[Coral-List] sad demise of the mesophotic plate coral fields in Jamaica
William Precht
william.precht at gmail.com
Tue Nov 29 16:59:19 UTC 2022
Doug et al.
I have some of the data in question regarding the impacts to coral cover
between 30-40 meters at Discovery Bay, Jamaica (specifically at LTS Reef on
the west fore reef)
Unfortunately, for these deeper sites I only have five surveys over a 26
year period (1978-2004).
In 1978 - coral cover (using LPI surveys) was 68.0 +/- 5.4%
The most abundant corals were as follows
AUND
AGRA
ALAM
OANN (species complex - photos are mostly plating OFRA)
MCAV
Minor corals noted included
HCUC
MFER
MALI
MDEC
MMIR
PAST
EFAS
SCUB
SSID
MMEA
CNAT
AFRA
In 1984 - 3 1/2 years after the passage of Hurricane Allen and about six
months after the Diadema die off - coral cover remained high at 61.6% +/-
4.8%. The minor losses appeared to be related to an increase in threespot
damsel territories at this depth (not noted in 1978). No physical damage
from Hurricane Allen was noted by me deeper than 30 m.
In 1987, 1988, and 1989 there were three consecutive years of bleaching -
many corals remained partially bleached and paled through the winter months
even at depth. These bleaching events in Jamaica were well documented.
Hurricane Gilbert also impacted the shallow reefs in September of 1988.
Deep surveys performed in February of 1990 with Peter Gayle at LTS Reef
revealed that coral cover had significantly dropped to 36.6 +/- 5.2%. The
losses were concentrated in the Agaricids - mostly AGRA and ALAM and these
all looked like they had died recently.
Reefs at DBML suffered a significant bleaching event in summer/fall of
1998.
Deep surveys performed in February of 1999 at LTS Reef revealed that coral
cover had dropped to 28.5 +/- 6.2%. The losses were concentrated in the
Agaricids - almost all the plating Agaricia were dead. The dominant
species was now the OANN species complex (plating OFRA) and some MCAV. I
have photos from the spring of 1999 that show plating ALAM total bleached
next to OFRA with normal coloration at 30 m (100ft).
The last time I was there and performed deep surveys was in the Winter of
2004 (with Jim Leichter of Scripps). Coral cover had declined to 14.3
+/- 4.4% The predominant coral was plating OFRA with a few colonies of
MCAV and MALI Most dead corals were covered with macroalgae - mostly
Lobophora and Dictyota. Btw. While coral cover in 2004 at this depth was
only 14%, the same reef at 20 m was < 5%.
Thanks to the encouragement of Judy Lang - I have retrieved and gone
through my historical files from Discovery Bay and been writing a book
chapter on changes observed from 1978 to present. I am hoping to revisit
all my sites at LTS Reef at least one more time before it’s completed.
This, especially in light of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) which
ran through the reefs on the north coast of Jamaica in 2018-2019.
This 45 year history is a sad story indeed.
Bill
On Mon, Nov 28, 2022 at 3:25 PM Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> Phil,
> Thanks very much for the clarification!! One more example of the coral
> having died before people realized it had happened, because no one was
> monitoring it. In this case, diving that deep is difficult and dangerous,
> so there is a good reason why it wasn't being monitored. But the
> assumption that it was OK was totally wrong. Amazing no one dove it even
> once a decade, even just taking a look at it would have revealed it had
> died and maybe the cause like disease. Thanks again! Cheers, Doug
>
> On Mon, Nov 28, 2022 at 2:49 AM Phillip Dustan <phil.dustan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear Listers,
> > Following up on Judy Lang's comments about the Jamaican North Coast:
> > Between 2013 and 2018 I dove the fore reef slope of Discovery Bay on
> > multiple occasions.
> > While the photographs speak for themselves (
> > https://biospherefoundation.org/project/coral-reef-change/), the reefs
> > have pretty much lost their ecologica; integrity. You may want to argue
> > about what that means, but to me the stony corals are no longer
> > contributing to reef building. The robust Orbicella skeletons are still
> in
> > growth position, most of the Agaricias are gone, and almost all are being
> > overgrown by algae- macro and micro. The smaller infilling species are
> also
> > vanishing under an algal carpet. Corals that remain alive are coping with
> > white plague and other diseases.......
> > When I arrived at DBML in the fall of 2013, everyone at the lab thought
> > the fore reef slope was still in good shape, but that was because no one
> > had dived there in years because it was too deep to visit so we have no
> > record of when it began to change. Change was probably slower due to
> light
> > limitation and, for sure, any sort of "recovery" will be much slower too,
> > if at all possible.
> > Phil
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 28, 2022 at 7:59 AM Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
> > coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> >> I saw the foliose fields of Agaricia undata at Dairy Bull, just east of
> >> Discovery Bay, Jamaica when we dove it in February, 1991, and all that I
> >> saw was healthy. We did not dive the pinnacles so I cannot speak to
> them.
> >> However, the deep Agaricia fields of Dairy Bull were clearly not killed
> by
> >> Hurricane Allen in 1980, unless they recovered completely, which in 10
> >> years is not out of the question, though at that depth they might grow
> >> slower (?). If they were damaged and recovered, then they have been
> killed
> >> again. There may well be someone else who dove them between 1980 and
> 2017
> >> who can add to this. I'd be surprised if no one else dove any of those
> >> deep foliose beds during that period. Anybody else dive them between
> 1980
> >> and 2017?
> >>
> >> On Sun, Nov 27, 2022 at 7:16 PM Paul Muir <paularwen at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> > 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
> >> >>
> >> >> Fixing methane leaks is a fast and vast help for climate change, and
> >> pays
> >> >> for itself.
> >> >>
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-fixing-methane-leaks-oil-132702814.html
> >> >>
> >> >> 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
> >> >> _______________________________________________
> >> >> Coral-List mailing list
> >> >> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >> >> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >> >
> >> >
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Coral-List mailing 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
> > <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
> >
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
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--
William F. Precht
“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice
you have”
Bob Marley
"Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't
have the strength."
Theodore Roosevelt
"Courage is the foundation of integrity"
Mark Twain
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