[Coral-List] Palythoa bleaching in Trinidad

Dawn Phillip Dawn.Phillip at sta.uwi.edu
Tue Mar 11 09:12:43 EDT 2008


Hi

 

In the two bays we look at, there is a Zoanthus band closer to shore and the Palythoa band on the reef crest.  I haven’t noticed signs of predation on either zoanthids.  Zoanthus can reach almost all the way to the low-tide mark.  In this shallow area we were quite pleased to notice increased recruitment of Siderastrea

 

Dr Dawn A.T. Phillip

Lecturer

Department of Life Sciences

The University of the West Indies

St Augustine

Trinidad and Tobago

Ph: (868)662-2002 ex. 2208

Mobile: (868)394-3005; (868)464-6932

Fax: (868)663-5241

Email: dawn.phillip at sta.uwi.edu <mailto:dawn.phillip at sta.uwi.edu> 

Web: http://www.sta.uwi.edu/fsa/lifesciences/dphillip.htm <http://www.sta.uwi.edu/fsa/lifesciences/dphillip.htm> 

________________________________

From: frederic Sinniger [mailto:fredsinniger at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:31 AM
To: James Davis Reimer; Dawn Phillip; Thomas Goreau; coral-list coral-list
Cc: Jennie Mallela; Lee Ann Beddoe; Stanton Belford; Joao Gama Monteiro; Dan and Stephanie Clark; James Reimer; Joanna Ibrahim; besastian at googlemail.com
Subject: RE: Palythoa bleaching in Trinidad

 

Hi everybody,
 
sorry to hear that you consider zoanthids as a pest, but somehow happy that people get interested in zoanthids at least...
 
To complement what Jamie just wrote, I am at the end of a field trip in New Caledonia and I don't have access to all my data, but if I remember well the intertidal Playthoa "band" was already mentionned by Herberts in the 70s (papers in french sorry, researches on Madascar zoanthids...). 
And to give you some hopes I saw clear signs of Palyhtoa being eaten by some organisms a bit everywhere and more recently here a colony half eaten by I guess some fish (really like someone took huge bites). It is interesting to see that these zoanthids might be a pest, and maybe take advantage of the corals being weakened by bleaching, while from what was said they seem to be the most sensitive to it...
 
Cheers,
 
Frederic

Frederic Sinniger 
Department of Marine Science
Faculty of Science
University of the Ryukyus
1 Senbaru, Nishihara
903-0213 Okinawa
Japan


