ECCF - oceans

Reef temperature wrangler

mguckian — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 14:21:12 +0000

Oct 16, 2017

Photo: wildcoast.net

Coral reefs often go unnoticed because they’re underwater; but even though we don’t regularly pay much attention to them, they’re an extremely important part of our everyday lives. Coral reefs have been estimated to provide support for over a quarter of all marine species and this extreme biodiversity makes them a frequent source of discovery for new medicines that can help fight cancer and other diseases. They also protect our coastlines from storm surges, and provide millions of individuals with a source food and income. These are a few of the reasons why the world’s coral reefs are valued at nearly 10 trillion dollars.

Coral Crisis

Unfortunately, we’re in a bit of a coral crisis. Recently we’ve been losing a frightening amount of the world’s coral reefs. The vast majority of the reefs (80%) in the Caribbean, and over half in the Indo-Pacific region have already been lost. This large decline in reefs is predominantly caused by coral bleaching:

Inside the coral live tiny photosynthetic plants – or algae called zooxanthellae - that provide the coral with food and its beautiful color, but when the water around the coral becomes too warm, the algae are forced out of the coral, leaving behind the coral’s white calcium carbonate skeleton, giving it a “bleached” appearance. If the coral goes too long without the support from the algae, they starve, become vulnerable to disease, and frequently die.

Figure 2. PRocess and causes of coral bleaching. Photo: NOAA.

It is expected that as global warming continues to cause water temperatures to rise, coral bleaching will become more frequent and severe. By 2050, it’s projected that between 91 and 98% of the world’s coral reefs will be exposed to bleaching-level thermal stress on an annual basis.

Coral Reef Monitoring

Fortunately, there is a lot of great work being done to address this important issue. The South Florida and Caribbean Network (SFCN) of the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring Program has been monitoring water temperature and coral bleaching since the late 1980’s and have collected an amazing supply of data. Through an internship with the Young Leaders in Climate Change (YLCC), I had the opportunity to work with SFCN as a data analyst to make sense of their data. Below are a few of my most important findings.

Figure 3. Stages of coral bleaching. Photo: The Ocean Agency / XL Catlin Seaview / Richard Vevers)

Water Temperature Trends and Coral Bleaching Forecasts

Water temperature has been increasing in the Virgin Islands – one location where SFCN monitors coral bleaching – since the project was started in 1988. Although this long-term trend is expected to continue into the future, it doesn’t suggest that water temperatures will increase consistently on a year-to-year basis.

In order to anticipate what water temperatures can be expected in the near future, we can use past data to create 24-month water temperature forecasts. Since water temperature and coral bleaching have a very strong relationship, our forecast is helpful because it lets us anticipate whether a coming year will be good or bad for reefs and if there will be more or less bleaching. For example, our forecasts for the Virgin Islands found that 2017 will be slightly cooler than previous years, with a relatively low amount of bleaching predicted (22%) - good news for the coral reefs in that region. This type of foresight allows for adaptive resource management and more effective monitoring of coral bleaching, but much more needs to be done to address the issue.

What is being done and what you can do to help

Scientists and researchers around the world are working on many different projects to help minimize the impact of coral bleaching. These projects include: coral nurseries and reef restoration initiatives, studying the factors that increase coral’s susceptibility to bleaching, and even genetically modifying algae to be resistant to warmer ocean temperatures.

Although these researchers’ are making important contributions, they won’t be able to fix the problem alone. Saving our coral reefs is going to require many people making small efforts to help battle coral bleaching and global warming. Separately, these small individual efforts may seem miniscule, but if enough people make them, they will have a large impact overall. After all, it takes millions of individual coral polyps to build a reef.

Figure 4. Coral polyps. Photo: SFCN.

