[Coral-List] Transformation of Caribbean reefs

[Phillip Dustan]

Joe,
 ONe more thing about the changes that are taking place.
This has been going on for years and years. (
https://biospherefoundation.org/project/coral-reef-change/) every since teh
diadema "went away".
SCTLD  is the latest episode in this tragic tale of neglect, hubris, and
mismanagement.


On Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 12:45 PM Pawlik, Joseph via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Colleagues,
>
>      Because of the pandemic, many of us are not doing field-work,
> traveling, or diving. For those of us who work on reefs in the Caribbean,
> many have missed the accelerating loss of the remaining stony corals,
> particularly at fore-reef depths >10 m.
> This link provides video surveys from January 2021 of reefs on the NW and
> SW sides of the island of Roatan, Honduras, and a seamount between the
> island and mainland.
> https://youtu.be/507OpUfd3Mc
> You can see the final stages of coral loss due to recent bleaching events
> and disease. Seaweeds, sponges, and octocorals now dominate the benthos.
> Near-shore and seamount reefs have been similarly affected, suggesting that
> local run-off and point-sources of pollution are not the primary causes of
> coral loss.
>      A video from a year ago documents the final stages of coral loss on
> the fore-reefs of the Turks and Caicos. The pace of coral loss appeared
> more rapid there, but the outcome was the same.
> https://youtu.be/11ywGm33wnM
> The purpose of these posts is not to depress the heck out of everyone
> (however likely), but to raise awareness of the reality of Caribbean reefs
> at the present time. It is one thing to look at a graph of declining
> percentage cover of stony corals (with the most recent data from several
> years ago), and another to see the current state of the reefs.
>
> Regards,
>
> 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
>
> **************************************************************
>
>
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-- 



Phillip Dustan PhD
Charleston SC  29424
843-953-8086 office
843-224-3321 (mobile)

"When we try to pick out anything by itself
we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords
that cannot be broken, to everything in the universe. "
*                                         John Muir 1869*

*A Swim Through TIme on Carysfort Reef*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCPJE7UE6sA
*Raja Ampat Sustainability Project video*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RR2SazW_VY&fbclid=IwAR09oZkEk8wQkK6LN3XzVGPgAWSujACyUfe2Ist__nYxRRSkDE_jAYqkJ7A
*Bali Coral Bleaching 2016 video*

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo>*
TEDx Charleston on saving coral reefs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwENBNrfKj4
Google Scholar Citations:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HCwfXZ0AAAAJ