Download or read book Dynamics and Survival of Coral and Octocoral Juveniles Following Disturbance on Patch Reefs of the Florida Reef Tract written by Lucy Bartlett and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The goal of this study was to examine post-disturbance recruitment and survival of juvenile stony corals and octocorals on patch reefs in the Middle and Upper Florida Reef Tract. Permanent quadrats were established at eight patch-reef sites. Stony-coral and octocoral juveniles, visible to the naked eye and having a maximum 4 cm diameter for stony corals or 4 cm height for octocorals, were identified, measured, and photographed to track each colony through spring and fall for two years. Juvenile densities increased significantly over that time; octocoral density increased with higher significance (p

Download or read book Dynamics of Stony Coral and Octocoral Juvenile Assemblages Following Disturbance on Patch Reefs of the Florida Reef Tract written by Lucy A. Bartlett and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In January 2010, reefs in the Upper and Middle Florida Keys experienced prolonged exposure to extremely cold water temperatures, below lethal thresholds for many reef organisms including corals. We examined post-disturbance juvenile assemblages of stony corals and octocorals on eight patch reefs, four of which were categorized as high impact and four as low impact, based on declines in stony-coral cover following disturbance. We established permanent quadrats to conduct field surveys in spring and fall of 2012 and 2013. Overall, juvenile abundances of both stony corals and octocorals were greater on low-impact sites, suggesting that those sites had higher recruitment and juvenile survival than high-impact sites. Juvenile assemblages also showed a regional pattern, with more stony corals on Middle Keys sites and more octocorals on Upper Keys sites. The stony-coral juvenile assemblage was dominated by Siderastrea siderea (46%) and Porites astreoides (19%), whereas previously abundant species such as Orbicella annularis were nearly absent (

Download or read book Corals in a Changing World written by Carmenza Duque and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2018-03-28 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corals comprise a wide variety of colonial marine invertebrates belonging to the Phylum Cnidaria. Their polyps form the most colorful, complete, and diverse communities on the Earth resembling underwater cities, commonly called coral reefs, which host a wide variety of invertebrates and fish species. They are highly productive ecosystems, contribute to the health of the biosphere, and offer a good number of economic and ecological services to coastal populations and to many people around the world. However, due to a diverse number of natural and anthropogenic stressors, corals have shown a severe decline over the past few decades. Being aware of the importance and relevance of the facts described, the book "Corals in a Changing World" offers new scientific information regarding the actual status and, in some cases, the resilience state of coral reef systems. Timely information is critical for managers and decision makers to implement sustainable management measures according to the ecological condition of coral reefs. In addition, the book also discusses the use of well-maintained coral microcosms to provide a good basis for performing experiments with natural fluctuations and to present studies dedicated to the coral diversity characterization and to their importance as a source of important biological compounds, which could be converted into industrial products.

