11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

18.607
Susceptibility Of Corals To Skeletal Growth Anomaly And Trematodiasis
According To Species And Seasons At Wai`Opae Tide Pools, Hawaii
Misaki TAKABAYASHI* 1 , T. Makani GREGG 1 , Kaikaika TEVES 1 , Shauna Kehau
TOM 1
1 Marine Science Department, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI
Scattered along the east side of Hawai`i Island are tide pools with porous basaltic lava
rock substrate. These tide pools, ranging in depth of 1-4m, have a high freshwater input
from ground water and runoff, resulting in the large salinity variability of 24.6-35.1ppt.
Given the proximity to residential areas, porosity of substrate, and high rainfall in the
area, the Wai`opae tide pools are suspected to be heavily exposed to terrigenous
influences. Approximately one third of these tide pools fall within the Wai`opae Marine
Life Conservation District (MLCD), where collection of any kind is prohibited. The
MLCD pools are however available for recreational use and popular with snorkelers. We
monitored random and permanent colonies of eight scleractinian coral species inside and
outside of the MLCD monthly over the last two years. Our results to date show that
higher proportions (p < 0.05) of corals are affected by trematodiasis, skeletal growth
anomaly, and tissue loss of unknown causes; 1) during summer months than winter; and
2) inside the MLCD than outside. Skeletal growth anomaly affects Montipora capitata,
and trematodiasis is observed in Porites spp. at a higher rate (p < 0.05 in both cases) than
other species. Repeated monitoring of permanently marked colonies indicate that there is
no clear correlation between the fate of skeletal growth anomaly (change in size and
frequency) and species, location, or season. The same lack of correlation was observed in
colonies affected by trematodiasis and tissue loss. Some coral colonies have recovered
from these conditions partially or completely during our monitoring period, however,
showing some level of resilience within the Wai`opae coral population.
18.608
Sudden Changes On Coral Reefs At Naval Station Guantánamo Bay (Gtmo), Cuba
Ken DESLARZES* 1 , William PRECHT 2 , Martha ROBBART 3
1 Geo-Marine, Inc., Plano, TX, 2 Battelle, West Palm Beach, FL, 3 PBS&J, Miami, FL
From 2003 to 2007, spur and groove reefs at GTMO were subject to significant changes
including the loss of coral cover and habitat complexity. This resulted in a significant
reduction of fish abundance. The main source of these changes was related to a bleaching
event associated with the extreme warming of SSTs throughout the Eastern Caribbean in
2005. This mass coral bleaching event and subsequent mortality reduced absolute coral
cover from 41.5% to 19.3%; macroalgal cover increased from 27.3% to 37.6%. Also,
there was a conspicuous loss of the competitively dominant and structurally complex
coral, Agaricia tenuifolia. The significant reduction of coral cover and the concomitant
reduction of topographic complexity have led to reefs that can no longer sustain pre-2003
fish population levels. The overall decrease in fish abundance points to coral habitat as a
limiting factor in supporting juvenile and adult fish populations. Fish diversity, however,
appears to have increased slightly. More diverse herbivorous fishes combined with the
increase in algal cover underscores a changing reef environment and a probable phaseshift
from a coral-dominated to an algal-dominated reef. Because of restricted access,
overfishing is not responsible for the observed reduction in fish stocks at GTMO.
Interestingly, the overall small size of the fish both in 2003 and 2007 at GTMO was
similar to sizes reported from the heavily overfished reefs of north Jamaica. Because the
sea urchin Diadema antillarum was rare in 2007, herbivorous fish assemblages are
primarily responsible for the maintenance of algal assemblages on these reefs. Increased
diversity and abundance of herbivorous fish may indicate a temporary response to the
increased algal cover. However, it is unknown how these species will respond in time and
space. Also, will current levels of herbivory be sufficient to prevent further reef
degradation especially when confronted with future disturbances?
