[Coral-List] amazing recovery of corals in the Southern Line Islands after bleaching mortality

Thu Nov 3 20:39:59 UTC 2022

More on the Southern Line Islands, it looks like they are going really
big with this on National Geographic.  This is the promotional clip
https://youtu.be/okaECR2_DzI

Very impressive!   The fish do look to be quite abundant, but of a
golden yellow species I am not familiar with.  They certainly are
doing well on a Montipora dominated reef!
I can certainly see how the beauty and fish abundance would blind
anyone to even remotely considering that this amazing reef represents
a degraded coral population and an alternate steady-state condition.

After looking at the footage from 2009,  I see that the Acropora
population was already very low or perhaps absent.  Could this reef
already have experienced a shift in species, due to the 1987 mass
bleaching event, which lasted for 4-5 months?   The answer to that
question would be found on the beaches, and finding out what species
dominate the beach rubble, as that would show the past reef builders.
This is how we know that tabulate Acropora once dominated Kiritimati
Atoll in the Northern Line Islands, as the beaches are absolutely
covered in it, however the species is now locally extinct since the
2015-16 bleaching event.  We keep searching.

Regards,

Austin

Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands

https://www.corals4conservation.org
22 minute summary of climate change adaptation strategies
https://youtu.be/arkeSGXfKMk
TEDx talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PRLJ8zDm0U
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/

