[Coral-List] Coral reefs under threat

Fri Aug 4 22:50:24 UTC 2023

Thanks for your concern Nohora,

Hopefully the people working with corals have many years of experience.
They will understand about heat, light and UV levels.  No one is promoting
a free-for-all by untrained people.
But the alternative of just watching them bleach as conditions worsen,
which is a lot more risky for the corals than moving them to safety.

When we need to move corals out of the water, we always use spray bottles
filled with sea water, and constantly spray them and shade them.  If
sprayed and shaded, and if possible kept out of the wind, corals do
amazingly well for several hours on deck, with no mortality at all.  If put
into tanks of water for the same long period, oxygenation can become a
problem, and the stress seems to be greater to the corals than when on the
deck and sprayed.

If moved from hot areas into cooler areas of the wider reef system, the
corals once established in their new home, also need to maintain their
original upright position, otherwise they will suffer from UV sunburn-like
secondary bleaching on formerly shaded surfaces.  So if the corals are
fragments, they must always go under shade, even if in cooler waters. We
have used 50% shade cloth over iron bar table nurseries supporting rope
culture in the summer months with 100% effectiveness.

For those who do not have the option of moving samples of everything into
cooler waters or into on-shore facilities, try shading your nurseries, as
the photosynthetic process needs to be suppressed- and that is what the
shading does.  Remember that the light reaction continues in hot waters,
but the dark reaction is broken, so the reaction continues to split water
molecules into H+ and OH- radicals, and because these ions are not fed into
the dark reaction to produce sugar, they combine with water to form H2O2 =
hydrogen peroxide.  This burns the coral tissues and so the corals
expel their algae in self defense.

The present global mean ocean temperature spike has been running over 21C
since July 18th, and it is not El Nino.  It has been traced to the delayed
impacts of the Tonga eruption, and likely combining with several
other factors, and the alarming thing is that it is predicted to last for
five years, and it may not have reached its maximum yet.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022GL099381?campaign=woletoc

https://www.livescience.com/tonga-eruption-water-vapor

Jason Box, an Arctic climatologist, just explained the global thermal spike
in this presentation, but due to the disconnect between scientific fields,
he missed the Tonga data: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYdvn2pGyOw
But it he mentions other combining factors, but whatever the cause, if the
off scale thermal spike holds, there is a chance that this will become the
new norm for our summers for several years, and so the summers of 2024 and
2025 could potentially be repeats?  We may need to change our operational
assumptions, to stop restoring and begin treating what we do as endangered
species conservation, and assisting the reefs to survive this crisis, via
facilitated climate change adaptation.

The Tonga eruption was massive:  "146,000 metric tons of additional water
vapor entered the stratosphere and mesosphere, reaching a maximum altitude
of 33 miles (53 km), which is in the mesosphere, the layer of the
atmosphere that extends from the top of the stratosphere to an altitude of
53 miles (85 km)."  This makes it the largest and highest injection of
water into the stratosphere since satellites began taking measurements.

"We estimate that the excess water vapor is equivalent to around 10% of the
amount of water vapor typically residing in the stratosphere," which is the
biggest increase in the records. The water vapor will remain in the
stratosphere for an estimated 5 years.  This excess water warms the
atmosphere, and persists much longer than the other volcanic gases, like
sulfur dioxide which leaves the atmosphere within 2-3 years, so the water's
warming effect only kicked in after the cooling effects of the other gases
were gone.  The Tonga explosion is the first eruption on record to cause a
warming effect, rather than a cooling effect, on the planet.

The mean ocean temperature began deviating in March, and has gone more and
more off scale since, with an increase of about 0.7C over a very short time
period.  Follow the unfolding drama on a day to day basis here:
https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/

If the marine heat wave has not hit your area yet, for areas of the
Caribbean with warm nearshore reefs and cooler offshore reefs, there is
still time to move samples of genotypes from the nearshore reefs out to
cooler outer reefs as a precautionary measure, to shade your nurseries, or
if the option exists, to move samples into cooler onshore tanks.  But if
you want to do this, you are racing time!

If engaging in field translocation, you had better locate the corals where
they are secure from the impacts of hurricanes, which although they can
save us by cooling the waters, they can also destroy reefs and coral
nurseries as well.  The best location for outer reef sites is behind reefs
and 1-2 meters lower than the reef, so that breaking waves roll over the
top, and located near passes and openings that let in cooler oceanic water.
More water movement also seems to suppress coral bleaching - but shade
cloth might get dragged off in such areas, so do account for that!  Deeper
nurseries might be more protected?  The link to my film below might help?
Iron bar rope nurseries lend well to shading, but the tree type nurseries
do not.

But as Nohora has reminded us, corals are not stones, they must be handled
with loving care!  Kept wet, cool and shaded during transport, and shaded
in their new location, as it is high UV season, plus you don't know how hot
it will get!

Take care over there, so much depends on what we do now!  And for areas
severely impacted, whatever survives now will become even more precious.
So protect it from the coral predators of all types by any and all means!
The predators will be absolutely starving for coral tissues!

