ALBERT

Description: Environmental conditions and anthropogenic impacts are key influences on ecological processes and associated ecosystem services. Effective management of Tonga's marine ecosystems therefore depends on accurate and up-to-date knowledge of environmental and anthropogenic variables. Although many types of environmental and anthropogenic data are now available in global layers, they are often inaccessible to end users, particularly in developing countries with limited accessibility and analytical training. Furthermore, the resolution of many global layers might not be sufficient to make informed local decisions. While the near-shore marine ecosystem of Tonga is extensive, the resources available for its management are limited and little is known about its current ecological state. Here we provide a marine socio-environmental dataset covering Tonga's near-shore marine ecosystem as compiled from various global layers, remote sensing projects, local ministries, and the 2016 national census. The dataset consists of eleven environmental and six anthropogenic variables summarized in ecologically relevant ways, spatially overlaid across the near-shore marine ecosystem of Tonga. The environmental variables selected include: bathymetry, coral reef density, distance from deep water, distance from land, distance from major terrestrial inputs, habitat, land area, net primary productivity, salinity, sea surface temperature, and wave energy. The anthropogenic variables selected include: fishing pressure, management status, distance to fish markets, distance from villages, population pressure, and a socioeconomic development index based on population density, growth, mean age, mean education level, and unemployment. This extensive and accessible dataset will be an essential tool for future assessment and management of marine ecosystems in Tonga.

Description: This data represents coral reef ecological surveys conducted in the Kingdom of Tonga from 2016-2018. 375 sites were surveyed across the Tongatapu, Ha'apai and Vava'u island groups by Patrick Smallhorn-West, Dr. Daniela Ceccarelli and Karen Stone. Data includes reef fish belt transects and benthic photoquadrats or point intercept data. In addition, the values of a range of socio-environmental predictor variables are also included in this data set. All surveys were conducted on SCUBA. Metadata on depth, location, transect length, width etc. are included in the data files. Socio-environmental spatial data is available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.904800

Description: This data represents coral reef ecological surveys conducted in the Kingdom of Tonga from 2016-2018. 375 sites were surveyed across the Tongatapu, Ha'apai and Vava'u island groups by Patrick Smallhorn-West, Dr. Daniela Ceccarelli and Karen Stone. Data includes reef fish belt transects and benthic photoquadrats or point intercept data. In addition, the values of a range of socio-environmental predictor variables are also included in this data set. Two files are uploaded: Tonga Reef Surveys Raw Data 2016-2018 contains the raw reef fish data. Tonga Reef Surveys Transect Data 2016-2018 contains the transect level values. All surveys were conducted on SCUBA. Metadata on depth, location, transect length, width etc. are included in the data files. Socio-environmental spatial data is available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.904800