Services:
Habitat assessments

MER conducts surveys of intertidal habitats ranging from mesotidal soft-bottom clam flats to macrotidal rocky shorelines using measured transects, quadrats, still photography, and quantitative sampling to describe substrate composition and biological community composition.  Subtidal surveys in shallow water (<80 ft) are conducted using diver-held high-definition video cameras, bottom-deployed measured transect lines, and diver-collected sediment cores for grain size, chemistry, and infauna analyses.  In deeper water (>80 ft) video surveys are performed using remote, tethered real-time cameras towed along GPS-established transects with video recorded at the surface either on tape or DVD. Deep-water bottom samples are collected using Ponar-type benthic grabs.

Coral reef community, Turks and Caicos, 2009