Regards,

Austin

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

https://www.corals4conservation.org
Publication on C4C's coral-focused climate change adaptation strategies:
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/4/1/2/pdf
Film on our "Reefs of Hope" coral restoration for climate change adaptation
strategies:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG0lqKciXAA
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>

On Sat, Aug 5, 2023 at 9:04 AM International Coral Reef Observatory via
Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
>
> In the urgency of rescuing coral colonies from Coral Bleaching areas, they
> are being taken out of the sea to bring them without water ashore...
> forgetting that they are marine animals!! Let's protect better
> #LifeBelowWater Avoid lethal interventions that do not consider basic
> science.
>
> https://twitter.com/ArrecifesCoral/status/1687552205816020992
>
>
> Cordially,
> Nohora Galvis
> ICRS World Reef Award Winner
> ICRO Transdisciplinary Researcher
> International Coral Reef Observatory
> Follow us on Facebook.com/ICRObservatory
> on Twitter / Instagram / YouTube  ICR_Observatory
>
>
>
> El jue, 27 jul 2023 a las 14:27, International Coral Reef Observatory (<
> icrobservatory at gmail.com>) escribió:
>
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > When we identify causes of degradation, we include climate change as
> > global anthropogenic pollution and local impacts both caused by
> > unsustainable development.  Therefore both are caused by intensive human
> > activities that should be managed appropriately. That is why we support
> > campaigns of global behavior change at the United Nations implementing
> SDG
> > 14 and SDG13. Coral reef scientists and in general Coral Listers should
> > lead by example to avoid further greenhouse gases emissions and
> destructive
> > development, effective solutions need to find alternatives to stop global
> > and local coral reef threats.
> >
> > The recent 100% mortality events in the Florida Keys are a result of
> > cumulative stress from multiple factors. That is why we support
> addressing
> > the causes of degradation, INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ONLY in palliative care or
> > scaling up breaking coral colonies.
> >
> > Taking into account, Sutherland et al. (2023) while high temperature has
> > been identified as an important cause of coral mortality in both
> bleaching
> > and disease scenarios, a predictive model for White Pox Disease (WPX)
> risk
> > in Acropora palmata (using 20 yr of disease surveys from the Florida Keys
> > plus environmental information collected simultaneously in situ and via
> > satellite) indicates that the relative influence of HotSpot (positive
> > summertime temperature anomaly) was low and actually inversely related to
> > WPX Risk. https://doi.org/10.3354/dao03727
> > Nohora Galvis
> > ICRS World Reef Award Winner
> > ICRO Transdisciplinary Researcher
> > International Coral Reef Observatory
> > Follow us on Facebook.com/ICRObservatory
> > on Twitter / Instagram / YouTube  ICR_Observatory
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> > De: International Coral Reef Observatory <icrobservatory at gmail.com>
> > Date: mar, 25 jul 2023 a las 17:12
> > Subject: Coral reefs under threat
> > To: Austin Bowden-Kerby <abowdenkerby at gmail.com>, <
> helder.perez at gmail.com>,
> > Sebastian Szereday <seb.szereday at gmail.com>, <nicrane at cabrillo.edu>, <
> > jlang at riposi.net>, Alina Szmant <alina at cisme-instruments.com>, <
> > sealab at earthlink.net>, Mark Tupper <mark.tupper at port.ac.uk>, coral list
> <
> > coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> >
> >
> > In agreement with Judith, Alina and Nicole, there is an alert for
> > interventions on coral reefs that promise to save them but it may
> > actually may worsen the coral reef integrity.
> >
> > Reading carefully the paper: The Influence of Foureye Butterflyfish
> > (Chaetodon capistratus) and Symbiodiniaceae on the Transmission of
> > Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, Titus et al. (2022) have some
> > suggestive evidence that butterflyfish do not directly increase
> > infection rates, but instead might be increasing infection recovery
> >    https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.800423/full
> >
> > Increased coral mucus is a proof of stressed coral colonies.
> > Considering Austin´s  message, if something has to be removed
> > drastically from affected coral reefs is not the mucus eaters but the
> > scaling up of coral fragmentation megaprojects that stress coral
> > colonies and support unsustainable development (massive tourism,
> > increased population in coral reef areas, enlargement of ports,
> > channels, airports, prisons, etc).
> >
> > Taking into account that past local authorities in some case studies
> > have stopped plans such as a prison in the Swan Island and an
> > international airport on Tioman Island in Malaysia. The International
> > Coral Reef Initiative, the International Coral Reef Society, the
> > Society for Conservation Biology and UN SDG 14 envoys amongs many
> > other organziations should play a more active role addressing the
> > current decision makers of each country with respect and diplomatic
> > SCIENTIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS according to their mission to avoid further
> > catastrophes. Calling to actions to protect effectively life below
> > water in coral reef areas of the world that will benefit all human
> > beings.
> >
> > We as an International Coral Reef Observatory, are ready to support
> > with letters if requested, to the top decision makers and shared the
> > case studies where coral reefs are under threat, as well tagging in
> > our social media the organizations encharged of the effective
> > protection of coral reefs to promote global friendly environmental