Poster Mini-Symposium 18: Reef Status and Trends
18.609
Community Structure Of Reef Fish On Three Different Coral Life Form (Branching,
Foliaceous, And Massive) At Pari Island, Indonesia
Hawis MADDUPPA 1 , Unggul AKTANI* 2 , Harry PALM 3
1 Marine Science and Technology, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Bogor, Indonesia,
2 Aquatic Living Resources Management, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Bogor,
Indonesia, 3 Heinrich Heine University-Germany, Duesseldorf, Germany
Indonesia is the world’s richest country in terms of reef fish diversity. Nevertheless, reef fish of
the Indonesian Archipelago remain poorly known primarily due to the lack of sampling. The
objectives of this research were (1) to compare reef fish community structure on three different
reef habitats based on types of coral life-forms (Acropora branching-ACB, coral foliaceous-CF,
and coral massive-CM) by using a number of community properties, and (2) to investigate
seasonal variation in the structure of reef fish communities on the different coral life-forms.
This study was carried out from August 2003 to May 2004 at Pari Island in the southern part of
The Thousand Islands, off the Javanese North Coast. Three 5x5 m2 permanent quadrant transect
were placed at each sampling site, 150 photo transects (1x1 m2) were used to assess the sessile
benthic community of the coral reefs at the beginning and the end of the sampling period. Reef
fish communities were assessed by underwater visual census. During this study, a total of 13409
individual fishes were counted, representing 208 species belonging to 37 families. In terms of
species richness in ACB and CF sites, Pomacentridae (40%) and (48.6%) was the dominant fish
family, and Labridae (27.4%) was the dominant family at site CM. Fish community analysis by
using PRIMER v5 revealed seven groups of fish communities. The most species rich habitat
was ACB with 130 species followed by CM and CF with 117 and 82 species respectively. The
sequence of trophic categories at all sites during monitoring was carnivorous (32.9-47.9%),
herbivorous (15.9-26.9%), omnivorous (12.6-25.6%), planktivorous (17.3-20.7%), and
coralivorous (1.7-8.3%). Average Shannon-Wiener diversity (ln basis) at all habitats ranged
from 2.0-2.9 (ACB), 2.4-3.1 (CF), and 2.1-3.0 (CM), with no significant difference between
sites.
18.611
Continuous Recruitment Of Hard Corals In North Sulawesi, Indonesia Estimated
Throughout The Year With Fluorescence Census Technique
Sascha B.C. ROMATZKI* 1 , Sebastian SCHMIDT-ROACH 1 , Andreas KUNZMANN 1
1 Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT), Bremen, Germany
Recruitment of corals in a low-latitude Indonesian reef was observed by sampling of artificial
limestone substrates at four stations situated in the Bunaken National Park and nearby reefs
over a 2-year-period. Tiles were removed every 2 months and replaced with new ones. The
sampled tiles were examined using standard microscopic techniques. Time of settlement of
recruits was determined using size-age-keys from a study using combined fluorescence photo
techniques with conventional microscopic examination for the early detection of coral-recruits
in the same stations.
So called growth charts were used to determine the time of settlement of Acroporidae and
Pocilloporidae recruits with a weekly accuracy. A total of 4280 Pocillopora and 3150 Acropora
recruits were examined on 1440 tiles. Size of pocilloporid recruits ranged from 0,5 - 8,4 mm,
for those of Acroporidae from 0,5 - 4,87 mm. Recruits of at least one family were found during
each sampling period and in each station on tiles throughout the year. Abundance of
Pocilloporidae recruits showed no clear seasonality in settlement in contrast to those of
Acroporidae, who peaked in the months of April /June and November/December of 2006 in all
monitored stations. These data suggest that there is a steady recruitment of pocilloporid recruits
in the monitored reefs while recruitment for Acroporidae is more seasonal, but not necessarily
restricted to seasons. Based on the observation of several distinct peaks in recruitment per year
in successive years, we believe that there must be several mass spawning events.
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