11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

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The R/v Alpha Helix Symbios Expedition: A Retrospective Analysis Of A Milestone
in Coral Reef Research
Christopher F. D'ELIA* 1 , Abbie Rae HARRIS*2
1 Environmental Science and Policy, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Saint
Petersburg, FL, 2 College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, Saint
Petersburg, FL
In the spring of 1971, a team of more than 20 marine scientists arrived at Enewetak Atoll
in the Marshall Islands to conduct the most comprehensive study of a coral reef yet
undertaken: the Symbios Expedition, using the R/V Alpha Helix for logistical support.
While many coral reef researchers are aware that this team-oriented research program
made significant contributions to the understanding of coral reef metabolism and
function, neither a history of the Expedition has been done nor a formal assessment has
been made on its impact on the field. This is not surprising, because scientists rarely
concern themselves with documenting the history of the science they conduct or
assessing the results of their research programs vis a vis the funding provided. Thus, we
are typically left with only vague notions as to the scientific impact that a given project
had and the factors that contributed. Clearly, science builds upon prior knowledge, and
researchers recognize contributions to this knowledge by literature citations in their
publications. Recently, citation analysis tools have become available to assess
publication impact quantitatively. Using one such tool, Citespace II, together with
quantitative and qualitative information gathered from historical reference materials and
extensive interviews, we provide here a retrospective assessment of the Symbios
Expedition that demonstrates its scientific impact and suggests some of the reasons for its
success.
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Caribbean Coral Reef Communities in the 1970's: An Ecosystem Baseline Data Set
for Assessing Current Regional Reef Health
Randolph BURKE* 1 , Walter ADEY 2
1 Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Mandan, ND, 2 Botany, Smithsonian Institution NHB,
Washington D.C., DC
Currently a great debate ensues among scientists about how well developed Caribbean
reef communities were before the “crash” and exactly what changes occurred. Since the
late 1980’s, Caribbean coral reefs have been repeatedly struck by hurricanes, diseases,
high temperatures, over fishing, and locally, recreational and pollution disturbance. For
these reasons most scientists consider these reefs to be currently in a state of collapse, but
none have a Caribbean wide, historical data base on which to base their beliefs.
A regional database, circum-Caribbean and Bahamas, consisting of still photographs
(3350 frames, 60 mm and 35 mm; underwater and low altitude aerial) were taken over a
two-week period in 1976. SCUBA diver measured transects of coral reef community data
were taken concurrently during rest and refueling stops. Additionally, approximately 12
km of 16 mm motion picture film and 1650 still photographs (60 mm and 35mm;
underwater and aerial) were taken between 1972 and 1987. This material was collected to
support work on regional coral reef structure and ecosystem dynamics that resulted in
numerous publications, but much of this supporting data has not been published. Current
concerns about Caribbean coral reef health provided an opportunity to revisit this data.
The capability of accurately relocating individual reefs was demonstrated by digitally
overlaying 1976 digitized photos on exactly the same reef location captured in USGS
Orthoimages and Landsat 7 images using Google Earth. More than 80% of the aerial
photographs can be accurately relocated within a meter or less using Landsat imagery.
The large format (60 mm) allows for size resolution of objects 0.5m and less. This
provides historical data on the regional distribution of Acropora palmata, currently on the
endangered species list. This data set is uniquely valuable for evaluating changes of
shallow-water, Caribbean wide coral reef communities in the last three decades.
Oral Mini-Symposium 1: Lessons From the Past
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Estimating Live Coral Cover in Fossil Reefs: A Microboring Approach
Halard LESCINSKY* 1 , Benjamin TITUS 1 , Avinash MINHAS 1 , Dennis HUBBARD 2
1 Department of Life and Earth Sciences, Otterbein College, Westerville, OH, 2 Department of
Geology, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
The recent widespread decrease in Caribbean live coral cover points out the need for a valid
ecological baseline for understanding modern reefs. Here we show that live coral cover,
comparable to that measured in modern reefs, can be estimated in fossil reefs using
microboring abundance and taphograde analysis. Subaerially exposed reefs may contain wellpreserved
corals that are topped by beds indicative of rapid burial. Since microborers infest
coral skeleton within weeks of exposure, microboring analysis provides an objective way to
identify corals with little post-mortem exposure and thus buried horizons of these corals can be
censused to determine live coral cover in fossil reefs. We applied this technique to the
Holocene (5-9,000 ybp) Enriquillo Valley reef in western Dominican Republic. A mud-rich
event bed, characterized by Madracis auretenra, is found draping over corals for 125m
within the massive coral zone at Cañada Honda. Field-estimated taphogrades correlated with
microboring intensity. The best preserved corals (grade 1) had little or no microboring
suggesting immediate burial, grade 2 corals had surficial boring (