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

Wed Nov 30 16:41:05 UTC 2022

Thanks Doug:

I had a similar experience at Cane Bay a couple of Januart's ago. At a
depth of ca. 120 ft, nearly every large Agaricia (I don't know the species,
but they were ca 2 m across) were stripped by bleaching). Also, numerous
species of massive corals were bleached to varying degrees on the mid shelf
(d = 10-20 meters. This is always sad to see, but particularly troubling
given that this is the coldest month in the year.

Dennis

On Sun, Nov 27, 2022 at 12:03 PM 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
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-- 
Dennis Hubbard - Emeritus Professor: Dept of Geology-Oberlin College
Oberlin OH 44074
(440) 935-4014

* "When you get on the wrong train.... every stop is the wrong stop"*
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