Journal Article
DiverReef : A global database of the behavior of recreational divers and their interactions with reefs over 20 years
Vinicius J. Giglio; Johnatas Adelir‐Alves; Natalia Balzaretti Merino; Myrna Leticia Bravo‐Olivas; Emma F. Camp; Edoardo Casoli; Rosa Maria Chávez‐Dagostino; Eliana Ferretti; Douglas Fraser; Ana C. Grillo; Santiago Jiménez‐Guiérrez; Kelen L. Leite; Serena Lucrezi; Osmar J. Luiz; Beatriz Luna‐Pérez; Jamie McBride; Martina Milanese; Nicolas Moity; Jonison V. Pinheiro; Bobbie Renfro; Ronan Roche; Bruna M. Saliba; Antonio Sara; Alexandre Schiavetti; Yann Toso; Carlos Valle‐Pérez; Carlos E. L. Ferreira
Ecology · Vol. 106, Issue 2 · 2025
Abstract
Recreational diving is an important activity in reef environments worldwide, providing income and employment for coastal communities and connecting visiting divers to these ecosystems promoting conservation and stewardship. However, if poorly managed, diving has the potential to cause detrimental effects on benthic communities via mechanical damage caused by physical contact of divers with the reef, often in the form of unintentional fin kicks resulting from poor buoyancy. Understanding diver–reef interaction patterns is important to elucidate the potential impacts of diving tourism on the reef biota. The DiverReef database provides the first public dataset on the underwater behavior of recreational divers in shallow reef environments (