> From: zoanthid at hotmail.com
> To: dawn.phillip at sta.uwi.edu; goreau at bestweb.net; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> CC: jennie.mallela at sta.uwi.edu; lbeddoe at gmail.com; sbelford at martinmethodist.edu; jmonteiro at uac.pt; reefteam2 at yahoo.com; jreimer at jamstec.go.jp; joanna.ibrahim at sta.uwi.edu; besastian at googlemail.com; fredsinniger at hotmail.com
> Subject: RE: Palythoa bleaching in Trinidad
> Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:58:50 +0900
> 
> 
> Good morning all (and hi to Stanton),
> 
> Thanks to the time difference, I got to wake up to an inbox full of Palythoa-related emails. Rather nice, even if they are pests.
> 
> Anyways, I will add my two yen worth of comments.
> 
> 1. Bleaching - we see bleaching almost every summer in Okinawa and southern Japan on the reef crest, and even often at northern latitudes. P. tuberculosa is the common "mat" species here, and seems very hardy despite bleaching. I do know that there are some papers from the 70s and 80s on Palythoa (maybe Karlson, I am travelling and do not have most of my lit with me) that seem to indicate Palythoa relies much less on its zooxanthellae than Zoanthus. Add the fact that P. tuberculosa polyps open more at night than day, and I think you have a suspension feeding toxic mat with solar-powered reserves. The ZX that P. tuberculosa possess are general common ZX in the Pacific (Reimer 2006 Coral Reefs), and P. tuberculosa can be somewhat flexible in their association with different ZX (see Burnett 2002)
> 
> 2. Distribution - I have only been in Okinawa one year, so I have no historical records to compare to, but there is almost always a large "Palythoa band" at most reefs here, right at the reef crest. Occasional colonies are also found in reef and out front, even under rocks (!) - which also makes me think they are primarily suspension feeders. They are not quite as high in the intertidal zone as some Zoanthus species can be (new small paper of mine in press), may be that they are slightly more susceptible to cold waters. There are some data (one of Ryland's papers on Semper's larvae) showing larvae of Palythoa are not found in waters Subject: RE: Palythoa bleaching in Trinidad
> > Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:42:20 -0400
> > From: Dawn.Phillip at sta.uwi.edu
> > To: goreau at bestweb.net; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > CC: Jennie.Mallela at sta.uwi.edu; lbeddoe at gmail.com; sbelford at martinmethodist.edu; jmonteiro at uac.pt; reefteam2 at yahoo.com; jreimer at jamstec.go.jp; Joanna.Ibrahim at sta.uwi.edu; besastian at googlemail.com
> > 
> > 
> > Dear Tom
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > I did not go out on the reef with Stanton last year but I think he mentioned seeing bleaching in August. If he confirms this (he is travelling at this time), and their recovery is that slow then I guess it is possible. Some of the Palythoa could have been in the process of bleaching or recovery �| they were pale but not colourless.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Dr Dawn A.T. Phillip
> > 
> > Lecturer
> > 
> > Department of Life Sciences
> > 
> > The University of the West Indies
> > 
> > St Augustine
> > 
> > Trinidad and Tobago
> > 
> > Ph: (868)662-2002 ex. 2208
> > 
> > Mobile: (868)394-3005; (868)464-6932
> > 
> > Fax: (868)663-5241
> > 
> > Email: dawn.phillip at sta.uwi.edu
> > 
> > Web: http://www.sta.uwi.edu/fsa/lifesciences/dphillip.htm
> > 
> > ________________________________
> > 
> > From: Thomas Goreau [mailto:goreau at bestweb.net]
> > Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 5:51 PM
> > To: Dawn Phillip; coral-list coral-list
> > Cc: Jennie Mallela; Lee Ann Beddoe; Stanton Belford; Joao Gama Monteiro; Dan and Stephanie Clark; James Reimer; Joanna Ibrahim
> > Subject: Re: Palythoa bleaching in Trinidad
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Dear Dawn,
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Playthoa is one of the bleaching indicator species because it bleaches early and stays bleached longer than anything else. I've seen Palythoa completely bleached more than a year after a bleaching event started, and since while bleached they normally don't extend their polyps to feed, it is hard to know how they survive except off metabolic stores, but they somehow do. Given their extremely slow recovery, is it possible that they are recovering from bleaching during last year's warm season?
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Best wishes,
> > 
> > Tom
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Mar 10, 2008, at 5:22 PM, Dawn Phillip wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Dear Tom
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Oh, there are Palythoa colonies closer to shore, especially in Toco Bay. I have just begun measuring total suspended volatile solids to try to quantify available organic particulates in the overlying water column because I suspect that the corals here have to rely on feeding for a substantial portion of their carbon requirements.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > We also noticed that there was a lot of bleaching of the Palythoa on the reef crest �| large patches of about 30 cm in diameter on some; collections of smaller (< 1 cm in diameter) of smaller white/bleached spots on others. The Palythoa closer inshore appeared to be in better condition.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Dr Dawn A.T. Phillip
> > 
> > Lecturer
> > 
> > Department of Life Sciences
> > 
> > The University of the West Indies
> > 
> > St Augustine
> > 
> > Trinidad and Tobago
> > 
> > Ph: (868)662-2002 ex. 2208
> > 
> > Mobile: (868)394-3005; (868)464-6932
> > 
> > Fax: (868)663-5241
> > 
> > Email: dawn.phillip at sta.uwi.edu
> > 
> > Web: http://www.sta.uwi.edu/fsa/lifesciences/dphillip.htm
> > 
> > ________________________________
> > 
> > From: Thomas Goreau [mailto:goreau at bestweb.net]
> > Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 5:03 PM
> > To: Dawn Phillip
> > Cc: coral-list coral-list; Jennie Mallela; Lee Ann Beddoe; Stanton Belford; Joao Gama Monteiro; Dan and Stephanie Clark; James Reimer; Joanna Ibrahim
> > Subject: Re: Palythoa overgrowing corals in Trinidad and elsewhere
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Dear Dawn,
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Glad to hear you and Stanton were in the field, and looking forward to your observations. I think you will remember that we looked at the earliest studies of these sites, and Palythoa seems to have expanded landward quite a bit. The salinities are near normal, but the turbidity is extremely high for coral reefs, and I think that the Zoanthus may be able to feed of particulate organic carbon to some degree, which might give them an edge. The factors at the cold limits are presumably different, those areas are all pretty turbid too, but nothing like Trinidad!
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Best wishes to all,
> > 
> > Tom