Download or read book Marine Ecosystem Restoration MER Challenges and New Horizons written by Brian Silliman and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-10-23 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Worldwide, marine ecosystems have been lost and degraded due to anthropogenic disturbances. For example, oyster reefs have declined by at least ∼85%, coral reefs by ∼19%, seagrasses by ∼29%, North American salt marshes by ∼42%, and mangroves by ∼35% from the early 19th century. Deepwater reefs and deep-sea vents are not immune and have also been reduced in extent in many areas. Factors driving these losses include habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, overfishing, trawling, mining and, more recently, climate change effects, such as ocean warming, species range changes and acidification. These habitat declines are occurring at a time when marine waters are being used at or near their maximum productive capacity to meet the contemporary needs of an ever-increasing human population. Because coastal and marine ecosystems generate some of the richest biodiversity hotspots on Earth, and provide critical ecosystem services, including storm protection, fisheries production, and carbon storage, over 1 billion US dollars have been spent globally in an attempt to halt and reverse observed declines. Early conservation efforts aimed at protecting these valuable and threatened habitats focused on reducing human impacts and physical stressors. However, with habitat degradation continuing and sometimes increasing in rate, it is now clear conservation alone will not be sufficient to protect and reestablish coastal ecosystems. Habitat restoration, although in existence for many decades, has recently been elevated as a new primary strategy to stem and even reverse coastal habitat loss. The call for increasing investment in restoration efforts has emerged with significant advances in propagule rearing and dispersion of habitat-forming organisms (e.g., oysters, seagrasses, corals). In addition, restoration resources are increasingly allocated by governments and/or large corporations with the aim to, for example, fix past landscape engineering efforts that had unintended environmental consequences. Such investments are being made to (i) provide jobs for those unemployed during economic downturns, (ii) restore ecosystems destroyed by natural disasters and stressors, (iii) increase coastal defense in response to increased frequency of intense storms, and/or (iv) compensate for pollution-and development-driven habitat degradation. Conservation practitioners have traditionally been skeptical to invest heavily in restoration at large-scales because of the high cost per area (10,000-5,000,000 US$/ha for coastal vs. 500-5,000 US$/ha for terrestrial systems) to replant coastal ecosystems and/or the high chance that the restored ecosystems will not live long (e.g. outplanted corals). For restoration to be effective and employed as a primary method of coastal conservation at relevant scales, we must improve its efficiency, lower costs and rapidly share and incorporate advances. One crucial step will be to identify when and where restoration attempts have been carried out according to state-of-art ecological theory and gauge their success. Another is generating synthesis studies that focus both within and across ecosystems to identify efficiencies, adaptations and innovations. Work that shows theoretical and methodological innovations in specific ecosystems as well as across systems will be critical to pushing all fields of MER forward. Although there is rapidly increasing interest and investment, the field of marine ecosystem restoration is just beginning to undergo synthesis. Therefore, the aim of this Research Topic is to bring together research contributions to help address this synthesis need, provide a spotlight for recent innovations, enhance our understanding of successful methods in marine ecosystem restoration and promote integration of ecological, sociological and engineering theory into restoration practices.

Download or read book Population Dynamics of the Reef Crisis written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2020-11-13 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Population Dynamics of the Reef Crisis, Volume 87 in the Advances in Marine Biology series, updates on many topics that will appeal to postgraduates and researchers in marine biology, fisheries science, ecology, zoology and biological oceanography. Chapters in this new release cover SCTL disease and coral population dynamics in S-Florida, Spatial dynamics of juvenile corals in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, Surprising stability in sea urchin populations following shifts to algal dominance on heavily bleached reefs, Biophysical model of population connectivity in the Persian Gulf, Population dynamics of 20-year decline in clownfish anemones on coral reefs at Eilat, northern Red Sea, and much more. - Reviews articles on the latest advances in marine biology - Authored by leading figures in their respective fields of study - Presents materials that are widely used by managers, students and academic professionals in the marine sciences

Download or read book Dynamics of Stony Coral Assemblages on Patch Reefs of the Upper Florida Reef Tract Including Biscayne National Park written by Amy Wallace and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The patch reefs located in Biscayne National Park (BNP) are some of the most northern reefs of the Florida reef system. The focus of my study is seven patch reefs that were first surveyed annually between 1977 and 1981, revealing 8% - 28% cover by scleractinian corals. An assessment of BNP patch reefs completed in 2000 reported that coral cover had decreased to approximately 0.4% - 10%. The once dominant species in the Florida reef tract, Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis, have rapidly declined over time and were not found in any transects during the 2000 survey. This study is a re-assessment of the BNP patch reefs surveyed in 1977-1981. In addition, one patch reef from BNP and three in upper keys region of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) have been included (a total of 11 patch reefs, all with historical data available). This study found 2% - 13% coral cover at these 11 reefs using a photographic survey (Point Count) and 4% - 21% coral cover using Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) survey methods. These results are relatively similar to results reported for the same patch reefs in the 1990s and in 2002, indicating that the major changes occurred earlier with the extreme decline in Acropora spp. Montastraea annularis complex cover has also declined substantially at the BNP sites from 5.4% in 1977-81 to 1.3% in 2009. Although the number of species recoded on the seven resurveyed BNP patch reefs was only 23, compared with 28 recorded in the 1977-81 study, all species are still present in the region surveyed, indicating no actual loss of over all species richness.

