Is proximity to land-based sources of coral stressors an appropriate measure of risk to coral reefs? An example from the Florida Reef Tract

Lirman, Diego; Fong, Peggy

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2006.12.014

Cited by 127 publications

(160 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…and not the large reef-building species (e.g., Diploria spp., Montastraea spp.) as similarly noted for BNP reefs in the 1980s (Porter and Meier 1992) and from 2001 to 2003 (Lirman and Fong 2007).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Fisheries and fish habitat (Ault et al 2001) and benthic community structure (Chiappone and Sullivan 1997;Miller et al 2000b) assessment efforts conducted over the last few decades have underrepresented the patch reef habitat; thus, we decided on this habitat as the focus of our study. Though there are a fair number of reports including data on coral populations in Biscayne National Park (BNP; Burns 1985;Porter and Meier 1992;Greenstein and Pandolfi 1997;Ginsburg et al 2001;Lirman and Fong 2007), studies on invertebrate and macroalgal communities are few.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biological community structure on patch reefs in Biscayne National Park, FL, USA

Kuffner

Grober‐Dunsmore

Brock

et al. 2009

Environ Monit Assess

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Coral reef ecosystem management benefits from continual quantitative assessment of the resources being managed, plus assessment of factors that affect distribution patterns of organisms in the ecosystem. In this study, we investigate the relationships among physical, benthic, and fish variables in an effort to help explain the distribution patterns of organisms on patch reefs within Biscayne National Park, FL, USA. We visited a total of 196 randomly selected sampling stations on 12 shallow (<10 m) patch reefs and measured physical variables (e.g., substratum rugosity, substratum type) and benthic and fish community variables. We also incorporated data on substratum rugosity collected remotely via airborne laser surveying (Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar-EAARL). Across all stations, only weak relationships were found between physical, benthic cover, and fish assemblage variables. Much of the variance was attributable to a "reef effect," meaning that community structure and organism abundances were more variable at stations among reefs than within reefs. However, when the reef effect was accounted for and removed statistically, patterns were detected. Within reefs, juvenile scarids were most abundant at stations with high coverage of the fleshy macroalgae Dictyota spp., and the calcified alga Halimeda tuna was most abundant at stations with low EAARL rugosity. Explanations for the overwhelming importance of "reef" in explaining variance in our dataset could include the stochastic arrangement of organisms on patch reefs related to variable larval recruitment in space and time and/or strong historical effects due to patchy disturbances (e.g., hurricanes, fishing), as well as legacy effects of prior residents ("priority" effects).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological community structure on patch reefs in Biscayne National Park, FL, USA

Kuffner

Grober‐Dunsmore

Brock

et al. 2009

Environ Monit Assess

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“…Brown et al 1990;van Woesik et al 1999; Table 2). In contrast, Lirman and Fong (2007) found a negative relationship between coral cover and changes in water quality in the Florida Keys, where coral cover was significantly greater on coastal compared with offshore reefs, despite the existence of a water quality gradient. In some instances, coral cover alone may not reflect the effects of changes in water quality, because coral cover is also influenced by other forms of disturbance, which include cyclones, destructive fishing, bleaching events, predation by Acanthaster Coral Reefs (2009) 28:589-606 599 planci and ship groundings.…”

Section: Benthic Covermentioning

confidence: 62%

Bioindicators of changes in water quality on coral reefs: review and recommendations for monitoring programmes

2009

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Effective environmental management requires monitoring programmes that provide specific links between changes in environmental conditions and ecosystem health. This article reviews the suitability of a range of bioindicators for use in monitoring programmes that link changes in water quality to changes in the condition of coral-reef ecosystems. From the literature, 21 candidate bioindicators were identified, whose responses to changes in water quality varied spatially and temporally; responses ranged from rapid (hours) changes within individual corals to long-term (years) changes in community composition. From this list, the most suitable bioindicators were identified by determining whether responses were (i) specific, (ii) monotonic, (iii) variable, (iv) practical and (v) ecologically relevant to management goals. For long-term monitoring programmes that aim to quantify the effects of chronic changes in water quality, 11 bioindicators were selected: symbiont photophysiology, colony brightness, tissue thickness and surface rugosity of massive corals, skeletal elemental and isotopic composition, abundance of macro-bioeroders, micro-and meiobenthic organisms such as foraminifera, coral recruitment, macroalgal cover, taxonomic richness of corals and the maximal depth of coralreef development. For short-term monitoring programmes, or environmental impact assessments that aim to quantify the effects of acute changes in water quality, a subset of seven of these bioindicators were selected, including partial mortality. Their choice will depend on the specific objectives and the timeframe available for each monitoring programme. An assessment framework is presented to assist in the selection of bioindicators to quantify the effects of changing water quality on coral-reef ecosystems.

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“…1 Table S1. We chose S. siderea because it is presently the most abundant massive species of reef-building coral on the FKRT (Lirman and Fong 2007), it is resistant to cold-and warm-water stress events (Colella et al 2012), it is comparatively successful at sexual reproduction as opposed to the other FKRT reef builders (Lirman and Fong 2007), and it is proving to be a choice species for paleoclimate reconstruction in the Atlantic ocean (DeLong et al 2011). Two batches of 40 corals were collected in two consecutive runs of the experiment, the first in spring/summer 2009 and the second in spring 2011.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calcification rates of the massive coral Siderastrea siderea and crustose coralline algae along the Florida Keys (USA) outer-reef tract

2013

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Coral reefs are degrading on a global scale, and rates of reef-organism calcification are predicted to decline due to ocean warming and acidification. Systematic measurements of calcification over space and time are necessary to detect change resulting from environmental stressors. We established a network of calcification monitoring stations at four managed reefs along the outer Florida Keys Reef Tract (FKRT) from Miami to the Dry Tortugas. Eighty colonies (in two sequential sets of 40) of the reef-building coral, Siderastrea siderea, were transplanted to fixed apparatus that allowed repetitive detachment for buoyant weighing every 6 months. Algalrecruitment tiles were also deployed during each weighing interval to measure net calcification of the crustose coralline algal (CCA) community. Coral-calcification rates were an order of magnitude greater than those of CCA. Rates of coral calcification were seasonal (summer calcification was 53 % greater than winter), and corals in the Dry Tortugas calcified 48 % faster than those at the other three sites. Linear extension rates were also highest in the Dry Tortugas, whereas percent area of the coral skeletons excavated by bioeroding fauna was lowest. The spatial patterns in net coral calcification revealed here correlate well with Holocene reef thickness along the FKRT and, in part, support the ''inimical waters hypothesis'' proposed by Ginsburg, Hudson, and Shinn almost 50 yrs ago to explain reef development in this region. Due to the homogeneity in coral-calcification rates among the three main Keys sites, we recommend refinement of this hypothesis and suggest that water-quality variables (e.g., carbonate mineral saturation state, dissolved and particulate organic matter, light attenuation) be monitored alongside calcification in future studies. Our results demonstrate that our calcification monitoring network presents a feasible and worthwhile approach to quantifying potential impacts of ocean acidification, warming, and/or deteriorating water quality on the process of calcification.

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Is proximity to land-based sources of coral stressors an appropriate measure of risk to coral reefs? An example from the Florida Reef Tract

Cited by 127 publications

References 48 publications

Biological community structure on patch reefs in Biscayne National Park, FL, USA

Biological community structure on patch reefs in Biscayne National Park, FL, USA

Bioindicators of changes in water quality on coral reefs: review and recommendations for monitoring programmes

Calcification rates of the massive coral Siderastrea siderea and crustose coralline algae along the Florida Keys (USA) outer-reef tract

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