Fortunately, one of the most frequent questions I get when I talk about coral bleaching is “what can I do to help?” Here are a few of the many ways you can help save our reefs:

Reduce your carbon footprint.
Inform others about coral bleaching to spread awareness.
Support organizations dedicated to conserving coral reefs.
Contact your government officials about implementing laws to preserve marine ecosystems.
- Marine protected areas help mitigate coral bleaching.
Reduce water consumption to minimize runoff pollution
If you live near the coast, volunteer for cleanups or participate in citizen science initiatives to report cases of coral bleaching

Resources

Coral reef conservation organizations
Coral bleaching citizen science
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch
- CoralWatch
Netflix documentary
- Chasing Coral
NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch Program
- Educational resources
- Water temperature monitoring

Category:

Science & research

Tags:

advocacy

biodiversity

climate impacts

global warming

oceans

temperature

Author/writer:

Brandon Araujo

Field Notes: GOMECC III Cruise

mguckian — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 13:20:52 +0000

Aug 21, 2017

Figure 3. Whole water surface samples being filtered through a 200µm mesh and into a carboy. This water will be used for filtering and for the on-deck grazing experiments. Photo: Corradino

“Why would you spend 35 days on a boat just to filter seawater?”

This was the most common question (second most common was: “Don’t you get seasick?”) that I received as I explained what I would be doing during the GOMECC trip to my friends and family. The biology component of the GOMECC trip does include lots of filtering of water onto specialty glass fiber filters, but the research does not stop there!

Figure 1. Example DNA filter from a surface water sample. The filter will be frozen and brought back to North Carolina State University to have the DNA extracted for processing. Photo: Corradino

Team Plankton (Mrun from University of Louisiana and myself) will have filtered over 236,000ml of seawater onto 550 filters to help answer questions on microbial species diversity using both molecular and pigment profiling. While invisible to the naked eye, each of the filters will have tens of thousands of tiny organisms (phytoplankton and protozoa) retained on their surface that represent the base of the food web within the Gulf of Mexico. The filters, which may turn a greenish color, if phytoplankton are present (Fig 1), are frozen on ship and will be brought back to North Carolina State University or University of Louisiana for further analyses.

Each filter will be used to collect a snapshot look at microbial assemblages, the presence/absence of certain taxa (DNA signal) and their activities (RNA signal). In unison, we also use several preservation methods to obtain intact plankton for microscopy analyses (Fig 2) from the CTD, a bucket (Fig 3) or with a plankton net.

The GOMECC III trip spans 36 days from July 18^th to August 21^st, 2017 at sea with no port calls. While I have been on shorter research trips before, there is really nothing like being on a boat for 5 weeks. At first, I was incredibly nervous taking on this project. For weeks before the trip I would think about everything that could go wrong, from equipment failure and sampling incorrectly to not getting along with anyone onboard. Once I boarded the R/V Brown and as the days passed, I found my own rhythm with the ship. I figured out how to navigate the corridors, I got to know the amazing crew and got the timing down for each sampling.

Figure 2. Preserved copepods from CTD 47. The copepods were isolated and placed into filtered seawater and formalin. This will allow observations to be made about the individual organisms in each sample. Photo: Corradino

It also helped that I got the best research partner to share the lab and stateroom with. From past experiences, having a dependable and intelligent partner can make the world of difference while in the field. If given the opportunity to come back as a biologist for GOMECC IV, the only thing that I would change would be to pack more snacks and double the number of t-shirts that I bring.

My participation for data collection is possible through the generous support of the Southeast Climate Science Center and National Geographic. This trip is intensive, but with the guidance from our rockstar chief scientists (Leticia Barbero and Denis Pierrot), we will be able to gain unique insight into the microbial biogeography, biodiversity and functionality. The collaborative data from GOMECC III will serve as an important baseline as we study the impact of ocean acidification on the Gulf of Mexico for many years to come.

This post is adapted from the original NOAA GOMECC post from August 8th 2017.

Category:

Tags:

Author/writer:

Gabrielle Corradino

LiDAR Applications for Sea Level Rise Mapping

mguckian — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 14:39:13 +0000

Jun 6, 2016

Parts of Key West’s famous Duval Street flooded during rainstorms. Photo: Rob O’Neal/Florida Trend Magazine

Have you ever wondered how we know what coastal sea rise is going to look like at the end of the century? Climate change and sea level rise are strongly connected and pose a threat especially for coastal cities and ecosystems, for example, including in the Florida Keys. The inhabitants of Key West are losing ground quickly and remote sensing can help us visualize what the future holds as the seas rise. Urban planners, policymakers and homeowners can then use that information to make more informed decisions about how to respond and prepare for rising seas.

