[Coral-List] Bleaching refuges

Risk, Michael riskmj at mcmaster.ca
Tue Apr 5 10:14:09 EDT 2016


Andrew (and colleagues):

Any plan to use tannins as shade needs careful study. Those tannins are a valuable substrate, fuelling all sorts of offshore goodies (that’s a scientific term) as the germs (another) jump all over them.

We used various markers (stable isotopes, fatty acid ratios) to see if they could be traced, found that the fatty acids were the most useful-which means significant input to the target area. LeBlanc et al., 1989: Est Coastal Shelf Sci 28: 261-276.

As always, it is better not to break things in the first place than to figure out how to fix them later…

Mike 
> On Apr 5, 2016, at 9:07 AM, Andrew Ross <ross.andrew at mac.com> wrote:
> 
> Bob & List
> Bill Donahue (et al) looked at UV & tannin shading to boreal streams/lakes at the ELA (Canada), published in the 1998 (Freshwater Biology) & 2003 (L&O). 
> Interesting stuff that I’m sure is relevant to reef systems, and beyond just coral. 
> Andrew 
> 
> Andrew Ross, Ph.D
> Seascape Caribbean
> 
> 
>> On Apr 4, 2016, at 3:26 PM, Robert Bourke <rbourke at OCEANIT.COM> wrote:
>> 
>> Paul;
>> I have long advocated collaboration between marine ecologists, who understand biological problems, and engineers, who understand how to implement physical solutions.  Your concept of suspending a 100m x 100m sun-screen mat on the surface over a reef makes an excellent example of why it is important to coordinate with other fields.  The physical challenge associated with stabilizing such a structure over a period of months in the face of currents and breaking waves is quite enormous.  My guess is that the necessary damage that would be required merely to anchor such a structure would outweigh any benefits.  In addition, the damage that would result if such a structure were to break loose and entangle itself across the reef would be huge.
>> That said, shading reefs may not be a bad temporary solution although the thought of repeating this every summer into the distant future is somewhat disturbing.  What about other alternatives to shading?  Researchers have shown, for example, that reefs off of mangrove shorelines are less susceptible to bleaching - presumably due to all of the tannins in the water.  You could test your theory by shading a portion of reef through the daily release of a non-toxic, non-sediment, turbidity substance into the water above the reef.
>> Good luck!
>> 
>> Bob Bourke
>> Environmental Scientist
>> Oceanit
>> Hawaii
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Paul Muir
>> Sent: Monday, April 04, 2016 2:09 AM
>> To: Damien Beri <beridl at g.cofc.edu>
>> Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Bleaching refuges
>> 
>> Just to clarify....Idea is to trial protecting SMALL ie <10000m2 areas of reef to prevent localised extinctions and speed recovery by providing a small population of breeding individuals of each species.  My understanding is that it's all about frequency of events (I.e. Bleaching/cyclones/hurricanes/ COTS) vs speed of recovery between these events. Just as a ps there's some new polyethylene shade cloth out now that floats on water- this might do better than the sola weave fabric originally suggested. 
>> 
>> Paul Muir
>> Research officer & collection manager, corals Queensland Museum
>> 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On 4 Apr 2016, at 9:37 pm, "Damien Beri" <beridl at g.cofc.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Carbon credits
>>> 
>>> As insidious as it is to sell the ability to pollute, cooperations that want to "reduce their carbon footprint" buy carbon credits. Immediate relief exceeds the long term problem in my opinion... for now.  Since scleractinians sequester CO2 they act as green house gas sinks/reservoirs/banks/investments and essentially are a continuous carbon credit principle.
>>> 
>>> If cloud seeding, or tarping the surface of the water saves X amount of corals, which go on to sequester Y amount more carbon then this is worth real money world wide.  So technically if a company saves coral, then they are sequestering CO2 and if they are sequestering CO2 then they are creating carbon credits, and if they are creating carbon credits they are making money... Which is what everyone cares about anyways, money. We care about these corals and so its symbiotic, both parties benefit.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Mar 31, 2016, at 5:58 PM, Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> In the U.S., there is a national law called the "Clean Water Act."  I believe the U.S. federal government Environmental Protection Agency is designated to enforce it.  Some states may have similar state laws and agencies.  I am not familiar enough with any of these to say whether they would cover this sort of thing, but they might.
>>>>  Cheers,  Doug
>>>> 
>>>>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 10:38 AM, Pedro M Alcolado <gmalcolado at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Funding should come from  environmental agencies in charge of