> > behavior and positive change to improve the conservation of coral
> > reefs of the world.
> >
> > PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN TRYING TO CURE (or trying to restore
> > afterwards) !! It is time to find alternatives to those developers who
> > have coral reefs in the military target destroying ecosystems. The
> > Blue Economy should not be based on paying A LOT to the justifiers of
> > degradation, because the environmental cost will be higher sooner or
> > later.
> >
> > Nohora Galvis
> > ICRS World Reef Award Winner
> > ICRO Transdisciplinary Researcher
> > International Coral Reef Observatory
> > Follow us on Facebook.com/ICRObservatory
> > on Twitter / Instagram / YouTube  ICR_Observatory
> >
> > El mar, 25 jul 2023 a las 15:07, Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List
> > (<coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>) escribió:
> > >
> > > Hi Alina,
> > >
> > > It's okay to be negative, as that is what scientists do- LOL!  I
> > > understand completely. Less is best is what we all believe in.  So
> > > your response is the sort of knee-jerk response I have come to expect.
> > > I have been accused of "playing GOD" with coralliophila snail removal
> > > in the Caribbean and Acanthaster removal in the Pacific in earlier
> > > days as well.  Plus butterflyfish are beautiful, and they look so
> > > gentle and innocent, and so I can understand that people's hearts
> > > would tend to dominate their heads on this one.
> > >
> > > However, the corals have taken millions of years to evolve and their
> > > future is on the line!  So if butterfly fish have even a slight chance
> > > of being a primary means for transfer of SCTLD, the precautionary
> > > principle in favor of the endangered species would remove them. If we
> > > wait for all the facts to be published in peer reviewed journals, it
> > > could be too late.  There are so few of the corals left, that removal
> > > would translate to killing only a few hundred of the fish regionally.
> > > The danger we face is not just to the Caribbean: coral reefs of
> > > perhaps the entire planet are potentially at risk, due to the
> > > ineffectiveness of ballast water protocols, so certainly any risk to a
> > > few coral predators is insignificant to the overall protection of the
> > > corals of the planet.
> > >
> > > In addition to the published Noonan and Childress study, establishing
> > > the 4-eyes as potentially problematic, in 2004 in Honduras and Belize,
> > > we found that the 4-eyes were the primary vector in the rapid tissue
> > > loss disease in Acropora.   It appeared that they were intentionally
> > > spreading the disease, so the tissues would lift off or something!
> > > They would bite an infected area and then a non-diseased neighboring
> > > branch and alternate.  However, a later paper by Noonan et al.
> > > suggests that the fish might remove diseased tissues and therefore
> > > help in the healing as well.  However the fish do not confine their
> > > feeding to the dead tissues, so while it could indeed help the lesions
> > > by removing infected tissues, at the same time it bites non infected
> > > tissues and colonies, and thus is a prime suspect as a major vector in
> > > spreading the disease.
> > >
> > > With any emerging problem like this, we must grab what we can and run
> > > with it. But the precautionary principle has resulted in a paralysis
> > > of will, as it is being interpreted wrongly, that to do nothing is
> > > better than to err on the side of over-reacting.  We wait for peer
> > > reviewed publications, which take years to come out, and we tend to
> > > discount observations and unpublished work.  I find the same
> > > conservativeness when dealing with mass coral death due to bleaching-
> > > and there is no emergency working group to address mass coral
> > > bleaching either, no pile of funds to use for experimental
> > > interventions during active events.  The failure of the system to
> > > control this disease and to address mass bleaching threatens the coral
> > > reefs of the entire planet, and this reflects poorly on the scientific
> > > community.  Massive funding for urgent research and action was needed
> > > five years ago, to include sampling of genotypes of the species
> > > affected to secure them in land-based systems, predator/ vector
> > > removal experiments, and the like.
> > >
> > > Back to the Titanic analogy: The ship is sinking, and our operating
> > > system requires that all lifeboats be fully inspected and proven
> > > seaworthy before we allow them to be launched and for people to board
> > > them, normally a good policy.  But the ship is now sinking rapidly,
> > > but we continue as normal, as the system requires that all lifeboats
> > > must be adequately inspected before launching!  The passengers that we
> > > are supposed to be saving are now drowning.... so it is time to break
> > > the rules, even if some lifeboats have holes in them and start
> > > sinking, we can repair them as we go!
> > >
> > > Regards
> > >
> > > Austin
> > >
> > > Noonan, K.R., Childress, M.J. Association of butterflyfishes and stony
> > > coral tissue loss disease in the Florida Keys. Coral Reefs 39,
> > > 1581–1590 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-01986-8
> > >
> > > The Influence of Foureye Butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus) and
> > > Symbiodiniaceae on the Transmission of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease
> > > Kara Titus, Lauren O’Connell, Kristiaan Matthee, Michael Childress
> > > Front. Mar. Sci., 21 March 2022.  Sec. Coral Reef Research Volume 9 -
> > > 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.800423
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
> > > Corals for Conservation
> > > P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
> >
> >
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