11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University
11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University
11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University
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26-9<br />
Biodiversity Of Reefs: Inferring From Sparse Data<br />
Daphne FAUTIN* 1<br />
1 <strong>University</strong> of Kansas, Lawrence, KS<br />
Oral Mini-Symposium 26: Biodiversity and Diversification of Reef Organisms<br />
Data on occurrences of a particular organism from publications and museum specimens<br />
can be used to infer occurrence of members of that species in places where sampling has<br />
not been done and at times in the past and future. Programs to make such inferences are<br />
based on knowledge of the habitat correlates of the species and determining where else in<br />
the world those habitat parameters occur. Precision of such an inference depends on 1)<br />
accurate and precise knowledge of the species’ habitat requirements, 2) detailed spatiallyexplicit<br />
environmental data, and 3) comprehensive taxonomic and nomenclatural<br />
information. Such inferential tools can be important in understanding biogeographic<br />
consequences of climate change, in predicting where invasive species might persist, and<br />
in recognizing invasive species.<br />
26-10<br />
Standardized Sampling And Molecular Approaches For Assessing Marine<br />
Biodiversity Of Coral Reefs<br />
Laetitia PLAISANCE* 1 , Christopher MEYER 2 , Gustav PAULAY 3 , Russell<br />
BRAINARD 4 , Amy HALL 4 , Julian CALEY 5 , Nancy KNOWLTON 1<br />
1 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, <strong>University</strong> of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA,<br />
2 <strong>University</strong> of Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 3 Florida Museum of Natural History, <strong>University</strong><br />
of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 4 Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research,<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, 5 Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville,<br />
Australia<br />
Coral reefs are the most diverse and among the most threatened of all marine ecosystems.<br />
Unfortunately, we lack the taxonomic expertise and the time needed to characterize this<br />
diversity, as well as the extent of biodiversity loss related to human impacts, using<br />
traditional methods. However, the revolution in molecular genetics dramatically changes<br />
the potential for reef scientists to make progress in this area, particularly in poorly<br />
characterized groups for which taxonomic expertise is limited (e.g. very small cryptic<br />
organisms). As exhaustive inventories of reef-associated fauna are impractical,<br />
standardized sampling methods are the best option for estimating and comparing patterns<br />
of diversity for these communities. In this study, we employed a DNA barcode approach<br />
(cytochrome oxidase subunit I) to characterize the biodiversity of marine crustaceans<br />
associated with coral reefs in Moorea (French Polynesia), the northern Line Islands,<br />
French Frigate Shoals (Hawaii) and Lizard Island (Australia). We sampled the small<br />
cryptic fauna in two different habitats: in dead Pocillopora heads (most sites) and<br />
Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) deployed for one year at four sites<br />
around French Frigate Shoals. Results to date suggest that current estimates greatly<br />
underestimate reef biodiversity as rarefaction curves reveal that they will increase<br />
significantly with additional sampling. Moreover, comparison of crustacean diversity<br />
between Moorea and the Line Islands showed little overlap, as only 11 OTUs<br />
(Operational Taxonomic Unit) out of 135, were found in both localities, 44% of the total<br />
diversity being singletons and 33% being found only in one locality. Moreover, none of<br />
the Moorea taxa matched at the species level with any record in GenBank. Nevertheless,<br />
these methods have great potential when they are globally deployed with adequate<br />
replication, something that is now possible given the ease of obtaining sequence data.<br />
26-11<br />
Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (Arms): A Tool For Monitoring Indices Of Biodiversity<br />
Amy HALL* 1 , Russell BRAINARD 2 , Julian CALEY 3 , Scott GODWIN 4 , Leslie HARRIS 5 , Nancy<br />
KNOWLTON 6 , Tito LOTUFO 7 , Joel MARTIN 5 , Kaylyn MCCOY 8 , Megan MOEWS 1 , Russell<br />
MOFFITT 1 , Gustav PAULAY 9 , Laetitia PLAISANCE 10<br />
1 JIMAR Univeristy of Hawaii, NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Honolulu, HI, 2 NOAA<br />
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Honolulu, HI, 3 Australian Institute of Marine Science,<br />
Queensland, Australia, 4 Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Kaneohe, HI, 5 Natural History Museum of<br />
Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, 6 Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History,<br />
Washington, DC, 7 Instituto de Ciencias do Mar, Laboratorio de Ecologia Animal, Fortaleza, Brazil,<br />
8 State of Hawaii, Division of Aquatic Resources, Honolulu, HI, 9 Florida Museum of Natural History,<br />
Gainesville, FL, 10 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA<br />
Coral reefs are high diversity ecosystems, but methods to assess this diversity can be problematic,<br />
particularly for small and cryptic organisms. Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) have<br />
