[Coral-List] functional extinction of D. cylindrus on the Florida Reef Tract.

Tue May 25 10:56:05 UTC 2021

Phil,

“Our challenge is to change the political will to do the right thing”

The real challenge is for many of your colleagues to find the courage to speak truth to power as you just did.

And not just in the abstract or conclusion sections of peer-reviewed papers.

Seems like most would prefer to ride the current wave until it breaks safely on the sandy shore. By then they will have avoided the hazard of crashing on any remains of the jagged reef below.

Thanks to you and Doug for speaking out.

Steve

On 5/22/21, 2:36 PM, Phillip Dustan <phil.dustan at gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Listers,

So why is the loss of Dendrogyra from the Florida Keys new or even important news?

Humans have wrecked the Florida Keys- plain and simple.

Reefs corals are below 2% cover, having lost about 95-98% of their abundance to the nested stresses of humanity.

Lots of species are now rare or functionally extinct.

For example, you would be very hard put to find a Mycetophyllia ferox or M. lamarckiana or Scolymia cubensis on any of the patch or outer reefs.

Corals are so threatened that they have been taken to aquarium "safe houses" to avoid the most recent plague of SCTLD.

Bioerosion is "melting"the reef framework.

The inshore reefs are practically dead; Hens and Chickens died years ago.

Dendrogyra cylindrus has simply tracked along the same path.

And now, NOAA is going to fix the reefs by replanting them with super corals.

Please, give me a break!

The astonishing thing is the complacency of this august coral reef scientific community.

The Florida Keys (and SE Florida) reefs exist at the margin of reef growth in the Western Atlantic; on the environmental fringe along the North America eastern coastline.

The geography selected for tough, resilient species and it has taken them a long time (by human standards) to die from our greed and pollution.

Unless the environment is "restored" to parameters that promote reef growth (clean water, lower temperatures, no take, etc) the trend will continue downwards.

And there will be more sad stories to write and talk about.

And one day sooner than later the reefs will be functionally extinct; as a matter of fact they probably are now.

Maybe it is time for the Coral List to become more purposeful and focus on the real problems, rather than the little sound bites that keep popping up.

All this degradation and death of virtually every ecosystem on Earth is shouting at us loud and clear that we need to fix the ecological infrastructure.

Just like our decaying roads, bridges, schools, and electrical grid, the ecological infrastructure, the basis of our great nation, is busted.

The loss of Dendrogyra from the Florida Keys is just the most recent tiny tip of the monstrous landslide that is underway.

Imagine If all the managers, politicians, and other silent coral-list members were to combine with the scientists we might become a more potent political force for change.

But that would be against the "NOAA rules" that define the purpose of the coral list, wouldn't it.

Maybe the Rights of Future Generations should overide presentday politics?

We know what the issues are and we have some pretty good ideas on what needs to be done.

Our challenge is to change the political will to do the right thing.

Phil

On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 11:21 PM Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov (mailto:coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov)> wrote:

Here is the original article:

Rapid population decline of the Pillar Coral Dendrogyra cylindrus along the

Florida Reef Tract

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.656515/full?fbclid=IwAR0KOjOkmwG05p6mvQoQZrn8Wi38z4fl2UKVK7SMizV5HzwzVGCJZ6aCFIo#B52

"Losses of 94% of coral tissue, 93% of colonies, and 86% of genotypes

between 2014 and the end of 2020 have led to functional extinction of *D.

cylindrus* on the FRT." (FRT = Florida Reef Tract)

"Large-scale efforts to improve water quality, and curb climate change are

also essential for creating the conditions that will allow for the

successful future restoration, survival, and wild reproduction of this

iconic and unique coral."

Folks, I think this is the thin end of the wedge, we are seeing the future

here, and it is ugly. The disease has spread widely in the Caribbean, and

this story is likely to be repeated over and over again across the

Caribbean, where the capacity to keep it alive and breed it in captivity is

less or non-existent. If we lose coral species, we can't put Humpty Dumpty

(the coral reef ecosystem) back together again.

This species, and *Ctenella chagius*, largely endemic to the Chagos

archipelago in the Indian Ocean, appear to me to be the two most endangered

coral species we know of on the planet. *Ctenella* has had a population

reduction of more than 99%, and the next big bleaching event there could

well finish it off. Attempts to keep it alive in captivity have failed,

and there is no facility for doing so in the archipelago. Freezing sperm

cannot save it. It is the only species in its genus, and there are only a

few species in its family, it is also listed as an EDGE coral. EDGE =

Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered.

https://www.edgeofexistence.org/

For the Ctenella story, see:

Coral mass mortalities in the Chagos Archipelago over 40 years: Regional

species and assemblage extinctions and

indications of positive feedbacks. Marine Pollution Bulletin 154: 111075

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X20301934

Included are some local coral extinctions, and references to more local

coral extinctions in Pacific Panama. The extinction wave of corals has

begun, and it isn't pretty.

Cheers, Doug

On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 12:17 AM Steve Mussman via Coral-List <

coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov (mailto:coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov)> wrote:

>

>

> https://www.wlrn.org/news/2021-05-19/pillar-coral-was-already-rare-on-florida-reefs-now-biologists-say-its-extinct

>

> Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our

> deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner

> sense of justice than we do. (Wendell Berry)

>

> _______________________________________________

> Coral-List mailing list

> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov (mailto:Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov)

> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

>

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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

TEDx Charleston on saving coral reefs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwENBNrfKj4

Google Scholar Citations:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HCwfXZ0AAAAJ