[Coral-List] Coral Reefs Optimism

Sat Aug 12 05:15:03 UTC 2023

Dear Nohora,

Thanks for sharing.  We all really do need a ray of hope right now!  But I
am not sure that we should be celebrating coral spawning right now.  I
tried to be optimistic, but I just saw some photos of badly bleached and
sickly looking Acropora palmata spawning in Cuba and my heart just sank!
How in the world will those severely impacted colonies recover?
We already know that reproduction takes a lot of energy and slows coral
growth, and that disease rates can increase after reproductive stress.  So
this begs the question: will the bleached coral colonies that spawn have
higher mortality than those which don't spawn?   In simple terms, will
these badly bleached corals spawn themselves to death?

While we can hope that the added stress of spawning does not result in
increased death due to bleaching, logic tells us otherwise. This is the
sort of data we need to get right now, while we can.  If this hypothesis
turns out to be true, it will be important to our adaptation strategies.
For example, we might routinely fragment some corals of every genotype
every year, at the start of the cool season, to keep them smaller and in
juvenile condition, so that they maintain their youthful vigor and do not
undergo reproductive-induced stress on top of heat stress.  This might over
time help prevent the extinction of genotypes, especially if combined with
other strategies like translocation to cooler areas, shading, and perhaps
probiotics and other measures.

While these are very sad and worrying times, we need to learn as much as we
can as fast as we can, because the corals need us to help them survive into
the next century and in a diverse condition, so that reproduction and
natural recovery processes can be restored during cooler years, and
hopefully cooler times.  The older models of restoration that we followed
for the past 30 years are no longer appropriate, we have entered a new more
critical phase.  We must now begin to treat every coral species as being in
critical danger of extinction over the coming 2-3 decades.  Extinction
proceeds along a sequence: first ecologically, then reproductively, and
lastly biologically.  Many coral species are already on this spectrum in
many countries.

Again my analogy: when the firestorm approaches, tree planting for
reforestation stops, and the distraught foresters rush around frantically-
to gather as much diversity as possible, and to keep these precious species
secure for better days to come.  This is what must happen right now in the
Caribbean with the corals.  Just like with an approaching firestorm or
hurricane, there is no such thing as over-preparation- you either
over-prepare or you under-prepare and get wiped out.  It is so sad that the
precious Hawaiian archives collections stored in Lahaina were all burnt
up!   Our precious genetic resources face this sort of firestorm now in the
Caribbean. We really do not know how bad it will get, but we have until
November to find out..... and so I would prepare for something as bad as
what is happening to Florida everywhere in the Caribbean.  If not this
year, then when?

The same preparedness should apply to all coral reefs everywhere.  I am
wondering how long will people continue to live the myth that just because
their particular reef has done so well over repeated bleaching events so
far, recovering quickly after past devastation, that they are somehow
immune to systemic collapse from what is coming.  38C in the nearshore and
shallow lagoons would kill off your most adapted coral populations
everywhere, and we now know that temperature is possible.  For reefs with
wide reef shelves and with strong thermal gradients, local translocation of
heat adapted corals from their warm habitats out to cooler waters is not
only possible, but it is relatively easy.  We need such a coral-focused
adaptation strategy based on preventative measures and forecasting into the
coming decades, otherwise the firestorm will eventually arrive and it will
be too late!

We are actively doing this in our two Fiji sites with strong thermal
gradients. This is a more realistic optimism: that the heat adapted corals
we have already moved will be secure in their cooler environment, so that
they will survive into the next century- because the open ocean is not
predicted to get to 33-34C!

This is our new launching video, for all who want to join us in a global,
coral-focused climate change adaptation effort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnJ-eUVJwqE
We can not wait any longer!

Regards to all, and thanks for everything that you do to save the corals!

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 12, 2023 at 1:11 AM International Coral Reef Observatory via
Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Good news from Corals Spawning by Dr.
> Liv Williamson, Ph.D.
> <https://twitter.com/livwilliamson>
> <https://twitter.com/livwilliamson>
> @livwilliamson
> <https://twitter.com/livwilliamson>:
>
> From Orbicella faveolata at Horseshoe Reef last night!
> https://twitter.com/livwilliamson/status/1689405494782214144
>
> Acropora cervicoris on August 5 2023 in Key Largo
> https://twitter.com/livwilliamson/status/1687856448037064704
>
> A ray of hope: surprisingly robust spawning on 8/2 and 8/3 from both
> Acropora cervicornis and Acropora palmata at North Dry Rocks, despite
> extensive paling, bleaching, & tissue loss/mortality. August 4 2023
> https://twitter.com/livwilliamson/status/1687570354569363458
>
> In situ (Florida Keys) Observations reported in Spanish
> https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=664918835669508&set=a.457741103053950
>
> 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
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>