[Coral-List] Remote PAM-Fluorometry, 2005 Bleaching in Bahamas

[Jim Hendee]

Greetings, Coral-Listers,

We are pleased to announce the publication of the following note in 
Coral Reefs Online:

Remote monitoring of chlorophyll fluorescence in two reef corals during 
the 2005 bleaching event at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas.
    by D. Manzello, M. Warner, E. Stabenau, J. Hendee, M. Lesser and M. 
Jankulak

Here is a link to the full text, with the Abstract below.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/fh78268561420318/fulltext.pdf

Abstract Zooxanthellae fluorescence was measured in situ, remotely, and 
in near real-time with a pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometer for 
a colony of Siderastrea siderea and Agaricia tenuifolia at Lee Stocking 
Island, Bahamas during the Caribbean-wide 2005 bleaching event. These 
colonies displayed evidence of photosystem II (PS II) inactivation 
coincident with thermal stress and seasonally high doses of solar 
radiation. Hurricane-associated declines in temperature and light appear 
to have
facilitated the recovery of maximum quantum yield of PS II within these 
two colonies, although both corals responded differently to individual 
storms. PAM fluorometry, coupled with long-term measurement of in situ 
light and temperature, provides much more detail of coral photobiology 
on a seasonal time scale and during possible bleaching conditions than 
sporadic, subjective, and qualitative observations.  S. siderea 
displayed evidence of PS II inactivation over a month prior to the 
issuing of a satellite-based, sea surface temperature (SST) bleaching 
alert by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In 
fact, recovery had already begun in S. siderea when the bleaching alert 
was issued. Fluorescence data for A. tenuifolia were difficult
to interpret because the shaded parts of a colony were monitored and 
thus did not perfectly coincide with thermal
stress and seasonally high doses of solar radiation as in S. siderea. 
These results further emphasize the limitations of solely monitoring SST 
(satellite or in situ) as a bleaching indicator without considering the 
physiological status of coral-zooxanthellae symbioses.