been developed and are being tested as a standard method to mimic the structural complexity of coral<br />
reef habitats and attract colonizing non-coral invertebrates. It is currently difficult to find nonsubjective<br />
methods of assessing invertebrate biodiversity on coral reefs. With an increasing scarcity of<br />
trained invertebrate taxonomists globally, ARMS will enable researchers to obtain indices of<br />
invertebrate biodiversity utilizing molecular techniques that would otherwise be challenging and time<br />
consuming using traditional morphological analyses alone. In October 2006, ARMS were deployed in<br />
a preliminary study at French Frigate Shoals in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument,<br />
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and subsequently recovered and analyzed in October 2007. ARMS<br />
were deployed at sites selected on the basis of habitat characterization: a backreef site, a lagoon patch<br />
reef site, and two forereef sites, from 1 to 14 m. Analyses were designed to look at the effectiveness of<br />
the instruments across the range of habitats and taxa collected. ARMS were most productive in<br />
sampling molluscs (28%), ascidians (24%), crustaceans (19%), and bryozoans (11%) in forereef and<br />
lagoon patch reef habitats. In addition, DNA barcode analyses were conducted to characterize<br />
crustacean biodiversity associated with ARMS in comparison to dead Pocillopora heads from other<br />
sites in the Pacific. These results suggest that coupling ARMS with taxonomic and molecular analyses<br />
can be an effective method to assess and monitor understudied coral reef invertebrate biodiversity.<br />
Additional ARMS deployments occurring around the Hawaiian Islands, Pacific remote island areas,<br />
American Samoa, Australia, Brazil, and Panama will enhance our ability to monitor coral reef<br />
ecosystem change globally and build capacity for ecosystem-based management.<br />
26-12<br />
Biodiversity Census at French Frigate Shoals, A Baseline Diversity Study<br />
Russell MOFFITT* 1 , Russell BRAINARD 2 , Julian CALEY 3 , Scott GODWIN 4 , Amy HALL 1 , Leslie<br />
HARRIS 5 , Elizabeth KEENAN 6 , Nancy KNOWLTON 7 , Tito LOTUFO 8 , Jim MARAGOS 9 , Joel<br />
MARTIN 5 , Sea MCKEON 10 , Megan MOEWS 1 , Gustav PAULAY 10 , Cory PITTMAN 11 , Alison<br />
SHERWOOD 12 , John STARMER 13 , Brian ZGLICZYNSKI 1<br />
1 Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, JIMAR/Univ. of Hawaii & NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science<br />
Center, Honolulu, HI, 2 Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science<br />
Center, Honolulu, HI, 3 Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Australia, 4 Hawaii Institute<br />
of Marine Biology, Kaneohe, HI, 5 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA,<br />
6 NOAA/NOS/PMNM, Honolulu, HI, 7 Dept. of Invertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Institution, National<br />
Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, 8 Laboratorio de Ecologia Animal, Instituto de Ciencias<br />
do Mar, Fortaleza, Brazil, 9 USFWS, Honolulu, HI, 10 Florida Museum of Natural History, <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Florida, Gainesville, FL, 11 Camp Olowalu, Lahaina, HI, 12 Botany Department, <strong>University</strong> of Hawaii at<br />
Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 13 CNMI Coastal Resources Management Office, Saipan, Northern Mariana<br />
Islands<br />
With increasing concerns about climate change, there is clear danger that much coral reef diversity<br />
could be lost before it is documented and managers will be left with a limited understanding of<br />
undisturbed reef communities on which to base future decisions. To effectively manage and conserve<br />
these ecosystems, it is first necessary to obtain baseline data of existing biodiversity and enhance<br />
understanding of changes over time. As part of the Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems (CReefs) of the<br />
Census of Marine Life, a multi-institutional team of taxonomists surveyed cryptic, poorly known, and<br />
understudied organisms, particularly invertebrate, algal and microbial species at French Frigate Shoals<br />
in the relatively pristine Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern<br />
Hawaiian Islands. This open atoll has the highest reported shallow coral reef biodiversity in the<br />
Hawaiian Archipelago and has been hypothesized to be a diversity pathway for the spread of species<br />
from three directions, most notably Johnston Atoll. During a 16-day field survey, 15 diverse habitat<br />
types were sampled utilizing an array of methods designed to target key ecological niches and<br />
minimize ecological impacts, including hand collecting, rubble extraction, rubble brushing, sand<br />
sampling, Yabbie pump, microbial collections, algal collections, suction/vacuum, baited traps, Ekman<br />
grabs, sand dredges, plankton tows, and Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures. At least 1600<br />
morphospecies were documented and photographed, including >100 new species and/or regional<br />
records. New records include 7 species of algae, 33 decapod crustaceans, 48 opistobranch molluscs,<br />
and 1 family of ascidians. Greater than 20% of the known Hawaiian marine invertebrate diversity was<br />
encountered, reflecting on the effectiveness of methods and the poorly known nature of tropical reef<br />
biodiversity. In addition 1,279 DNA subsamples, representing 40% of the overall specimens, were<br />
collected to sequence for inclusion in the Barcode of Life.<br />
244