11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

Poster Mini-Symposium 16: Ecosystem Assessment and Monitoring of Coral Reefs - New Technologies and Approaches
16.550
Methodological Proposal Of Cartography Of Mexican Pacific Coral Reefs
Carlos CANDELARIA* 1 , Norma CORADO-NAVA 1 , Manuel OSEGUERA 1 ,
Emmanuel TEYSSIER 1 , Magali HONEY 1 , Andres OCAMPO 1
1 Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico city, Mexico
One of valuable tool to know diverse biological phenomena and processes that happen in
coral reefs related with its spacial dimension have been maps. These have been used to
represent topographical conformation of the reefs, distributional patterns of corals and
other species, as referential for successional studies and for applied purposes related with
conservation programs and sustainable development.
In this study a methodological proposal of underwater cartography is presented, applied
to reefs communities of Huatulco, Oaxaca, and Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, in the Mexican
Tropical Pacific.
The mapping protocol consists of four general phases: 1) planning and organization; 2)
topographical survey; 3) data processing; and, 4) cartography.
Two types of bathymetric maps were obtained, one two-dimensional representation (2D)
and other three-dimensional (3D), showing complementary relief´features.
16.551
Coral Bleaching Response Plan For South Florida’s Reefs: A Florida Reef
Resilience Project
Rowena GARCIA* 1 , Meaghan JOHNSON 1 , Philip KRAMER 1
1 The Nature Conservancy, Summerland, FL
Coral bleaching due to climate change is projected to increase; therefore it is important
that a coral bleaching response plan be developed. The Florida Reef Resilience Project
(FRRP) developed and implemented a coral bleaching response plan in the summers of
2005, 2006 and 2007 on the South Florida reef tract. Twelve teams composed of federal,
state, and local agencies, non-profit groups and universities were trained on bleaching
response assessment by The Nature Conservancy during each year. Bleachwatch, a
volunteer early warning program and the NOAA Coral Reef watch products HotSpot
Maps and Degree Heating Weeks were used to establish the start of the survey period.
Approximately 160 independent surveys were undertaken across the South Florida reef
tract within a six week period each year. The sampling design was developed to capture
spatial variability in bleaching response throughout the South Florida reef tract. A
random stratified sampling design was used to establish sampling stations, and coral
colonies were evaluated using belt transects randomly placed within each sampling
location. Four main parameters are recorded for all stony corals greater than 4 cm in
diameter within each transect: live coral cover, hard coral density, hard coral size, and
hard coral condition (bleaching, disease, partial mortality). In addition to developing the
methodology for bleaching response assessment, we realized that the time required to
complete annual surveys will generally take longer than anticipated due to delays caused
by weather events and the difficulty in coordinating the schedules of a diverse group of
organizations. The fact that there is a high level of commitment from all organizations
involved has led to the successful implementation of the coral bleaching response plan.
16.552
Fishbone Transect: A New Hybrid Methodology For Spatio-Temporal Characterization
Of Macrobenthos On Hard Surfaces
Diego COSTA* 1 , David BÉLANGER 2 , André SANTOS 3 , Sheila RAFI 4 , Natalia VIEIRA 5 ,
Carlos PERÉZ 6
1 Zoology department, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, 2 Biology Department,
Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, 3 Biology Departament, Federal University
of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, 4 Zoology Department, Federal University of Pernambuco,
Recife, Brazil, 5 Zoology department, University Federal of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil,
6 Biology department, University Federal of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Brazilian coral reefs extend over almost 3.000 km along the northearstern coast of Brazil and
represent the only reef ecosystems of South Atlantic. A seasonal study has been conducted on
three beaches on the south littoral of Pernambuco state, Brazil, enter 2005 to 2007. The aim of
this study was to compare the traditional methodology, using standard sampling units for
assessing colonial and punctual macrobenthics organisms with a new bidimensional hybrid
methodology using a new sampling unit named fishbone transect. It is constitute by
isobathymetrical lines or bands with a 5m long transect perpendicular to the coastline (the
column) intercepted by two 2m long transects parallel to the coastline (the ribs) each of them
crossing the column at 1,5m and 3,5m respectively. Each transect (perpendicular and parallel)
are made out of a measuring tape in order to measure the covering of each organisms that are
encountered above the tape and are split in 1m section for estimating the frequencies of
organisms. In addition, 1m X 0,5m quadrats were disposed on the right side of each transect for
every 1m section in order to counted punctual organisms. Colonial organisms and algae were
quantified using the line intercept transect method. The density of punctual organism was
estimated by counting them in band transects. The data were integrated in a GIS ArcView 3.2
software. The results have demonstrated that the fishbone, when it is compare to traditional
methodologies, represents in a more parsimonious way the community structure of the reef
relating to the zonation gradient of the organisms. Moreover, better richness and abundance
results were obtained as well as it increased the graphical illustrations (map) quality of the
distribution of organisms in a space and time scales.
16.552A
A Simple, Low-Cost System For Determining High Resolution Particle Distributions On
Coral Reefs
Alex WYATT* 1 , Roger NOKES 2 , Stuart HUMPHRIES 3 , Anya WAITE 1
1 School of Environmental Systems Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley,
Australia, 2 Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch,
New Zealand, 3 Department of Animal & Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield,
United Kingdom
There is increasing interested in the role that suspended particles play in the trophodynamics of
coral reefs and the importance of heterotrophic feeding by reef organism in energy budgets,
calcification and resilience to stressors. Exploring the mechanistic role of heterotrophy in
various aspects of coral reef ecology requires detailed understanding of the composition and
dynamics of suspended particulate material (SPM). Variation in the size-structure of SPM in
response to biological and physical forcing is of particular interest. Techniques for examining
the size-structure of SPM typically involve the use of expensive equipment that measure
acoustic or optical backscatter or laser diffraction, all of which have significant limitations. We
have developed a simple, low-cost particle imaging system that uses a light sheet and standard
digital still camera to obtain information on particle distributions to as low as 20 μm. This
system has been optimised and tested in the laboratory using known artificial particle
distributions and deployed in the field to measure natural variation.
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