[Coral-List] CREWS Bleaching Research, Caribbean

[Jim Hendee]

Greetings, Coral-Listers,


With the advent of so much bleaching going on in Florida and the
Caribbean, we thought we'd share with you some of our research at
NOAA/AOML which seeks to help elucidate the role of the physical
environment in coral bleaching. High sea temperature "sets the table,"
as Dr. Michael Lesser points out; however, other factors (such as high
irradiance, sustained low winds, and a reduced amount of chromophoric
dissolved organic matter) may contribute to the onset of bleaching, as
has been pointed out in the literature. The Coral Reef Early Warning
System (CREWS) was expert system software originally (1998) designed at
AOML to (among other things) monitor incoming data from the SEAKEYS
Network in the Florida Keys to determine when conditions theoretically
conducive to coral bleaching occurred. This would enable researchers to
visit and confirm or deny the event in a timely manner, thus providing
feedback on these expert system models, and would also give Marine
Protected Areas managers feedback on environmental stress in their MPA.
In the past, data from the NOAA/NMFS/CRED stations in the Pacific, and
the Australian Institute of Marine Science's Weather Network on the
Great Barrier Reef were also screened with the CREWS software (and may
again in the future). New stations are being added to the network by
NOAA and partnering nations (e.g., Jamaica [Discovery Bay] and Australia
[Heron Island]).


The acronym "CREWS" evolved to describe stations installed by NOAA for
which input was to be screened by the CREWS software. New research
instrumentation has been added within the last two years to the
AOML/CREWS station at the Caribbean Marine Research Center (a NOAA/NURP
partner) in the Bahamas to further elucidate the physiological
mechanisms behind coral bleaching: a Pulse-Amplitude-Modulating (PAM)
fluorometer, a pCO2 sensor, and light sensors (PAR, and UV at three
different wavelengths, above and below water). The PAM-fluorometer has
been an especially exciting instrument, as it is the only instrument
that measures coral stress in near real-time (hourly) on four different
species (or two, with two replicates), and thus can give us an almost
instantaneous recording of stress when it happens in the coral. This
will enable us to determine with higher confidence which physical
stresses (of the ones we measure) were present at the precise time of
physiological stress. We are also seeing some interesting trends in
carbon dioxide on the reef throughout the year.


As you can imagine, the key to refining a bleaching model is determining
which species bleach when, so that we can compare the physical data with
the biological observations. To that end we have enjoined research
partners to help us tabulate the biological data. An example of a recent
report from CMRC is attached at the bottom of this message. If you have
observations for any of these sites, we'd love to hear from you. Later
this year we will analyze the biological observations together with the
records from the physical environment.


The CREWS "alerts" (research models) for this year's alerts are archived
at this URL:


http://www.coral.noaa.gov/noaa/icon/2005/


with subdirectories corresponding to the following stations:


cmrc3 Caribbean Marine Research Center, Bahamas (CREWS)
srvi1 Salt River Bay, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands (CREWS)
fwyf1 Fowey Rocks, Florida Keys (SEAKEYS)
mlrf1 Molasses Reef, Florida Keys (SEAKEYS)
smkf1 Sombrero Reef, Florida Keys (SEAKEYS)
sanf1 Sand Key, Florida Keys (SEAKEYS)


Please note that these are experimental products (with some errors) and
should not be read as operational products or proof that bleaching
occurred at any of these spots at these particular times. These research
products are designed to eventually give us a better indication of the
onset of bleaching of particular species, how light and wind work with
high sea temperatures in eliciting the bleaching response, and need to
be refined through time. For a better indicator of MASS BLEACHING,
please see the NOAA/NESDIS HotSpot products
(http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/CB_indices/coral_bleaching_indices.html),
which have been very successful in that regard. (Please also note that
some of the point accumulators in our models did not work correctly, but
will be fixed in the re-running of the models.)


The hourly observations of the relevant parameters will soon be
available on a Web site to be announced. However, to see the daily
output from the Bahamas, see


http://www.coral.noaa.gov/crw/crw_data_cmrc3_Web_72.html


Of special note, see the reduced fluorescent yield measured at PAM head
#2, indicating severe stress in photosystem II on that particular coral
(Siderastrea), which is currently bleaching.