>>>>> controlling land based pollution from rivers close to coral reefs.
>>>>> Indeed it is quite difficult to be achieved  being it a very expensive
>>>>> and complex intervention. I think it is worth  to try to demand
>>>>> cleaning or improving pollution control of such polluted rivers by
>>>>> local or national relevant stakeholders and governmental instances in
>>>>> charge. Do you have any other idea about achieving it in some degree?
>>>>> There are many examples of rivers where  luxuriant coral reefs thrived
>>>>> very close to their mouth in the past.
>>>>> Pedro
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 3/30/16, Damien Beri <beridl at g.cofc.edu> wrote:
>>>>>> I agree, where would funding come from?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Mar 29, 2016, at 4:03 PM, Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail...com>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Paul,
>>>>>>> Well said, thank you very much for this idea.  I think this idea is a
>>>>>>> good one, and well worth trying.  We don't seem to have any other options
>>>>>>> at this point, and it could well work.     Cheers, Doug
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 12:40 PM, Paul Muir <paul.muir at qm.qld.gov.au>
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I proposed this idea many years ago (~2005!) on coral list and am
>>>>>>>> wondering if anyone ever tried anything like this? Given the current
>>>>>>>> bleaching on the northern GBR and likelihood of other areas being hit
>>>>>>>> soon
>>>>>>>> perhaps it's worth someone doing a trial? Desperate times..
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Severe coral bleaching events can cause very high levels of coral
>>>>>>>> morality
>>>>>>>> and the recovery of reefs following such events can be very slow. For
>>>>>>>> example, recovery of corals in the Seychelles Islands following the
>>>>>>>> severe
>>>>>>>> 1998 bleaching event was extremely slow and regional extinction of some
>>>>>>>> species a possibility. Localised extinctions and slow recovery could be
>>>>>>>> mitigated if small areas of reef were protected during bleaching events:
>>>>>>>> corals have extremely high  fecundity and only a few healthy individuals
>>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>>> each species would needed to accelerate recovery. Field observations and
>>>>>>>> studies of the physiology of coral bleaching suggest that shading corals
>>>>>>>> during a high temperature event can reduce mortality rates. Small areas
>>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>>> reef (to 10,000m2 area) could be provided with moderate shading by the
>>>>>>>> use
>>>>>>>> of floating covers similar to those used in farm dams and industrial
>>>>>>>> ponds.
>>>>>>>> Such covers are light, float upon the water surface and could be rapidly
>>>>>>>> deployed from a small boat during a high-temperature event. The covers
>>>>>>>> would be held in place with small anchors and inflatable seams would
>>>>>>>> provide a flexible, semi-rigid structure that would resist small waves
>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>> swells at a protected site. High temperature bleaching events typically
>>>>>>>> occur during very flat, calm conditions over just a few weeks which
>>>>>>>> makes
>>>>>>>> deploying floating covers such as this feasible. Real-time monitoring of
>>>>>>>> the development of bleaching conditions and small-scale engineering
>>>>>>>> solutions may become increasingly important for the preservation of
>>>>>>>> thermally sensitive species at local scales.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I can supply some ideas for a test-scale floating cover on request.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Dr. Paul Muir
>>>>>>>> Research Officer/ Collection Manager Corals, Biodiversity &
>>>>>>>> Geosciences Program
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Museum of Tropical Queensland | Queensland Museum
>>>>>>>> 70 - 102 Flinders Street | Townsville | Queensland 4810 | Australia
>>>>>>>> t +61 7 47 260 642 | f +61 7 47 212 093 | m +61 407 117 998 |
>>>>>>>> www.qm.qld.gov.au
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Affiliate, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland
>>>>>>>> ResearchGate | Google Scholar | Staghorn Corals Website
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
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>>>>>>>> Coral-List mailing list
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>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Douglas Fenner
>>>>>>> Consultant, corals, coral reefs, coral identification
>>>>>>> "have regulator, will travel"
>>>>>>> PO Box 7390
>>>>>>> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> phone 1 684 622-7084
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Join the International Society for Reef Studies.  Membership includes a
>>>>>>> subscription to the journal Coral Reefs, and there are discounts for pdf
>>>>>>> subscriptions and developing countries.  Check it out!  www.fit.edu/isrs/