Download or read book Spatial and Temporal Trends of Southeastern Florida s Octocoral Comunity written by Alexandra Hiley and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Caribbean, local and global stressors have driven significant declines in scleractinian coral cover up to 80% in only three decades. Following these declines, phase shifts in benthic community composition have been reported. Shifts towards macroalgal dominance has been the most widely observed case, however, shifts towards octocoral and sponge dominance have also been reported. In Florida, USA, the Florida Reef Tract is an extensive barrier reef system that contains diverse assemblages of corals, sponges, fish, and other taxa. The Southeast Florida Reef Tract (SEFRT) within the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Conservation Area is the northern portion of this system and lies adjacent to the highly urbanized and populated South Florida coastline. Long-term decreases in stony coral cover have been reported for this region, as well as more recent and drastic changes resulting from the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease outbreak. With this recent significant loss in stony corals, octocorals have become a more abundant constituent of the SEFRT. Although multiple studies highlight the community composition of local stony corals as well as spatial and temporal changes in their cover, the same has yet to be investigated for the octocoral community. This study investigates spatial and temporal trends in octocoral density, community composition, colony height, and colony condition (i.e. bleaching and disease) from 2013-2018 on the SEFRT. Analyses indicate an increase in density and a decrease in colony height throughout the study period. Both bleaching and disease prevalence remained very low, likely at background levels, during a time period when high levels of bleaching and disease were reported in the stony coral community. Finally, significant spatial variation of the community was observed throughout the SEFRT as density, colony height, and community composition of the outer reef was different from both the inner and middle reefs. These changes do not appear to correlate with events that resulted in the significant decline of stony corals (e.g. thermal anomalies, disease outbreak), suggesting that its drivers may not be similarly impacting the octocoral community. Evidence suggests that this high-latitude reef system can support a high-density octocoral community, but significant spatial variation in density and composition exists. With reefs experiencing dramatic phase shifts, it is imperative to understand the contribution of seemingly resistant organisms, like octocorals, to reef community dynamics.

Download or read book Variation in Coral Recruitment and Juvenile Distribution Along the Southeast Florida Reef Tract written by Leah M. Harper and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coral recruitment in Southeast Florida is being outpaced by mortality, resulting in population declines in many species. Identifying the coral species most likely to recruit and survive on Southeast Florida reefs and evaluating spatial variation in recruitment and survivorship is crucial for managing decreasing coral populations. This study focuses on 12 sites in Broward and Miami-Dade counties that have served as long-term stations for monitoring adult coral cover and demographics. At each site, thirty-two 225cm2 grooved terracotta settlement tiles were attached to the substrate in winter of 2015 and retrieved in winter of 2016 to evaluate scleractinian and octocoral recruitment rates. Thirty-two corresponding 0.25 m2 quadrats were surveyed in situ for coralsconditions, such as Poritidae, Siderastreidae, and Octocorallia, exhibit signs of recruitment success and/or juvenile survivorship. Scleractinian recruitment was not variable spatially, but juvenile densities varied on site-level spatial scales, suggesting that differential survivorship structures adult scleractinian communities. This study will inform reef management and restoration efforts within Southeast Florida by identifying sites and species with potential to recover from disturbance through natural recruitment processes.

