The Coral Triangle Atlas: an integrated online spatial database system for improving coral reef management

Annick Cros; Nurulhuda Ahamad Fatan; Alan White; Shwu Jiau Teoh; Stanley Tan; Christian Handayani; Charles Huang; Nate Peterson; Ruben Venegas Li; Hendra Yusran Siry; Ria Fitriana; Jamison Gove; Tomoko Acoba; Maurice Knight; Renerio Acosta; Neil Andrew; Doug Beare

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096332

The Coral Triangle Atlas: an integrated online spatial database system for improving coral reef management

PLoS One. 2014 Jun 18;9(6):e96332. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096332. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Annick Cros¹, Nurulhuda Ahamad Fatan², Alan White¹, Shwu Jiau Teoh², Stanley Tan², Christian Handayani³, Charles Huang⁴, Nate Peterson⁵, Ruben Venegas Li², Hendra Yusran Siry⁶, Ria Fitriana⁷, Jamison Gove⁸, Tomoko Acoba⁸, Maurice Knight⁹, Renerio Acosta¹⁰, Neil Andrew², Doug Beare²

Affiliations

¹ Indo-Pacific Division, The Nature Conservancy, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.
² Natural Resources Management, Worldfish, Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia.
³ Coral Triangle Program, WWF-Indonesia, South Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁴ Coral Triangle Program, WWF-United States, Washington, DC, United States.
⁵ Indo-Pacific Division, The Nature Conservancy, Queensland, Australia.
⁶ Coordination and External Affairs, Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs and Food Security, Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁷ The Coral Triangle Center, Bali, Indonesia.
⁸ Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.
⁹ Coral Triangle Support Partnership, WWF-Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁰ Regional Environment Office, United States Agency for International Development Regional Development Mission for Asia, Bangkok, Thailand.

Abstract

In this paper we describe the construction of an online GIS database system, hosted by WorldFish, which stores bio-physical, ecological and socio-economic data for the 'Coral Triangle Area' in South-east Asia and the Pacific. The database has been built in partnership with all six (Timor-Leste, Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea) of the Coral Triangle countries, and represents a valuable source of information for natural resource managers at the regional scale. Its utility is demonstrated using biophysical data, data summarising marine habitats, and data describing the extent of marine protected areas in the region.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anthozoa / physiology*
Asia, Southeastern
Atlases as Topic
Conservation of Natural Resources
Coral Reefs*
Databases, Factual*
Environmental Monitoring*
Geographic Information Systems
Humans
Internet
Pacific Ocean

Grants and funding

The CT Atlas (http://ctatlas.reefbase.org) was developed as a partnership between WorldFish, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The design and development of the CT Atlas was supported primarily by the U.S. Government through the 5-year (2009–2013) Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP) in cooperation with other implementing partners of the US Coral Triangle Support Program (USCTI). The production of the current manuscript was also supported by the CGIAR Research Programs on: Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); and Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.