On Fri, Nov 4, 2022 at 7:54 AM Austin Bowden-Kerby
<abowdenkerby at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yes, Alina,
>
> Fish and the entire myriad of invertebrate species that associate with
> the original climax community have been neglected.
> Using coral cover alone to measure coral reef health is like using
> vegetation cover to measure forest health, where grass is equal to
> shrubs and trees!   As long as it is not barren rock or rubble, it
> passes as recovered!
>
> Tabulate Montipora just does not provide the same habitat- yes, the
> plates do have big spaces between them, but there are no fine branch
> spaces.  If digitate and branching Acropora and Pocillopora die out,
> even branching porites is better for the planktivorous and juvenile
> fish than are tabulate coral species. This is observational, we are
> now looking more into it.  Of course the coral dwelling crabs and
> shrimp are quite species specific as well.
>
> Enjoy the fall weather!   I miss the beauty and peace of the Sound,
> which was our family home for some nine generations.  My Great
> Grandfather was Elijah Hewlett, of Hewlett's Creek.  Dr. Anne McCrary
> UNCW's invertebrate zoologist, was my Aunt. Landfall on Wrightsville
> Sound, which sold for over a billion dollars a few decades back, was
> the old Bowden Plantation, which my second great grandfather "gave
> away" before he died in 1898, related to the Wilmington
> "Insurrection", and the fact that his grandmother was African.
>
> And here we are on the verge of planetary collapse and massive sea
> level rise, threatening to erase the coral reefs and the sounds and
> shores we grew up on within the next few generations, and all due to
> human excess, materialism, and a vastly unjust global economic order.
> Excessive wealth, not poverty, is driving the collapse, and much of
> that wealth was stolen via massive land theft, genocide, slavery, and
> colonialism.
>
> Regards,
>
> Austin
>
> Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
> Corals for Conservation
> P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
> 22 minute summary of climate change adaptation strategies
> https://youtu.be/arkeSGXfKMk
> https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 4, 2022 at 1:21 AM Alina Szmant <alina at cisme-instruments.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Austin:
> >
> > From your post I glean that a missing component of the 'recovery ' studies you cited is an assessment of the fish communities that depend on specific coral species.
> >
> > Alina
> >
> >
> >
> > Dr. Alina M. Szmant,  CEO
> > CISME Instruments LLC
> >
> >
> >
> > -------- Original message --------
> > From: Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Date: 11/2/22 8:53 AM (GMT-05:00)
> > To: Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
> > Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] amazing recovery of corals in the Southern Line Islands after bleaching mortality
> >
> > Thanks Doug,
> >
> > Yes, this sounds encouraging- on the surface, and the photos are
> > beautiful!   However if you look more deeply, it is a lot less hopeful.
> > What this represents is yet another case of near total phase shift in the
> > coral population, and the local extinction of a whole list of species.  The
> > actual reality is this: due mass bleaching, the coral population of the
> > Southern Line Islands has gone from a diverse population dominated by
> > Pocillopora and Acropora, to one dominated by a single species of
> > Montipora.
> >
> > A similar phase shift has happened in Tarawa, in the Gilbert chain, due to
> > bleaching, with the end state being a single species: Porites rus (Cannon
> > et al, 2021).  In Kiritimati Atoll, the mass bleaching resulted in the
> > local extinction of many Acropora species and a big reduction in
> > Pocillopora, leaving behind only remnants of massive Porites and massive
> > Pavona, (Bowden-Kerby et al, 2021).  In Moorea, the phase shift has gone
> > from Acropora dominated to Pocillopora dominated (Edmunds, 2018; Carlot et
> > al, 2020), related to bleaching and COTS predation.  This phase shift has
> > been well documented for the Red sea as well (Riegl et al, 2013), with a
> > shift away from Acropora towards Pocillopora and Porites, attributed to a
> > combination of mass bleaching and COTS predation.
> >
> > These phase shifts transform the habitat characteristics of the reef, away
> > from what the original species.  The resulting reefs provide poor habitat
> > for juvenile fish and plankton-feeding fish like Chromis, which require
> > branching coral species.  These phase shifts represent weedy and
> > long-lasting coral species, which can dominate the settlement surfaces and
> > prevent larval based recovery of the reef back to its original coral
> > population. Few of these authors seem to understand this, and so they
> > celebrate and use the word "recovery" in their titles.  However, these
> > phase shifts represent degraded alternate steady-state conditions.
> > Unfortunately GCRMN will support these authors, as it only looks at coral
> > cover, not genera, and so it will not pick up or highlight these phase
> > shifts and species extinctions either.
> >
> > I have two recommendations related to this information:
> > 1. GCRMN needs to be updated to include coral genera!  Seriously- how can
> > GCRMN be missing so much of the plot?
> > 2. The authors of these sorts of "recovery" studies need to present phase
> > shifts with less glee and celebration. A more detached and honest view will
> > present the tragedy that has happened.  Yes, the alternative state
> > sometimes is rather glorious and beautiful, appearing to be an improvement
> > over barren rock, but the fact is that these phase shifts represent local
> > extinction events for coral species essential to ecosystem function,
> > fisheries, and coral reef geology.  And these phase shifts might also
> > prevent the return to the original populations, cementing in the extinction
> > event.
> >
> > We can not allow increasing coral cover to trick us into thinking that an
> > actual recovery has happened.
> > If we do, we risk being seduced by the enemy and missing the evil plot that
> > climate change is weaving, tricking us into inaction!
> >
> > I think that there is enough evidence to come to the conclusion that coral
> > reefs are dying out as a series of phase shifts.  Only this recognition
> > will help us refrain from celebrating the shift, and to stop labeling it
> > recovery.
> > Only by understanding these basic processes occurring on coral reefs under
> > increasing stress, can we then begin saving the reefs.
> >
> > What happens when the next mass bleaching event or perhaps predators or
> > disease kills off much of the Montipora of the Southern Line Islands?  Will
> > this unstick the alternative steady state and allow recovery? Not unless
> > there is a source of coral larvae from the original, now missing coral
> > species.  How does a high coral cover single-species dominated reef get
> > restored to its original highly diverse state?  On Kiritimati, after the
> > mass coral die-off in 2015-16, and while coral cover was still under 5% for
> > the two remaining massive species, we turned our focus to finding the few
> > remnant survivors of formerly dominant Acropora and Pocillopora coral
> > species, and growing them within a recovery nursery.  The focus was on
> > restoring sexual process to the corals, by collecting the widely spaced and
> > ecologically extinct survivors, growing them, and getting them back
> > together.  While several formerly abundant Acropora coral species could not
> > be found, we have succeeded in restoring reproduction to patches of seven
> > Acropora and two Pocillopora species.
> >
> > A 22 minute presentation on our 'Reefs of Hope' strategies is here
> > https://youtu.be/arkeSGXfKMk    And to the list: we welcome self-funded
> > research partners and graduate students in our sites.
> >
> > Vinaka, and kind regards to all,
> >
> > Austin
> >
> > Cannon SE, Aram E, Beiateuea T, Kiareti A, Peter M, Donner SD (2021) Coral
> > reefs in the Gilbert Islands of Kiribati: Resistance, resilience, and
> > recovery after more than a decade of multiple stressors. PLoS ONE 16(8):
> > e0255304. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255304
> >
> > Edmunds, P.J.  Implications of high rates of sexual recruitment in driving
> > rapid reef recovery in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. 2018.  Nature: Scientific
> > Reports.  8:16615 doi:10.1038/s41598-018-34686-z
> >
> >
> > Carlot J., Rove`re A., Casella E., Harris D., Grellet-Mun C., Chancerelle
> > Y., Dormy E., Hedouin L., Parravicini V.  2020. Community composition
> > predicts photogrammetry-based structural complexity on coral reefs. Coral
> > Reefs. doi: 10.1007/s00338-020-01916-8
> >
> >
> > Riegl B., Berumen M., Bruckner A. 2013.  Coral population trajectories,
> > increased disturbance and management intervention: a sensitivity analysis.
> > Ecology and Evolution 3(4): 1050–1064
> >
> > doi: 10.1002/ece3.519
> >
> >
> > Bowden-Kerby, A., Romero, L., and Kirata T. 2021. Chapter 17: Line Islands
> > Case Study. In: Active Coral Restoration: Techniques for a changing planet,
> > David Vaughn, Editor. 610pp.
> >
> >
> >
> > Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
> > Corals for Conservation
> > P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
> >
> > https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
> > <https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Nov 2, 2022 at 6:01 AM Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
> > coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > > Once devastated, these Pacific reefs have seen an amazing rebirth
> > >
> > >
> > > https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/once-devastated-these-pacific-reefs-have-seen-an-amazing-rebirth-feature
> > >
> > > Cheers, Doug
> > >
> > > --
> > > Douglas Fenner
> > > Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
> > > NOAA Fisheries Service
> > > Pacific Islands Regional Office
> > > Honolulu
> > > and:
> > > Coral Reef Consulting
> > > PO Box 997390
> > > Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298  USA
> > >
> > > Switching to renewable energy could save trillions-up to $12 TRILLION by
> > > 2050.
> > > https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62892013
> > >
> > > 1 in 6 deaths worldwide can be attributed to pollution, new review shows
> > >
> > > https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/1-in-6-deaths-worldwide-can-be-attributed-to-pollution-new-review-shows/ar-AAXozQh
> > >
> > > UN: World on fast track to disaster, but we can avert it
> > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xBVD8r0aHQ
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Coral-List mailing list
> > > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > > https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list