[Coral-List] sad demise of the mesophotic plate coral fields in Jamaica

[Paul Muir]

The DRR is pretty out of favour these days, but the "slightly deep reef
refuge" is very promising and largely uncharted.  Depths 25-40m hold a
large proportion of the shallow-water species (at least in the Northern
GBR), may be genetically similar to shallow pops and appear to be quite
protected from mass bleaching (at least in the Maldives in 2016) and
perhaps somewhat from tropical storms. But frustratingly, very little data
on this widespread potential natural refuge - which of course fuels furious
debate!

BTW is there some suggestion that the hurricane was responsible for the
decline of those deep corals- it's hard enough to pin down the causes of
mass mortality in the shallow reef, let alone the mesophotic...

PAUL MUIR
Independent Consultant



On Mon, 28 Nov 2022 at 03:05, Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Some years after Hurricane Allen I got to see the glorious field of
> Agaricia undata in the upper mesophotic at Discovery Bay, Jamaica.  At that
> time corals on the upper and mid-slope were long gone, starting in 1980
> with Hurricane Allen, but these deep plates, a big monospecific stand, were
> doing fine.
>       Now, sadly, I find out that they are now mostly dead.  This doesn't
> bode well for the deep refuge hypothesis, it seems.  Not only were they
> killed, but the same species is not present in shallow water.
>
> Two papers:
>
> Dustin, P., Chapentier, B. H., Wheeler, L., and Lang, J. C. 2018. A short
> report on the changing ecology of the Pinnacle Reefs of Discovery Bay,
> Jamaica; 1970’s to 2018. Pp. 23-31 in Gochfeld, D.J. and Herrlinger, T.J.
> (Eds.), *Diving for Science** 2018:Proceedings of the American Academy of
> Underwater Sciences 37th** Symposium.*
>
>
> Dustin, P. and Lang, J. 2019. Discovery Bay, Jamaica. Pp. 85-109 in Loya,
> Y., Puglise, K. A., and Bridge, T. L. (eds.), *Mesophotic Ecosystems*.
> Springer.
>
> More papers:
>
>
> Motti, C. A., Cummins, S. F., and Hall, M. R. 2022. A review of the Giant
> Triton  (*Charonia tritonis*), from exploitation to coral reef
> protector? *Diversity
> *14(11): 961.
>
>
> Radice, V. Z., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Fry, B., Fox, M. D., and Dove, S. G.
> 2019. Upwelling as the major source of nitrogen for shallow and deep
> reef-building corals across and oceanic atoll system. *Functional Ecology*
> 33: 1120-1134.
>
>
> Rocha L. A., Pinheiro, H. T., Shepherd, B., Papastamatiou, Y. P., Luiz, O.
> J., Pyle, R. L., and Bongaerts, P. 2018. Mesophotic coral ecosystems are
> threatened and ecologically distinct from shallow water reefs. *Science*
> 361: 281-284.
>
>
> Streit, R. P., Cumming, G. S., and Bellwood, D. R. 2019. Patchy delivery of
> functions undermines functional diversity in a high diversity system.
> *Functional
> Ecology* 33: 1144-1155.
>
>
> Traylor-Knowles, N., Baker, A. C., Beavers, K. M., Garg, N., Guyon, J. R.,
> Hawthorn, A., MacKnight, N. J., Medina, M., Mydlarz, L. D., Peters, E. C.,
> et al. 2022. Advances in coral immunity ‘omics in response to disease
> outbreaks. *Frontiers** in Marine Science* 9: 952199.
>
>
> Williams, G. J. and Graham, N. A. J. 2019. Rethinking coral reef functional
> futures. *Functional Ecology* 33: 943-946.
>
>
> Woodhead, A. J., Hicks, C. C., Norström, A. V., Williams, G. J., and
> Graham, N. A. J. 2019. Coral reef ecosystem services in the
> Anthropocene. *Functional
> Ecology* 33: 1023-1034.
>
>
> Zawada, K. J. A., Madin, J. S., Baird, A. H., Bridge, T. C. L., and
> Dornelas, M. 2019. Morphological traits can track coral reef responses to
> the Anthropocene. *Functional Ecology* 33: 962-975.
>
>
> 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
>
>
>  Riegl B., Berumen M., Bruckner A. 2013.  Coral population trajectories,
> increased disturbance and management intervention: a sensitivity analysis.
> Ecology and Evolution 3(4): 1050–106
>
>
> C. A. Ward-Paige, H. Sykes B , G. J. Osgood A and J. Brunnschweiler. 2022.
> Community-driven shark monitoring for informed decision making: a case
> study from Fiji. Pacific Conservation Biology: PC22009.
>
>
> Hughes, T. P, Ayre, D., Connell, J. H. 1992. The evolutionary ecology of
> corals. *Trends **in Ecology and Evolution* 7:292–295.
>
>
> 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
>
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