Data Use Policy

Data collected at MCR LTER are released under the Creative Commons license Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 , see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This license states that consumers ("Data Users" herein) may distribute, adapt, reuse, remix, and build upon this work, as long as they give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. If redistributed, a Data User may not apply additional restrictions or technological measures that prevent access.

The Data User has an ethical obligation to cite the data source appropriately in any publication or product that results from its use, and notify the data contact or creator. Communication, collaboration, or co-authorship (as appropriate) with the creators of this data package is encouraged to prevent duplicate research or publication. The Data User is urged to contact the authors of these data if any questions about methodology or results occur. The Data User should realize that these data may be actively used by others for ongoing research and that coordination may be necessary to prevent duplication or inappropriate use. The Data User should realize that misinterpretation may occur if data are used outside of the context of the original study. The Data User should be aware that data are updated periodically and it is the responsibility of the Data User to check for new versions of the data.

While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and associated documentation, complete accuracy of data sets cannot be guaranteed. This data package (with its components) is made available "as is" and with no warranty of accuracy or fitness for use. The creators of this data package and the repository where these data were obtained shall not be liable for any damages resulting from misinterpretation, use or misuse of the data package or its components.

The user agrees to cite the data set author and MCR LTER in all publications in which the data are used, as per the instructions in the data documentation. If no specific instructions are provided in the data documentation, the user is requested to include the following statement:

This manuscript uses data collected by the U.S. National Science Foundation's (US NSF) Moorea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological research (MCR LTER) site under Grant No. OCE 1637396 (and earlier awards). Additional financial support to the MCR LTER site was provided through a generous gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Research was completed under permits issued by the French Polynesian Government (Délégation à la Recherche) and the Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie Francaise (DTRT) (Protocole d'Accueil 2005-2021).

The user agrees to provide one electronic copy (pdf format) of any manuscript based on MCR LTER data to the data set author prior to submitting it for publication.  Please send copies of published manuscripts to: Andrew Brooks (AJBrooks@ucsb.edu)

Users are prohibited from selling or redistributing any data provided by MCR LTER without explicit prior permission.

Users are encouraged to contact original investigators responsible for data. Where appropriate, researchers whose projects are integrally dependent on MCR LTER data are encouraged to consider collaboration and/or co-authorship with original investigators.

Extensive efforts are made to ensure that online data are accurate and up to date, but the authors and the MCR LTER will not take responsibility for any errors that may exist in data provided online. Furthermore, the user assumes all responsibility for errors in analysis or judgment resulting from use of the data.

Any violation of the terms of this agreement may result in loss of access privileges to other MCR LTER data sets.