Bleaching in American Samoa - March 2001

Alan E Strong Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
Tue Apr 10 08:44:13 EDT 2001


American Somoans!

HotSpots have been lurking to the west of you [yes, more toward Samoa]
but close to what we believe to be critical since early March!  We have
learned a few weeks ago that some corals were observed to have bleaching
in or around Fagatele Bay...You can you see our newest posting (April
SSTs about to update):
http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad/sub/sub_img/SST_Fagatele.gif

Presently we are showing SSTs at 29.6... flirting with 30C!

Keep those corals shaded!

Cheers,
Al

Craig Mundy wrote:

> Dear listers,
>
> From March 3 to March 21, Chuck Birkeland, Alison Green and
> myself were in American Samoa conducting surveys in Fagatele
> Bay, and other sites around Tuituila. Below is a summary of our
> observations on coral bleaching during this period.
>
> The coral bleaching was realatively minor, with the proportion
> bleached (of total coral present) in the order of 1-2%, and never
> more than 5%. However, the majority of individuals of two species -
> Leptoria phrygia and Montastrea curta - were bleached. Individuals
> of several other species were also bleached or partially bleached
> (Acropora crateriformis, Leptastrea purpurea, Goniastrea edwardsi,
> G. retiformis, Fungia spp, and some branching acropora's), but a
> considerably smaller proportion of the population in these species
> were affected.
>
> A noticeable aspect of the bleaching, even though minor, was that
> bleached corals were observed at all sites visited (8), and at all
> depths, and the same group of species were affected at each site.
> There was no obvious difference in prevalence of bleaching from the
> reef crest down to 126 ft depth. There may be a tendency for the
> north shore to have a bit more than the south. The worse case of
> bleaching we observed was at Cape Larsen on the north side of
> Tuituila, and Masefau (also north shore) was also relatively strong.
>
> We saw little, if any, evidence of disease. Chuck B was looking for
> Dustan's diseases, but didn't really see anything out of the
> ordinary.  CLOD for crustose coralline algae was still present in
> Fagatele Bay, but very very rare.
>
> Regards
>
> Craig
>
> Craig Mundy
> Institute for Conservation Biology
> Department of Biological Sciences
> University of Wollongong
> Wollongong, NSW 2522
> Australia
>
> Ph: (02) 4221 4911
> Fax: (02) 4221 4135
> Email: cmundy at uow.edu.au
>
> ~~~~~~~
> For directions on subscribing and unsubscribing to coral-list or the
> digests, please visit www.coral.noaa.gov, click on Popular on the
> menu bar, then click on Coral-List Listserver.

--
**** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< *******
Alan E. Strong
Phys Scientist/Oceanographer
  NOAA/NESDIS/ORA/ORAD -- E/RA3
  NOAA Science Center -- RM 711W
  5200 Auth Road
  Camp Springs, MD 20746-4304
        Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
             301-763-8102 x170
      FAX: 301-763-8108
  http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad

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