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> "Belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."- Jim
>>>>>>> Beever.
>>>>>>> "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own
>>>>>>> facts."-
>>>>>>> Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Record shattering February warmth bakes Alaska, Arctic 18oF
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/03/13/3759569/record-february-warmth-alaska-arctic/
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Sea level is now rising at the fastest rate in 3,000 years.
>>>>>>> http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/sea-levels-are-rising-their-fastest-rate-2000-years?utm_campaign=email-news-latest&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=292592
>>>>>>> http://mashable.com/2016/02/22/manmade-sea-level-rise-flooding/#fscPLGedCiqz
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Miami is flooding: "The Siege of Miami, as temperatures rise, so will sea
>>>>>>> levels."  Sea level rising an inch a year there.
>>>>>>> http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/21/the-siege-of-miami
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> website:  http://independent.academia.edu/DouglasFenner
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> blog: http://ocean.si.edu/blog/reefs-american-samoa-story-hope
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> Coral-List mailing list
>>>>>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
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>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Coral-List mailing list
>>>>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>>>>> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -- 
>>>> Douglas Fenner
>>>> Consultant, corals, coral reefs, coral identification
>>>> "have regulator, will travel"
>>>> PO Box 7390
>>>> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>>>> 
>>>> phone 1 684 622-7084
>>>> 
>>>> Join the International Society for Reef Studies.  Membership includes a subscription to the journal Coral Reefs, and there are discounts for pdf subscriptions and developing countries.  Check it out!  www.fit.edu/isrs/
>>>> 
>>>> "Belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."- Jim Beever.   "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts..."- Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
>>>> 
>>>> Solar can power more than 100 times America's current electricity needs, a new report finds
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/solar-can-power-more-than-100-times-americas-current-electricity-needs-new-report-finds
>>>> 
>>>> Record shattering February warmth bakes Alaska, Arctic 18oF
>>>> 
>>>> http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/03/13/3759569/record-february-warmth-alaska-arctic/
>>>> 
>>>> Sea level is now rising at the fastest rate in 3,000 years.
>>>> http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/sea-levels-are-rising-their-fastest-rate-2000-years?utm_campaign=email-news-latest&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=292592
>>>> http://mashable.com/2016/02/22/manmade-sea-level-rise-flooding/#fscPLGedCiqz
>>>> 
>>>> website:  http://independent.academia.edu/DouglasFenner
>>>> 
>>>> blog: http://ocean.si.edu/blog/reefs-american-samoa-story-hope
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Coral-List mailing list
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>> 
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>> The contents of this electronic message and any attachments are intended only for the addressee and may contain privileged or confidential information... 
>> They may only be used for the purposes for which they were supplied.
>> If you are not the addressee, you are notified that any transmission, distribution, downloading, printing or photocopying of the contents of this message 
>> or attachments is strictly prohibited. 
>> The privilege of confidentiality attached to this message and attachments is not waived, lost or destroyed by reason of mistaken delivery to you. 
>> If you receive this message in error please notify the sender by return e-mail or telephone. 
>> Please note: the Queensland Museum carries out automatic software scanning, filtering and blocking of E-mails and
>> attachments (including emails of a personal nature) for detection of viruses, malicious code, SPAM, executable programs or content it deems unacceptable. 
>> All reasonable precautions will be taken to respect the privacy of individuals as outlined in the QM Privacy Plan. 
>> Personal information will only be used for official purposes, e.g. monitoring Departmental Personnel's compliance with Museum Policies. 
>> Personal information will not be divulged or disclosed to others, unless as required by Museum Policy and/or State or Commonwealth Law.
>> ******************** Disclaimer *******************
>> 
>> 
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Risk, Michael
riskmj at mcmaster.ca





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