Study area – City of Key West, FL. Created by Benjamin Ignac and Emily Campbell

A changing climate = a rising sea

One of the most severe consequences of global warming is the rise in global sea levels. According to IPCC projections, by 2100 the average global sea level could rise between 2 and 3 feet. It is estimated that 5 million people in the US live in homes less than 4 feet above high tide. Homes at such low elevations are already at risk and that threat is only going to grow as sea levels rise, partly due to global warming. Some of the effects of a global sea level rise include extensive coastal inundation, ecological damage, property damage, loss of coastal habitats, loss of economic and cultural resources, as well as more extreme weather events. During extreme weather events such as hurricanes, coastal habitats are also at immediate risk due to higher storm-tide flooding. Projections and models for immediate and long-term threats such as climate change, sea level rise, and flood inundation assist legislators in making pragmatic decisions. The challenge is providing accurate, useful data to help inform these decisions. LiDAR is a new technique that shows a lot of promise in providing high quality information.

LiDAR (short for Light Detection And Ranging) was developed in the 1970s as a tool to measure distances and create highly accurate land surface maps. A laser beam attached to a plane scans the surface below it, which allows researchers to then create a 3D model of the scanned area. For our project, we downloaded LiDAR data covering Key West, which amounts to a staggering 67,335,239 individual data points. We chose Key West, an island city at the west end of the Florida Keys, because of its proximity to the ocean and therefore its vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather events (Figure 1). A densely populated area of only 5.9 square miles, Key West is home to around 25,000 people. Its highest elevation is only 18 feet, but most buildings start as low as 3 feet above sea level. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma brought storm tides up to 8 feet above mean sea level, damaging more than half of the buildings on the island. Key West houses important naval military posts, an international airport, as well as cultural and historic sites and over 17,000 homes.

Flood Simulation Maps

The IPCC projects that by 2100 the average sea level will rise 1.97 feet in the best-case scenario and 3.2 feet in the worst-case. This means that Key West would lose between 8% and 20% or 0.5 and 1.2 square miles of its land surface. Hurricane flooding causes even worse damage. In the present day, a storm tide during a category 1 hurricane would flood 2.7 square miles of land, while a category 5 hurricane would flood 4.4 square miles. If we take into account the rising sea level by the end of the century, Key West may be almost entirely flooded during future hurricane events! Based on projections for 2100, Key West could lose 53% or 3.1 square miles of its land surface during a category 1 hurricane and 79% or 4.6 square miles of its land surface during a category 5 hurricane.

Video: The gloomy future of Key West is visualized in this video, which animates the rising sea level up to 25 feet on top of current sea level.

Our project helped visualize and calculate the extent of possible future flooding in Key West, through the use of LiDAR. Working with LiDAR was not only useful, but also exciting, which is how good research should feel, we think. Florida is only one of many coastal settlements that are at risk because of rising sea levels. To many people, the consequences of climate change often seem intangible and far away. It is hard to be alarmed about the consequences of climate change or other environmental disasters if there is not concrete proof or visual evidence. It looks like LiDAR and GIS can, in combination with climate projections, help us visualize threats like sea level rise and perhaps alert people of what might be to come. Hopefully our work and other efforts like it can help people plan accordingly and more effectively for the changes that are coming.

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Benjamin Ignac is a Geography senior at the University of Oklahoma interested in the interaction between human and physical systems on Earth and the use of GIS and remote sensing in geographic research. ignac@ou.edu

Emily Campbell is an Environmental Sustainability senior at the University of Oklahoma interested in remote sensing applications and the natural environment. Emily.J.Campbell-1@ou.edu

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Sources

Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. (2014). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Solomon, S. (2007). Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Cambridge, UK: Published for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Cambridge University Press.

Category:

Science & research

Tags:

adaptive communication

climate change

climate predictions

coastal systems ecology

Author/writer:

Benjamin Ignac and Emily Campbell

Corals under climate change: Hawai’i’s winners and losers

mstaudinger — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 20:43:48 +0000

Mar 14, 2016

Keisha Bahr, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Hawaiʻi in the Coral Reef Ecology Lab at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology.

Coral species tested in this study included endemic finger coral (Porites compressa), lace coral (Pocillopora damicornis), rice coral (Montipora capitata), crust coral (Leptastrea purpurea) and mushroom coral (Fungia scutaria) under experimental conditions of control (ambient), ocean acidification (acidified), ocean warming (heated), and the combinated of ocean warming and acidification (acidified heated).

Keisha conducting coral bleaching surveys in Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, Oʻahu HI.

Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, Coral Reef Ecology Lab mesocosm experimental system located at Moku o Loʻe, Kāneʻohe Bay HI.

The beauty of a healthy, thriving coral reef community is astonishing. These ‘rainforests of the sea’ are unique and their beauty is unmatched. While coral reefs only occupy less than 1% of the world’s ocean floor, they support more than 25% of all marine species. An estimated 85% of the United States’ reef area is located within the Hawaiian Archipelago that holds the largest marine sanctuary in the world, the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Coral reef communities within these waters are of particular concern because of the high proportion of endemic marine species (>25% for most taxa). These isolated subtropical coral reef communities were once safe from conditions that have ravaged similar ecosystems in other parts of the world’s oceans. Corals reefs of the Hawaiian Islands are currently experiencing the growing impacts of climate change with more frequent and severe bleaching events occurring in 1996, 2002, 2014 and 2015. The severity and extent of these bleaching events may pose a significant threat to the integrity of this unique ecosystem.

Reefs throughout the world are undergoing significant ecological change due to climate change. The effects of burning fossil fuels are two fold: warming and acidification. Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide create a green house effect causing the planet and its oceans to warm, also known as “global warming”. Offshore water temperatures of Hawai’i have already increased by 1.15°C over the past 58 years. Corals are also faced with another CO₂ problem: ocean acidification. Carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean, which causes the pH of the ocean to decrease. Ocean acidity has increased by approximately 25% since pre-industrial times (circa 1750-1850) and has resulted in severe negative effects on many calcifying marine organisms. Since these two processes are expected to increase in unison, it is important that we understand how corals respond to these stressors simultaneously.

Previous work has shown ocean warming and acidification reduces coral growth and increases coral bleaching (through the loss of algal symbionts); however, responses are not uniform within and between coral species. This suggests some individuals may not be affected by end-of-century climate change scenarios. To gain a better understanding of the future of coral reefs in Hawaiʻi, I conducted a series of laboratory experiments to determine the relative susceptibility of five abundant species including the endemic finger coral (Porites compressa), lace coral (Pocillopora damicornis), rice coral (Montipora capitata), crust coral (Leptastrea purpurea) and mushroom coral (Fungia scutaria) to future climate change conditions. I did this by exposing corals to warming temperatures of 2°C or more, as well as ocean acidification by decreasing the pH of the water. I exposed corals to these factors separately and together for an eight-week period.

Overall, I found that ocean warming had a greater negative impact on coral growth compared to ocean acidification. The crust coral showed no detectable response in growth to increased temperatures and acidity, revealing this species may be more resistant to climate change. Ocean acidification also did not appear to effect growth in rice corals. However, the other four coral species all had lower growth rates under ocean warming conditions, and the endemic finger coral was found to be the most susceptible coral species to these climate change stressors.

Climate change effects on coral species are generally negative, but the magnitude and variability of the response varied among individual corals and species. Climate change is also affecting corals on a backdrop of many other anthropogenic stressors such as sedimentation, overfishing, trampling by snorkelers and divers, and nutrient loading. It is important that we understand why some corals species are more susceptible than others to these climate change stressors to gain a better idea of what future reefs may look like. Studies such as mine also are useful for providing a framework to model future species composition, abundance, and available habitat for future coral reefs. With these models, scientists, managers, and policy makers can prioritize areas that are subject to the most immediate and dangerous threats and discuss strategies to minimize climate change effects in those areas. There are conservation and management actions that can be implemented now to help sustain coral reefs such as water conservation, pollution reduction, reducing carbon footprints, and when diving and enjoying reefs to practice safe snorkeling techniques.

Lastly, Hawaiʻi has a statewide reporting system, Hawaiʻi Eyes of the Reef, which enables all community members to contribute to long-term protection of our local reefs. The public is welcome to submit photo-documentation and reports of coral bleaching to the Eyes of the Reef Hawaiʻi network.

Keisha Bahr is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa (Pacific Islands CSC) in the Coral Reef Ecology Lab at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology.

For more information and results, check out Keisha's recently published paper: Relative sensitivity of five Hawaiian coral species to high temperature under high-pCO2 conditions in the journal Coral Reefs.

Check out how much life one cubic foot of a reef supports at Biocubes: Life In Once Cubic Foot.

Category:

Science & research

Tags:

biodiversity

climate change

coastal systems ecology