[Coral-List] Observations of current bleaching impacts in Pacific Islands
arthur
webbarthur at gmail.com
Tue May 3 18:04:41 EDT 2016
Hello Coral-List,
Like everyone here I've watched with great concern as the current
bleaching event has unfolded. Reading the reviews out of NOAA (thanks so
much for the excellent information and services you continue to provide)
and reading the survey updates from our colleagues working in the Great
Barrier Reef leaves me wondering how widespread and bad things are in my
"back-yard", the Pacific Islands region (I'm based in Tarawa). From what
I can tell it seems to have affected countries mostly near and north of
the equator but there is so little quantitative data or information on
spatial extent and severity of impacts I'm unsure if this is correct? In
many cases it's only possible to assume the extent and level of impacts
based on remotely sensed SST data.
Questions of reef system function, persistence and productivity are for
us pivotal to the very survival of whole communities, ways of life and
indeed the persistence of many of our islands as habitable environments.
I'm trying to gather quantitative information regarding observations
from the Pacific region on the current event? I've read some material
from the Hawaiian group, Marshall Islands and Guam but much is anecdotal
or stories in the popular media, etc. All up I'm struggling to find
sound quantitative studies for the Pacific Islands.
Can anyone highlight studies or research in the region regarding the
current event, any information or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Arthur
__________________________________________
Dr Arthur Webb
Senior Fellow - ANCORS
University of Wollongong
webbarthur at gmail.com
http://ancors.uow.edu.au/index.html
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