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Mar 10, 2008, at 4:53 PM, Dawn Phillip wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Stanton and I have just come back from a trip to survey the two coral systems at Toco. We noticed that Palythoa seemed to be dominant in specific bands on the reef, particularly on the reef crest. It is easy to discern a Palythoa zone at low tide by looking down at the �ereef�f from the top of the cliff. Apart from overgrowing hard coral and rocks, we have seen Palythoa overgrowing Zoanthus, fire coral and anemones.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On a side, water salinities in this area are usually between 34 �| 35 p.s.u., which does not support the hypothesis of any significant influence by the large South American rivers.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Dr Dawn A.T. Phillip
> > 
> > Lecturer
> > 
> > Department of Life Sciences
> > 
> > The University of the West Indies
> > 
> > St Augustine
> > 
> > Trinidad and Tobago
> > 
> > Ph: (868)662-2002 ex. 2208
> > 
> > Mobile: (868)394-3005; (868)464-6932
> > 
> > Fax: (868)663-5241
> > 
> > Email: dawn.phillip at sta.uwi.edu
> > 
> > Web: http://www.sta.uwi.edu/fsa/lifesciences/dphillip.htm
> > 
> > ________________________________
> > 
> > From: Thomas Goreau [mailto:goreau at bestweb.net]
> > Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 1:46 PM
> > To: coral-list coral-list
> > Cc: Dawn Phillip; Jennie Mallela; Lee Ann Beddoe; Stanton Belford; Joao Gama Monteiro; Dan and Stephanie Clark; James Reimer
> > Subject: Palythoa overgrowing corals in Trinidad and elsewhere
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Palythoa overgrowth of corals is being studied in Toco and Salybia, Trinidad, by a research group at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine including Dawn Philip, Jennnie Mallela, Lee Ann Beddoe, and Stanton Belford. Our observations, compared to earlier work by other Trinidadian researchers, shows that Palythoa is clearly overgrowing corals and expanding over the reef flat.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > We see the same thing happening on a large scale in Broward County Florida, where Dan Clark and I just photographed this last week, and where large old corals are being overgrown. The same Palythoa dominance is common in southern Brazil, for example from Cabo Frio and Arraial do Cabo southwestwards. Palythoa mats dominate large areas of the reefs of Cabo Verde, and photos sent to me last week by Joao Gama Monteiro show it is even overgrowing Millepora there.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Palythoa is a pest in that it is toxic so it provides neither food nor shelter, and it's spread at the expense of corals in many places is a serious concern, but the ecological factors allowing it to spread are not known. One possibility is that food supplies that Palythoa is a more effective consumer of than corals are increasing, but little is known of the feeding habits of Palythoa, according James Reimer, a zoanthid expert I specifically asked about this a few years ago.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Trinidad is an interesting exception to the general rule in that the other places where Palythoa is dominant are near the extreme cold limit of corals, which Trinidad is not, however it is near the extreme sedimentation limit of corals due to the influence of the Orinoco River.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Thomas J. Goreau, PhD
> > 
> > President
> > 
> > Global Coral Reef Alliance
> > 
> > 37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA 02139
> > 
> > 617-864-4226
> > 
> > goreau at bestweb.net
> > 
> > http://www.globalcoral.org
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Message: 5
> > 
> > Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 16:44:43 -0400
> > 
> > From: "Jan-Willem van Bochove">
> > 
> > Subject: [Coral-List] Zoanthid (Paltythoa caribaeorum) overgrowth of
> > 
> > corals
> > 
> > To:>
> > 
> > Message-ID: 
> > 
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Hello,
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > I've noticed that P. caribaeorum, a colonial zoanthid which forms extensive
> > 
> > mats, is overtopping and smothering a large variety of scleractinian corals
> > 
> > in shallow reef environments in Tobago.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > P. caribaeorum is an aggressive, fast growing and toxic zoanthid which seems
> > 
> > to stop at nothing and I have yet to see any significant predation on the
> > 
> > species. In a small, sheltered bay where most of our observations were made,
> > 
> > it forms the dominant substrate with over 75% cover in the shallows (2-5m).
> > 
> > We have also seen it overtopping massive corals in deeper waters.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > I was wondering if anyone has or knows of any recent research done on the
> > 
> > zoanthid or has noticed its abundance elsewhere on such a scale. Other than
> > 
> > a paper presented at the ICRS of 1981 in Manila by Suchanek and Green, I
> > 
> > have not come across any literature dealing with inter-specific competition
> > 
> > with corals.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Images of the zoanthid overgrowing corals can be found on -
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > http://www.flickr.com/photos/23314528@N03/
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Any feedback is appreciated.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Jan
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Reference -
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Suchanek T.H., and Green, D.J., 1981. Interspecific Competition Between
> > 
> > Palythoa Caribaeorum and Other Sessile Invertebrates on St.Croix Reefs, U.S.
> > 
> > Virgin Islands. Proceedings of the Fourth International Coral Reef
> > 
> > Symposium, Manila, Vol. 2.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > 
> > Jan-Willem van Bochove MSc
> > 
> > Chief Technical Advisor
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Coral Cay Conservation Ltd
> > 
> > Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London, SE1 7NJ, United Kingdom
> > 
> > Tel: +44 (0)20 7620 1411 (switch board)
> > 
> > Fax: +44 (0)20 7921 0469
> > 
> > email: jvb at coralcayconservation.com
> > 
> > www.coralcay.org
> > 
> > skype: jhvanbochove
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Thomas J. Goreau, PhD
> > 
> > President
> > 
> > Global Coral Reef Alliance
> > 
> > 37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA 02139
> > 
> > 617-864-4226
> > 
> > goreau at bestweb.net
> > 
> > http://www.globalcoral.org
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Thomas J. Goreau, PhD
> > 
> > President
> > 
> > Global Coral Reef Alliance
> > 
> > 37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA 02139
> > 
> > 617-864-4226
> > 
> > goreau at bestweb.net
> > 
> > http://www.globalcoral.org
> _________________________________________________________________
> Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE!
> http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/



________________________________

Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! MSN Messenger <http://clk.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/> 



More information about the Coral-List mailing list