Download or read book Factors Influencing the Recovery of Corals After Natural Disturbance on Reefs in Moorea French Polynesia written by Mary Gayle Gleason and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 760 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Implications of Heat Stress and Local Human Disturbance on Early Life Stage Corals written by Kristina Tietjen and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coral reef recovery following a disturbance relies heavily on the restoration of coral cover, via growth of existing colonies and the successful recruitment of new corals. In well-connected reef networks, recruits may be sourced from neighboring reefs. In contrast, coral recruitment on geographically isolated reefs is reliant on adult corals at that location, which may limit recovery rates following mass coral mortality events. Such mortality events are increasingly caused by climate change induced temperature anomalies, which are overlaid on the local chronic human disturbances that already affect most of the world's coral reefs. In this thesis, I exploit a natural ecosystem-scale experiment to examine how multiple anthropogenic stressors impact densities of coral recruits and small corals (e.g., juveniles; 5 cm) on Kiritimati (Christmas Island, Republic of Kiribati), an isolated atoll in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean. Specifically, I used benthic survey videos from before, during, and one year following the 2015-2016 El Niño and coral settlement tiles deployed during the three years after the event at 22 sites across the island, to quantify small corals and coral recruits, respectively. Local chronic stress negatively impacted small corals, with densities 47% lower at sites exposed to very high levels of chronic stress prior to the heat stress. The El Niño further resulted in a 56% loss of small corals, particularly for competitive coral species. Following the event, stress tolerant small corals rebounded to pre-El Niño densities within a year, whereas competitive and small corals overall had non-significant increases. I also quantified a low recruitment rate of 8.31 recruits m-2 per year (± 1.9 SE) during the three years following the El Niño compared to previous studies around the Pacific; recruits were genetically identified as primarily belonging to the stress tolerant family Agariciidae and the competitive genus Pocillopora. Local human disturbance also impacted coral recruitment with densities significantly lower at those with the greatest local chronic disturbance, together suggesting that local disturbance impedes post-settlement survival of recruits and the resilience of young corals during acute stress events. With increased net primary productivity, densities of both small corals and recruits (non-significant) also increased, which could reflect the positive influence of coral heterotrophic nutrition supplements during and after stress events, increasing survivability. Despite very low overall coral recruitment, all island regions did have some recruits, but Vaskess Bay (a bay region on the southern part of the island) had the highest densities. Overall these results indicate the negative consequences combined chronic and acute stressors can have on coral recruits, small corals, and accompanying coral resilience. When viewed together, this work suggests how the resilience is compromised by chronic stressors on Kiritimati and that the recovery trajectory may be variable across the disturbance gradient. Thus, local reef management may provide an avenue for enhancing recovery rates as acute temperature anomalies increase in frequency under our current climate trajectory.

Download or read book Impacts of a Natural Disturbance on Coral Reefs in the Florida Keys and Subsequent Recovery Potential of the Sea Urchin Diadema Antillarum written by Julia Nicole Kobelt and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecosystem resilience is a measure of an ecosystem’s capacity to resist abrupt change and recover following a disturbance. While stochastic disturbances can contribute to normal ecosystem functioning, mounting natural and anthropogenic stressors are simultaneously intensifying the severity of disturbances and reducing the capacity for ecosystem recovery. Here, I examine the impacts of hurricane disturbance on a coral reef ecosystem and the potential for post-storm population recovery of a keystone herbivore, the sea urchin Diadema antillarum. Grazing pressure exerted by dense populations of D. antillarum is critical to coral reef ecosystem health by preventing (or reversing) an ecological regime shift from coral- to macroalgal-dominated reefs following disturbance. Hurricane Irma, a Category 4 Hurricane, made landfall in the Florida Keys in September 2017. The effects of the storm on D. antillarum and the surrounding coral reef community were evaluated at 10 sites in the middle and upper Florida Keys. Following Hurricane Irma, D. antillarum densities declined by 80% and the coral reef community was significantly altered. To assess the potential for local D. antillarum recovery, larval influx and subsequent increases in adults were measured using artificial settlement plates and transect surveys, respectively. Larval influx did not yield a measurable increase in adults over the period of the study, indicating limits to post-storm population recovery. The reestablishment of D. antillarum populations seems unlikely without extensive management efforts. Enhancing herbivory on coral reefs will be essential to building ecosystem resilience in the face of an increasingly severe disturbance regime.

Download or read book A Decade of Decline of Massive Corals in Florida Patch Reefs written by Eberhard Gischler and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patch reefs are the most common reef type in the Florida Reef Tract, which represents the largest tropical reef area in the conterminous United States. Clusters of large massive corals of the Montastraea group form the backbone of these reefs and are of paramount importance as they provide habitat for a large variety of invertebrates and fish. Significant increases in dead surface area in clusters from 51% in 1995 to 67% in 2005 on average along the reef tract were observed during this long-term study. Even though the causes of decline are not entirely clear, the results are alarming because patch reefs are considered to be the reef type, which suffered the least decline in Florida in recent time.

