15 Years of Coral Reef Monitoring Demonstrates the Resilience of Palau's Coral Reefs

15 Years of Coral Reef Monitoring Demonstrates the Resilience of Palau's Coral Reefs PDF Author: Marine Gouezo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Coral reefs and islands
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
"Worldwide, coral reefs are affected by both acute and chronic disturbances. Acute disturbances have a short-term but intense impact that often spreads over large spatial scales. Ecological monitoring is then very useful to follow changes after acute disturbances and understand how coral reefs recover. Yet, in Palau, before 2001, no coral reef monitoring data at the scale of the island were available to quantify disturbance impacts, coral mortality, and recovery time. PICRC’s long term monitoring program was set up in 2001 to document these changes through time and to inform stakeholders about coral reef status and trends. The aim of this report is to document coral reef trends through time in different habitats and depths, and to highlight spatial and temporal differences in recovery time following the 1998- related bleaching event and more recently typhoon disturbances. Our findings showed that coral reefs took a minimum of 10 to 12 years to fully recover from the 1998-El Nino related mass bleaching event. In the absence of further large-scale disturbance, coral communities within the inner reefs and western outer reefs appeared to have reached a coral-dominated stable phase. PICRC’s long term monitoring data on fish and macro-invertebrates provided useful insights into differences among habitats and general trends through time. However, we highlighted some gaps in data collection and survey design which are now considered; an adapted monitoring protocol has been implemented at PICRC to better inform management in the future regarding commercially-targeted fish stocks."--Page 2.

Coral reef resilience and resistance to bleaching

Coral reef resilience and resistance to bleaching PDF Author:
Publisher: IUCN
ISBN: 2831709504
Category : Coral reef conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
Provides synthesis of current scientific knowledge on coral reef resilience and resistance to bleaching, and highlights resilience and resistance factors and some knowledge gaps. Discusses tools and strategies to enhance resilience, including the use of well-designed networks of marine protected areas and integrated coastal management.

Coral Reef Resilience

Coral Reef Resilience PDF Author: Loke Ming Chou
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3036504540
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Are coral reefs sufficiently resilient to withstand the changing environmental conditions of the future? Research is necessary to gain a better understanding of how reefs will respond and how resilient they are. Various approaches to characterize and analyze reef responses from the molecular to community and habitat levels are all essential. Trends could be analyzed from spatially extensive and/or long-term monitoring data and applied to novel management strategies. Reef resilience research continues to remain relevant and important to the future of coral reefs. The contributions in this volume provide a further dimension to the understanding of reef resilience.

A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs

A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309485355
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Coral reef declines have been recorded for all major tropical ocean basins since the 1980s, averaging approximately 30-50% reductions in reef cover globally. These losses are a result of numerous problems, including habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, disease, and climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions and the associated increases in ocean temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been implicated in increased reports of coral bleaching, disease outbreaks, and ocean acidification (OA). For the hundreds of millions of people who depend on reefs for food or livelihoods, the thousands of communities that depend on reefs for wave protection, the people whose cultural practices are tied to reef resources, and the many economies that depend on reefs for fisheries or tourism, the health and maintenance of this major global ecosystem is crucial. A growing body of research on coral physiology, ecology, molecular biology, and responses to stress has revealed potential tools to increase coral resilience. Some of this knowledge is poised to provide practical interventions in the short-term, whereas other discoveries are poised to facilitate research that may later open the doors to additional interventions. A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs reviews the state of science on genetic, ecological, and environmental interventions meant to enhance the persistence and resilience of coral reefs. The complex nature of corals and their associated microbiome lends itself to a wide range of possible approaches. This first report provides a summary of currently available information on the range of interventions present in the scientific literature and provides a basis for the forthcoming final report.

Coral Reefs of Palau

Coral Reefs of Palau PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Coral reef conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description


Scientific Framework for Evaluating Coral Reef Resilience to Climate Change

Scientific Framework for Evaluating Coral Reef Resilience to Climate Change PDF Author: Hannah Catherine Barkley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Coral reef conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description


Coral Reefs and Climate Change

Coral Reefs and Climate Change PDF Author: Jonathan Turnbull Phinney
Publisher: American Geophysical Union
ISBN: 0875903592
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Volume 61. The effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and related climate change on shallow coral reefs are gaining considerable attention for scientific and economic reasons worldwide. Although increased scientific research has improved our understanding of the response of coral reefs to climate change, we still lack key information that can help guide reef management. Research and monitoring of coral reef ecosystems over the past few decades have documented two major threats related to increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2: (1) increased sea surface temperatures and (2) increased seawater acidity (lower pH). Higher atmospheric CO2 levels have resulted in rising sea surface temperatures and proven to be an acute threat to corals and other reef-dwelling organisms. Short periods (days) of elevated sea surface temperatures by as little as 1–2°C above the normal maximum temperature has led to more frequent and more widespread episodes of coral bleaching-the expulsion of symbiotic algae. A more chronic consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 is the lowering of pH of surface waters, which affects the rate at which corals and other reef organisms secrete and build their calcium carbonate skeletons. Average pH of the surface ocean has already decreased by an estimated 0.1 unit since preindustrial times, and will continue to decline in concert with rising atmospheric CO2. These climate-related Stressors combined with other direct anthropogenic assaults, such as overfishing and pollution, weaken reef organisms and increase their susceptibility to disease.

A Decision Framework for Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs

A Decision Framework for Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309491843
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Coral reefs are critical to ocean and human life because they provide food, living area, storm protection, tourism income, and more. However, human-induced stressors, such as overfishing, sediment, pollution, and habitat destruction have threatened ocean ecosystems globally for decades. In the face of climate change, these ecosystems now face an array of unfamiliar challenges due to destructive rises in ocean temperature, acidity and sea level. These factors lead to an increased frequency of bleaching events, hindered growth, and a decreasing rate of calcification. Research on interventions to combat these relatively new stressors and a reevaluation of longstanding interventions is necessary to understand and protect coral reefs in this changing climate. Previous research on these methods prompts further questions regarding the decision making process for site-specific interventions. A Decision Framework for Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs builds upon a previous report that reviews the state of research on methods that have been used, tested, or proposed to increase the resilience of coral reefs. This new report aims to help coral managers evaluate the specific needs of their site and navigate the 23 different interventions described in the previous report. A case study of the Caribbean, a region with low coral population plagued by disease, serves as an example for coral intervention decision making. This report provides complex coral management decision making tools, identifies gaps in coral biology and conservation research, and provides examples to help individuals and communities tailor a decision strategy to a local area.

Monitoring functional groups of herbivorous reef fishes as indicators of coral reef resilience : a practical guide for coral reef managers in the Asia Pacific region

Monitoring functional groups of herbivorous reef fishes as indicators of coral reef resilience : a practical guide for coral reef managers in the Asia Pacific region PDF Author: Alison L. Green
Publisher: IUCN
ISBN: 283171169X
Category : Coral reef fishes
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
"This document provides practical advice to field practitioners based on an example from the Asia Pacific Region. Key functional groups of herbivores are identified, species are assigned to each functional group, and methods are provided for monitoring their abundance, biomass and size structure ... This document represents the first attempt to develop a monitoring program that is specifically designed to monitor key functional groups of herbivorous reef fishes as indicators of coral reef resilience. Even though it is based on the best available information, it is important to remember that the science underpinning these methods is still new and developing. Further research is now required to address knowledge gaps and refine monitoring methods"--Executive summary.

Toward the Desirable Future of Coral Reefs in Palau and the Western Pacific

Toward the Desirable Future of Coral Reefs in Palau and the Western Pacific PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Coral reef conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description