[Coral-List] Szmant 2002: Great review on nutrient enrichment on coral reefs (Gene Shinn)

Wed May 9 09:34:03 EDT 2018

Hello All,

The timing of the loss of the acroporids to WBD in the Wider Caribbean 
would be interesting data to compile.  Anybody know if this has been 
attempted?  On St. Croix, we noted WBD in the early to mid-70s. 
Gladfelter (1982, Bull. Mar. Sci. 32(3): 639) described it moving on a 
"front" along the linear structure of Tague Bay Reef.  It was largely 
gone by the late 80s.  John

On 5/8/2018 11:12 AM, William Precht wrote:
> Hi Joe,
>
> As a follow on to Gene's response most of the Acropora mortality  in the
> lower Keys and Dry Tortugas occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In
> the upper Keys the losses occurred between 1981-1987 with big dips
> occurring in 1983 (loss of ACER) and 1987 (loss of APAL).  By 1990
> essentially all the Acropora were gone across the entire reef tract..
>
> Gene's photo montage at Grecian shows this collapse starting in the late
> 1970s with total loss in 1983.  See also manuscript by Jaap et al; (1988 -
> ICRS Townsville Mtg) showing a 97% drop in ACER during 1983. While these
> losses are attributed to WBD -  Both 1983 and 1987 were also bleaching
> years in the Florida Keys.
>
> Much of this history was described in book chapter I wrote with Steven
> Miller.  Here is an excerpt from that manuscript.
>
> "Wells and Hanna (1992) noted anecdotally that acroporids from the Florida
>
> reef tract had up to 96% of reef cover in places in 1981. By 1986 these
> corals had
>
> succumbed to disease and were reduced to only 3% of the total reef cover.
> Jaap,
>
> Halas, and Muller (1988) measured a 96% decline in *A. cervicornis *at
> Molasses
>
> Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) during this same
>
> period. Gleason (1984) reported that by 1982 the acroporids had been
> exterminated
>
> on a large portion of the Florida reef tract, supporting a case for their
> complete
>
> protection (Antonius 1994a,b).
>
> Photographic evidence from Shinn shows that mass mortality of *A.
> cervicornis *at Grecian Rocks in
>
> the upper FKNMS occurred during 1978 to 1979 with complete loss by 1983
>
> (in Miller 2002). Before-and-after photographs in Ward (1990) also emphasize
>
> the dramatic and devastating effects of coral death related to WBD in the
> Florida Keys."
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bill
>
>
> On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 8:27 AM, Pawlik, Joseph <pawlikj at uncw.edu> wrote:
>
>> Hi Gene and list,
>>
>> Was the peak year for Caribbean coral demise in 1983?
>>
>> Zlatarski and the Halas did videos of Grecian and Dry Rocks reefs in 1987,
>> capturing the beginning of the end for reefs in the Key Largo Area -- check
>> out these videos (prepare to be depressed).
>>
>> https://youtu.be/LIbmsHmuxWk
>>
>> https://youtu.be/QV-XJZdPbk0
>>
>> In 1987, things were still very healthy, but the narration indicates that
>> diseased patches were observed.
>>
>> Is there any agreement on the span of demise of Acropora in the
>> Caribbean?  For the northern Keys, I would suggest that it's closer to
>> 1988-89, but I'd like confirmation of that by those who were there and
>> monitoring the reefs.
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> **************************************************************
>> Joseph R. Pawlik
>> Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor of Marine Biology
>> Dept. of Biology and Marine Biology
>> UNCW Center for Marine Science
>> 5600 Marvin K Moss Lane
>> Wilmington, NC  28409
>> Office:(910)962-2377; Cell:(910)232-3579
>> Website: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/index.html
>> PDFs: http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/pubs2.html
>> Video Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/skndiver011
>> **************************************************************
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml..noaa.gov> On Behalf Of Eugene Shinn
>> Sent: Thursday, May 3, 2018 12:54 PM
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Szmant 2002: Great review on nutrient enrichment
>> on coral reefs (Gene Shinn)
>>
>> John, I agree the Szmant 2002 paper on nutrient enrichment is a classic.
>> It was one of several papers consulted while we were developing our
>> African dust hypothesis. At the time it was already known that African dust
>> supplied the nutrients that stimulate Amazon rain forest growth.
>> Thus, African dust also seemed a viable explanation for benthic turf algal
>> blooms and demise of coral reefs around isolated Caribbean islands with
>> small human populations. It was noted early on that the peak year of coral
>> demise throughout the Caribbean was centered around 1983. That was also the
>> peak year of increased dust flux in the Atlantic. During this period of
>> time our USGS research revealed tidal pumping and offshore seepage of
>> nutrient rich ground water. Also at that time many researchers were finding
>> offshore surface waters contained insufficient amounts of nutrients to
>> readily explain benthic turf algal blooms, Thus, seepage of nutrient rich
>> ground water (enriched by anthropogenic sewage
>> nutrients) combined with sedimentation of atmospheric dust elements might
>> explain turf algal blooms and at the same time explain the relative lack of
>> dissolved nutrients in the overlying water column.
>>
>> So where are we now? For sure the demise of corals reefs continues
>> throughout the Caribbean and especially in Florida. It seems likely
>> increasing human population in the Keys and continued African dust flux
>> (enhanced by climate change) is ongoing. African dust nutrients are now
>> increasingly recognized as a stimulus for phytoplankton blooms in mid
>> Atlantic surface waters. Many studies have also shown the dust transports
>> viable bacteria and fungi along with toxic elements like mercury and
>> arsenic in addition to pesticides.. And now we have sunscreens containing
>> Oxybenzone to contend with. It is increasingly difficult to remain
>> optimistic. Gene
>>
>> See: Shinn, E.A., Smith, G.W., Prospero, J.M., Betzer, P., Hayes, M.L.,
>> Garrison, V., Barber, R.T., 2000, African dust and the demise of Caribbean
>> coral reefs: Geological Research Letters, v. 27, p. 3129-3032.
>>
>> Also see https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%
>> 2F%2Fcoastal.er.usgs.gov%2Fafrican_dust%2Fgallery.html&data=
>> 01%7C01%7Cpawlikj%40uncw.edu%7Cb7c8df1161b8417497ae08d5b1c3
>> 8c02%7C2213678197534c75af2868a078871ebf%7C1&sdata=h4vJogAotN
>> bVB9wmetx64b0FyuGlQllvSLlOAJnYtQs%3D&reserved=0
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> 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
>> <eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu>
>> Tel 727 553-1158
>> ---------------------------------- -----------------------------------
>>
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-- 
The ocean is the cradle of life on earth
And for 4 billion years of evolution
It has nurtured the biodiversity that sustains us.

John Ogden
USF Professor Emeritus, Integrative Biology
190 18th Avenue North
St. Petersburg, FL 33704 USA
Cell: 727-641-4673
Email: jogden at usf.edu
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