Download or read book Coral and Coral Reefs Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Fisheries Management Plan FMP written by and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Future of Coral Reefs Subject to Rapid Climate Change Lessons from Natural Extreme Environments written by Emma F. Camp and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2019-01-22 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examination of corals and reef-associated organisms which endure in extreme coral reef environments is challenging our understanding of the conditions that organisms can survive under. By studying individuals naturally adapted to unfavorable conditions, we begin to better understand the important traits required to survive rapid environmental and climate change. This Research Topic, comprising reviews, and original research articles, demonstrates the current state of knowledge regarding the diversity of extreme coral habitats, the species that have been studied, and the knowledge to-date on the mechanisms, traits and trade-offs that have facilitated survival.

Download or read book Long term Recovery Processes of a Coral Community After a Catastrophic Disturbance written by Mitchell Willard Colgan and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Effects of Early Life History on Recruitment and Early Juvenile Survival of a Coral Reef Fish in the Florida Keys written by Tauna Leigh Rankin and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Processes that influence the early life stages of fishes can significantly impact population dynamics, yet they continue to be poorly understood. This dissertation examined relationships between the environment, early life history traits (ELHTs), behavior, and post-settlement survival for a coral reef fish, Stegastes partitus, in the upper Florida Keys, to elucidate how they influence juvenile demography. Otolith analysis of settlers and recruits coupled with environmental data revealed that S. partitus surviving the early juvenile period settled at larger sizes and grew slower post-settlement. Water temperature also influenced the ranges of these and other ELHTs as well as the intensity and direction of selective mortality processes acting on some of these traits (i.e., pelagic larval duration, mean larval growth). Otolith analysis was paired with behavioral observations of newly settled juvenile S. partitus in the field to reveal that the relationship between size-at-settlement, early juvenile growth and survival is behaviorally-mediated. Individuals that were larger at settlement were more active (i.e., spent less time sheltered, swam farther from shelters) and grew more slowly post-settlement. Likewise, slower juvenile growth was associated with greater activity, more conspecific aggression, and faster escape swimming speeds. A six-year time series of recruitment densities revealed substantial temporal (interannual, seasonal, lunar) and spatial (by microhabitat, conspecific density) variability in recruitment which influenced the composition of recruits. For instance, larvae settling during the darkest phases of the moon were larger at settlement, but selective mortality processes during brighter periods removed more of the smallest settlers, resulting in juveniles with similar sizes-at-settlement regardless of when they arrived to the reef. Because recruitment strength and composition varied temporally, genetic markers (6 microsatellite and 1 mitochondrial loci) were used to determine if the genetic composition of monthly cohorts of settling larvae and juveniles also varies interannually, monthly, or across life stages. A lack of genetic structure suggested that S. partitus has a large effective population size and variation in ELHTs is not likely the result of successful spawning of a disproportionately small group of adults. As a whole, these results reveal processes associated with larval supply and post-settlement life that collectively shape juvenile demography.

Download or read book Acanthaster Planci written by Charles Birkeland and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1990-09-24 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this book is to provide an organized compilation of information and techniques for all aspects of the biology and management of the Acanthaster planci species. This extraordinary coral predator has greater effects on coral reef communities than any other animal species. It can cause mortality of hard corals over large areas and have indirect effects that extend through the trophic levels of the reef community. This volume features A planci as an animal with a unique combination of morphological, physiological, and life history characteristics that contribute to its potential for major ecological impacts. It provides detailed techniques for disparate aspects of research and management (e.g., raising the animal through all life history stages, calculating growth curves, and treating victims of spinings). Chapters cover methods for surveys, tagging, and control of A. planci, in addition to an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The extensive subject index includes more than 1,000 references to A. planci and a BASIC program for estimating coral recovery after predation by the starfish. Acanthaster planci: Major Management Problem of Coral Reefs is an essential reference for all coral reef managers and researchers.