[Coral-List] what does this new analysis tell us???

Phillip Dustan phil.dustan at gmail.com
Tue Feb 8 14:46:46 UTC 2022


Dear Listers,
   Coral monitoring began using transects that we first used to understand
the distribution of corals on reefs. Scientists found that corals grow in
patches dictated by the prevailing environmental conditions. These patches
were frequently expressed as long bands or groves dominated by a few
species that ran parallel to the shoreline or perpendicular to the
prevailing seas. Tom Goreau's  Ecology of West Indian Coral Reefs 1:
Species Composition and Zonation  as well as Pacific accounts by the likes
of John Wells and others pointed this out beautifully.  Coral cover in some
zones was, and still may be, very high approaching 100% but it depends on
the methodology. Does one count the intercolony spaces between Acropora
palmata branches or foliose Agaricia plates?  This was the great debate of
the 1970-80's, "How best to measure coral cover"- lines, points, chains,
photos, quadrats,........the quest was on for the ultimate measure.   Some
of us revisited out old study sites to look for change out of curiosity.
Then, reefs began to die and coral monitoring became the mantra- Monitor
reefs for conservation.  Reef monitoring  EXPLODED! In some places it
became institutionalized. Fixed vs "random" sampling was the new dilemma;
How many transects, photos, points- the search was on again for the
"ultimate" measure.
 All the while reefs were winking out episodically.  A rash of disease, or
mass bleaching event would strike and coral cover would drop accordingly.
Corals would regrow is the interval between acute stress was long enough.
All the while though, oter factors continued to "eat away" are live corals.
In places where I have remeasured the same reef, I have witnessed losses of
over 90% in the Florida Keys where the zones were richly covered. On
Dancing Lady Reef in Discovery Bay, Jamaica, the cover of  Orbicella spp on
the fore reef slope dropped from over 50% to less than 10 and from +25% to
near 0% on the fore reef terrace (
https://biospherefoundation.org/project/coral-reef-change/). This was just
a single species and the reef was heavily covered with other species. My
studies in NW Bali, Indonesia revealed a 44% loss from a single bleaching
event as measured with repeat transects. The Bahamas yielded similar
results due to bleaching combined with hurricanes. OVerall, the Florida
Keys has lost over 38% cover since 1996 using repeated marked video
transects.. My point is that these studies are all with repeated measure
methods and they all reveal the same ecological slide into loss of
ecological integrity.  Detecting change is not the same as tabulating coral
cover.
    A number of years ago I asked Listers  if there were any healthy reefs
in the Caribbean. It generated a raft of replies, but none positive. Maybe
a few were missed and there are whole expeditions roaming the seas looking
for healthy reefs now so they can be "protected". And liveaboard dive boats
roam ply the tropics promising pristine adventures on ever increasingly
more remote reefs (which are running out).    Coral reefs are tough. They
used to be hard to kill by natural means, but humans are a different story.
Until we deal with how humanity integrates itself into the Biosphere, no
reef or any other natural habitat for that matter, will be safe from
humanity's global reach of destruction.
We may be making a few tenuous steps in the right direction but you just
can't put a happy face on any of this......
Phil


On Mon, Feb 7, 2022 at 7:00 PM Eugene Shinn via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> I agree with Alina Szmant's comments. I began diving in the Florida Keys
> in the 1950s. Also visited many Caribbean reefs in the 1980s and 1990s.
> All I saw was reefs going down hill after 1983 including those at San
> Salvador which is located well east of the Main Bahama banks reefs. See
> a portion of the dying Florida reefs
> here:<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnIzLTi0HGs
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnIzLTi0HGs>> Eugene Shinn
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>


-- 



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


More information about the Coral-List mailing list