on the Reef Front at Eilat , 1974, The American Naturalist.

[59]  W. B. Yapp,et al.  The Theory of Line Transects , 1956 .

[60]  A. Winsor.  Sampling techniques. , 2000, Nursing times.

[61]  D. Roberts,et al.  An empirical test of biases in the rapid visual technique for species-time censuses of reef fish assemblages , 1982 .

[62]  V. E. Brock,et al.  A Preliminary Report on a Method of Estimating Reef Fish Populations , 1954 .

[63]  J. Hirata,et al.  A Comparison of Two Visual Survey Techniques for Fish Populations , 1980 .

[64]  P. Sale,et al.  Correction for bias in visual transect censuses of coral reef fishes , 1983, Coral Reefs.

[65]  Ganapati P. Patil,et al.  Sampling Biological Populations. , 1981 .

[66]  D. Rasch,et al.  Seber, G.A.F.: The estimation of animal abundance and related parameters. Griffin, London 1973, 1. Aufl. XII, 506 S., 34 Abb., 116 Tab., £ 12,— , 1974 .