[Coral-List] corals survive in turbid water (Eugene Shinn) Coral-List Digest, Vol 89, Issue 11

[Chowdula Satya narayana]

Dear Damien Beri,
The dams construction is not done for our restoration purpose and the control of sediment due to 
damming happened over many decades, which reduced the sediment load into Kachchh facilitating a chance 
for us to go for transplantation of staghorn corals which have become extirpated many years ago.  We 
are only trying some Ocean engineering interventions to locally control sediment and algae, the major 
threats to coral growth in our study area (Kachchh).  

In fact the sedimentation is a problem to the dams as well since it reduces its carrying capacity.  
When a river is stilled behind a dam, the sediments it contains sink to the bottom of the reservoir. 
The proportion of a river’s total sediment load captured by a dam – known as its "trap efficiency" As 
the sediments accumulate in the reservoir, the dam gradually loses its ability to store water for the 
purposes for which it was built. Every reservoir loses storage to sedimentation although the rate at 
which this happens varies widely.



On Wed, 13 Jan 2016 23:13:37 +0530 Damien Beri  wrote
>Thats incredible that the dams actually help reduce turbidity.  How often does the sediment need to be 
cleared from the specific dam, and whats the cost of removal?  Does the production of coral in non-
turbid environments which once were turbid offset the process of removing the sediment from the dam 
once it builds up behind the dam wall in the same time span? 
On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 2:33 PM, Chowdula Satya narayana  wrote:
Dear Professor,



I agree to the fact that impact of light on corals will reduce in turbid waters. But, the survival of

Siderastrea and Acropora in shaded waters may be a totally a different concept.  I am working with my

team in a turbid coral reef area in India located in a state called Gujarat.  It is Gulf of Kachchh and

the first Marine National Park in India.  Siderastrea savignayana in this region is surviving even in

highly muddy and murky environment and all the Acropora species surviving about 10 thousand years back

are totally extirpated primarily due to loads of sediment brought into the Gulf by adjacent rivers.

Gulf of Kachchh MNP is the less diverse coral reef environment in India with hardly about 50 hardy

species of scleractinians reported so far.  The corals are surviving primarily because of high tidal

amplitude, which keeps the waters always on the move without allowing the sediment/silt to settle on

corals.  Due to damming the rivers, now the sediment load has reduced to about one tenth and now we are

successfully transplanting acropora species from other reef regions with almost similar conditions to

Kachchh.  Probably this is the first of its kind effort in the world.  We have observed temporary

bleaching due to seasonal changes.  The corals got their colour back once the cold or hot spell is

over.  If you are interested, you are welcome to visit this unique environment.  Now we are

concentrating on reducing the sediment load further along with algal control using some ocean

engineering interventions.







On Tue, 12 Jan 2016 22:32:06 +0530 coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov wrote

>Send Coral-List mailing list submissions to



coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov







Message: 1



Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 13:07:31 -0500



From: Eugene Shinn



Subject: [Coral-List] corals survive in turbid water



To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov



Message-ID:



Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed







Attached is a paper with an unusual conclusion. It suggests



transplanting threatened corals to areas of turbidity to protect them



from sun light. The paper presents good evidence for the proposal. In



the Keys however, nearshore areas of high turbidity are also prone to



periodic chilling during sporadic cold fronts. I might add that while



most of the head corals and all of the Acroporids at Carysfort reef



located in clear water off the Florida Keys are suffering there is a



cluster of /Siderasterea siderea/ heads in the shade beneath the



lighthouse that are growing just fine. I have been photographing them



once a year for many years. Does this not suggest a place to perform a



simple experiment? Gene



http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fgcb.13166#.VpPXbbgXj08.email











--











No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)



------------------------------------ -----------------------------------



E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor



University of South Florida



College of Marine Science Room 221A



140 Seventh Avenue South



St. Petersburg, FL 33701







Tel 727 553-1158



---------------------------------- -----------------------------------

End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 89, Issue 11



******************************************





Dr. Ch. Satyanarayana,

Scientist

(Coral Taxonomist),

Zoological Survey of India,

(II Floor) Fire Proof Spirit Building,

Indian Museum Complex,

27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road,

Kolkata - 700 016.

Cell:9433325559

Phone: 091-033-22861608

       091-033-22521212

_______________________________________________

Coral-List mailing list

Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov

http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list





Dr. Ch. Satyanarayana,
Scientist
(Coral Taxonomist),
Zoological Survey of India,
(II Floor) Fire Proof Spirit Building,
Indian Museum Complex,
27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road,
Kolkata - 700 016.
Cell:9433325559
Phone: 091-033-22861608
       091-033-22521212