The Marine Reserve of Reunion Island (RNMR) was created in 2007. In order to measure success of management goals, several methods of monitoring fish and coral populations are used. Two protocols are used for monitoring  fish populations : Belt transects and Timed swim. Two protocols are used for monitoring coral communities : Random swim to evaluate biodiversity and photo-quadrats along transect to evaluate the abundance of each benthic category. For this last protocol, photoquadrat are analyzed via CPCe method (Coral Point Count with excel extension).

CPCe is a visual basic software designed to calculate statistical coral coverage over a specified area. These images are being assigned with spatial random points for user’s further identification. It can also perform both image calibration and area analysis of the benthic features, and has the ability to automatically generate analysis in Microsoft Excel. Customization options include user-specified coral/substrate codes and data point shape, size, and color. For this study, many benthic categories are analyzed and they are described into this file. Datas are stored in the french database "BD Recif" (developped by the french Institute : Ifremer).

P0 campaign  : began before the establishment of the reserve until the first years following the establishment (from 2004 to 2010) – 184 benthic categories were searched, and 170 were actually observed.

P1 campaign : started in 2013 and ended in 2017– 197 benthic categories were searched, and 128 were actually observed

P3 campaign : realized in 2021 – 102 benthic categories are listed and observed (be careful, do not rely on this list to know which categories are searched)

For further informations about all the monitoring (fish and benthos protocols) and the results, please contact RNMR (Report reference : Bigot L., Bruggemann H., Audineau L., Bureau S., Chabanet P., Cauvin B., Dijoux G., Durville P., Guillaume M.M.M, Haas J., Hans R., Mulochau T., Penin L., Rungassamy T., Wickel J. (2022). Point 2 du suivi de l’effet réserve sur les peuplements ichtyologiques et benthiques récifaux de La Réserve Naturelle Marine de La Réunion - Etat des lieux 14 ans après la création de la RNMR. Rapport final UR / UMR ENTROPIE pour le compte de la RNMR. 90 p)