[Coral-List] Bleaching refuges

Deborah Burn deborah.burn at hotmail.com
Fri Apr 15 08:23:32 EDT 2016


Dear listers,
I've been reading this thread with great interest and am interested in trialing this shade cloth idea, however i'm not sure it will work given my situation.... I'm based on an island in the Maldives, where our 2m deep fore reef has bleached extensively within the last week, with data loggers showing 31C. Our reef has low coral cover (possibly caused by previous El Ninos - my best guess, as no surveying was done here pre 2012), but is showing good recruitment rates. We run a coral rehabilitation project in an effort to restore some structural and functional integrity to areas which are recovering slower. Our methods are after Levy et al 2010, by nursing corals on ropes at 5m depth, 2m above the sandy sea floor prior to transplantation. I have about 5000 corals currently in the nursery, which is 10m by 20m, and am waiting for the bleaching to inevitably happen. Despite my sadness, this is an ideal situation for research during this event, and I have been reading this thread hoping someone might offer a solution i have failed to come up with. I was interested in the shade cloth idea, but was wondering if anyone has any insight as to whether it would be worth shading such a small area? I have three questions:1. If the surrounding water is hot, will shade cloth make a significant enough difference on the temperature of the water over such a small area, or would this idea need to be tested over much larger areas? Any advice/ other ideas will be of great help!2. Failing this idea, has anyone relocated coral nurseries to deeper, cooler areas? 3. Whilst we know bleaching is a natural response, and may recover, I wonder at which point does a bleaching event become long enough for me to start taking drastic measures to save my nursery grown corals? I don't want to risk the stress of relocation unless i have to...
Thanks in advance,Debs
> From: beridl at g.cofc.edu
> Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2016 20:23:08 -0400
> To: douglasfennertassi at gmail.com
> CC: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Bleaching refuges
> 
> Well that's news to me.  We seriously need to come up with some way to immediately assist these corals though.  Has anyone been trying anything? Are we just hoping that these events will act as genetic bottle necks and only the corals that can survive will remain and reproduce?  
> 
> There has to be some rogue scientists or citizens taking some unique and experimental approaches to mitigate this disaster.  So far just the Bleaching task force has gather quantitative data on the extent of the bleaching correct? 
> 
> Also, could laying a tarp over the water to reduce PAR, kill PS planktonic animals? 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> > On Mar 31, 2016, at 8:07 PM, Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Unfortunately, the calcification process actually releases CO2 into the water, even though C is put into the skeleton (in the form of carbonate, CO3).  It is counter intuitive.
> > 
> > Cheers,  Doug
> > 
> > WARE, J. R., S. V. SMITH, AND M. L. REAKA-KUDLA. 1992. Coral reefs: Sources or sinks of atmospheric CO,? Coral Reefs 11: 127-130. 
> > 
> > Frankignoulle, M., Canon, C., Gattuso, J-P. 1994.  Marine calcification as a source of carbon dioxide: Positive feedback of increasing atmospheric CO2..  Limnol. Oceanogr. 39: 458-462.  
> > 
> >> On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 12:01 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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> >>>> >>
> >>>> >>
> >>>> >>
> >>>> >> --
> >>>> >> 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
> >>>> >> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >>>> > _______________________________________________
> >>>> > Coral-List mailing list
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> >>>> > 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
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > 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
> > 
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