[Coral-List] Rapid protocol to assess genus-level coral bleaching

Emily Darling edarling at wcs.org
Tue Apr 26 11:59:45 EDT 2016


Dear coral-list, colleagues, and friends,

Please find links below on a 'quick and dirty' methodology that assesses
genus-level patterns in coral bleaching. All you need is a slate and a
pencil. This is one methodology we have found helpful for rapid and
widespread assessments during bleaching, and includes an Excel template to
enter data and provide summary statistics (e.g., % and severity of bleached
colonies, % and severity of bleached colonies by genus, % total coral
cover).

A number of collaborative papers have arisen from this method, and the
informal sharing of information using these surveys. These papers have
described bleaching over time, with the intensity of temperature anomalies,
and large scale bleaching patterns. An extra spin off has been to evaluate
the patterns of coral community structure and diversity in our region, as
the method is very good at picking up community structure and diversity
patterns.

During the 2015-2016 bleaching event, so far we have received surveys from
Kenya, Madagascar, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Philippines, Indonesia and
subtropical Australia. All collaborations are welcomed, and I have also
started a GitHub repository where we will post code of bleaching severity
maps and R code for summary analyses.

PDF methodology
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxqRgPDYxPd5YTJjdEw1aFVWQkk/view?usp=sharing

Excel template
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxqRgPDYxPd5SHd0bU9FZXFsa1U/view?usp=sharing

GitHub repository for code, maps
https://github.com/esdarling/bleaching-surveys

Please be in touch with any questions.

Best regards,
Emily


-- 
Emily S. Darling, PhD
Associate Conservation Scientist
Wildlife Conservation Society
edarling (at) wcs.org
skype: emily_darling


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