Other station data may be seen by visiting Ye Olde CHAMP (Coral Health
and Monitoring Program) Page and click on relevant links:


http://www.coral.noaa.gov


Cheers,
The AOML/CREWS Team and Collaborators:
Jim Hendee, Erik Stabenau, Chris Langdon, Louis Florit, Jules Craynock,
Mike Jankulak, Mike Shoemaker, Jeff Absten, Jeff Judas, John Halas,
Billy Causey, Erich Mueller, Chris Humphrey, Dave Ward, Kevin Buch, Mike
Lombardi, Catherine Booker, Jon Fagan, Joanie Kleypas, Michael Lesser,
Mark Warner, Bill Fitt, Richard Zepp, and many others...



~~~~~~ Bleaching Report by Kevin Buch, CMRC ~~~~~~~~

General LSI Area Coral Bleaching Report
08 SEPT 2005

Date: 8/29/05
Site: Southeast Barracuda Rocks
Location: Great Bahama Bank (Exuma region); N23.67255 W76.20221
Depth: 2-4m
Water temp: approx. 31C (estimated from dive computer)
Species (listed in order of bleaching prevalence): Porites porites;
Millepora sp.; Sidearstrea siderea; Porites asteriodes
Notes: Site consists of large exposed limestone rocks in shallow water
with numerous small (<1m) and fewer medium (1-2m) sized coral heads.
Initial bleaching observed beginning 8/11/05. Majority (> 75% estimate)
of Millepora sp. and Porites porites colonies exhibiting bleaching by
8/29/05

Date: 8/31/05
Site: Northwest Barracuda Rocks
Location: Great Bahama Bank (Exuma region); N23.71844 W76.25390
Depth: 2-4m
Water temp: approx. 31C (estimated from dive computer)
Species (listed in order of bleaching prevalence): Porites porites;
Millepora sp.; Agaricia sp.; Porites asteriodes
Notes: Site consists of large exposed limestone rock in shallow water
with several submerged bommies and numerous small (<1m) and fewer medium
(1-2m) sized coral heads bordered by dense seagrass. Initial bleaching
observed beginning 8/11/05. Majority (> 75% estimate) of Millepora sp.,
Agaricia sp. and Porites porites colonies exhibiting bleaching by 8/31/05

Date: 9/6/05
Site: North Norman’s Pond Cay patch reef
Location: Exuma Cays, Bahamas; N23.78972 W76.13773
Depth: 5-7m
Water temp: 30.4C (YSI 85)
Species (listed in order of bleaching prevalence): Agaricia sp.; Porites
porites; Millepora sp.; Montastrea annularis; Diploria strigosa; (a few
colonies affected of the following species: Diploria labryinthiformis;
Favia fragum; Meandrina meandrites)
Notes: Site is M. annularis and Agaricia sp. dominated patch reef
bordered by dense seagrass. Majority (> 75% estimate) of Agaricia sp.
colonies exhibiting bleaching. Moderate paling and some bleaching of
Agaricia sp. and Porites porites colonies observed on 8/15/05

Date: 9/6/05
Site: NOAA CREWS Station CMRC3 (near North Norman’s Pond Cay patch reef)
Location: Exuma Cays, Bahamas; N23.79067 W76.13928
Depth: 7m
Water temp: 30.5C
Species (in the immediate vicinity of the station-listed in order of
bleaching prevalence): Agaricia sp.; Porites porites; Millepora sp.;
Sidearstrea sidereal;
Notes: Site is hardbottom area with numerous small (<1m) and fewer
medium (1-2m) sized coral heads. PAM monitored Agaricia sp. and
Siderastrea siderea colonies showing mild, limited paling on 8/30/05.
Small patches of definite paling and possible bleaching on Siderastrea
PAM colony and moderate bleaching of Agaricia PAM colony observed on 9/6/05.

Date: 9/6/05
Site: Perry Institute for Marine Science research station dock
Location: Lee Stocking Island, Exuma Cays, Bahamas; N23.77262 W76.10720
Depth: 2m
Water temp: 31.1C (YSI 85)
Species (listed in order of bleaching prevalence): Porites porites;
Montastrea annularis;
Notes: Site is limestone shoreline with scattered small (<1m) and fewer
medium (1-1.5m) sized coral heads bordered by medium density
seagrass/macro algae

Submitted by:

Kevin L. Buch
Assistant Science Director
Perry Institute for Marine Science
Lee Stocking Island, The Bahamas

T: (561) 741-0192 ext. 239
F: (561) 658-6159
E. kbuch at perryinstitute.org
www.perryinstitute.org

Business Address:
Perry Institute for Marine Science
100 N. US Highway 1, Suite 202
Jupiter, FL 33477-5112