2nd Asia Pacific Coral Reef Symposium Summary (APCRS)
Chad Scott Save Koh Tao This last month was the 2nd APCRS held in Phuket from June 20th-24th. The meeting was held to bring together many of the researchers, policy makers, reef managers, and university students working on coral reef related fields to showcase new information and technologies and build networking and global cooperation. The main theme of the conference was managing coral reef ecosystems in the face of local threats and global climate change. We presented 2 posters on the topics of Creating Effective Marine Conservation Programs through Community and Market Based Methods, and an Assessment of the Reefs of Koh Tao (based on our EMP data from the last 4 years. There were hundreds of presentations and talks given over the four days covering a broad range of topics, I will discuss some of the more interesting topics I heard, and also include references in case you want to follow up or get more information. MPAs Much of the conference focused on the development, monitoring and effectiveness of Marine Protected areas around SE Asia. A lot of attention was brought to the fact that Asia contains the worlds most diverse coral reefs (75% of all species of coral and 40% of all species of coral fish), but also has some of the most prevalent issues of overfishing, over extraction, and destructive fishing practices (over fishing was listed as the number 1 threat for Thailand, followed by pollution). MPAs have been proven to not only protect diversity of fish, corals and invertebrates, but also is vital for sustaining fish stocks and preventing collapse of the fishing industry. Unfortunately, even after 20 years of efforts and the development of over 600 MPAs, only about 8% of SEA corals are in MPA’s, and only 10% of those are effectively managed (Chou 2010). Status of Coral Reefs The main problems for the reefs of Southeast Asia is land run off and overexploitation. The reefs are SEA are in desperate times, with large decreases in abundance and diversity due to lack of protection. In 2008, as much as 40% of the reefs in SEA have already been effectively destroyed (compared with 19% globally). Only 15% of the reefs in SEA are considered healthy (compared with 40% globally). If things continue has they have been, 33% of the coral species in SEA are at risk of being lost in the very near future. Climate Change (such as the more severe/frequent bleaching events) is the biggest and most difficult problem to solve (Wilkinson 2010). The GCRMN is establishing a group of volunteer coordinators from 80 countries to send in papers fro the next edition of the Status of the Worlds Coral Reefs Report (2012), for more information search for the GCRMN website. Coral Disease (Laurie Raymundo 2010) Within the last 30 years disease have been greatly impacted coral reefs around the world, decreasing the abundance and diversity of corals and altering community structures. Little has been done to properly understand the mechanisms and transmissions of coral diseases, and so management is urgently needed. Only the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is properly monitored for diseases, there is currently no network in the Gulf of Thailand for contributing to the global database. For example, 30+ disease have been observed and described, but the pathogens responsible have only been identified in 7 of those. Disease transmission can occur in a variety of ways, including through the water. Generally, more diversity of reef fish equals lower incidence of disease, and over abundance of coralivorious fish such as butterfly fish, can mean higher disease transmission. Another theory which is gaining popularity but still not understood is the transmission of diseases by divers. Divers should be restricted from areas that are diseased, because through contact they spread disease across reef areas, and also visit multiple sites per day. We can help by washing wetsuits and fins in freshwater between dives. Also, gloves should not be allowed because of their potential to harbor diseases and the fact that divers contact the corals more often with gloves than without them. There needs to be a standard language and method of monitoring, sampling, and describing diseases (ie. Many books describe ‘tumors’ on corals, but tumors are specific to vertebrate animals). These are the standard names and examples of language and description changes : White Syndrome (previously known as white patch, white pox, white plague, etc). Known to attack nearly all species of corals, wide geographic range, results in rapids zooxanthaelle and tissue loss, possibly related to Vibrio Bacteria). Can be spread by fish (Irikawa, 2010). Black Band Disease: it is now known that Red Band Disease is actually a type of Black Band Disease, so these can be combined. This disease is caused by a community of photosynthetic cyanobacteria, is temperature dependant, and re-infection is very likely. Skeletal eroding band (looks like salt and pepper band on RKC skeleton) widespread in the GBR, formed by boring Cilia, reduces reef structure integrity. Growth Anomalies (tumors, nodules, etc): Still unsure if microbial cause, correlates with bleaching events, reduces coral fecudinity (gamete production) Ulcerative White Spots: Most commonly appears in Porites, but also in some favides. Most common in Philippines, possibly has a Vibrio component. Trematodiasis & Alramous Necrosis: identified by pink nodules on porites corals. Transmitted by butterfly fish predation. Pigmentation response: (pinking syndrome) is now though to not be a disease. Thermal Stress and Coral Bleaching (Mark Eakin, NOAA) As we know from our island, this year has been abnormally hot and widespread bleaching (95-100% in many areas) has been reported across the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Thailand. This years event is part of a string of intense frequent bleaching that is threatening the diversity and community composition of global coral reefs that started about 20 years ago. As we have discussed previously in our meetings, 1998 was the hottest year on record for global sea surface temperatures (SST) (record going back over 800,000 years) and 2002 was the second hottest year. 2005 was the hottest year for the Carribean, with almost total bleaching and about 60% mortality in many areas such as the Virgin Islands. Coupled with thermal stresses due to bleaching is the erosion of coral skeleton and carbonate structures due to ocean acidification. Acidification is due to increased amount of carbonic acid in the water from the input of CO2. The oceans are absorbing about 22 million tons of CO2 each day. Historic atmospheric CO2 concentrations were less than 200 ppm, but our current levels exceed 390 ppm. Many scientists think that the upper limit for the oceans is below 350 ppm, but there is a lag in the effects due to the size of the sea. We are now at a point where the net calcification is equal to the net dissolution/calcification, meaning that for the first time since the last ice age, reefs and CCA globally are being destroyed faster than they are being built. Within the very near future the erosion rate will greatly exceed the calcification rate, releasing millions of tons of CO2 that was locked up in coral skeleton and destroying the habitat of all reef organisms. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has launched a very advanced and detailed website using satellite and remote sensing data to monitor and predict both warming, bleaching, and disease outbreak (coralreefwatch.noaa.gov). There was a lot more specific studies and information presented at the conference, and if you are interested in a particular field or topic send me an e-mail and I will try to send you some of the researchers or websites working in that field. I also have a book of the abstracts from the conference presentations and posters. We have established quite a few new connections with other researchers, and hopefully many of these relationships will led to increased projects dealing with the monitoring, protection, and restoration of our island. There are a lot of great websites out there that can give you a starting point for learning more about these topics including: www.ReefBase.org www.GEFCoral.org http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov www.350.org References Chou, L.M. 2010. Science and Management of Southeast Asia’s Coral Reefs in the New Millennium. Department of Biological Sciences. National University of Singapore. Eakin, Mark, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Simon D. Donner, et. Al. 2010. Hot Sour Soup: Rising Temperatures and Ocean Acidification are a Bad Mix for Corals. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Coral Reef Watch. Irikawa, A., et al. 2010. Interaction of disease Disturbances on Acropora Cytherea Population in Kerama Islands, Southern Japan. Graduate School of Science and Technology Shizouka Univeristy. Raymundo, L.J. 2010. Diseases in Western Pacific Coral Reefs: Concerns and Options for Management. Univeristy of Guam Marine Lab. Wilkinson, C. 2010. Coral Reefs of the Aisa-Pacific Region:Status and Trends and Predictions for the Future. Clobal Coral Reef Monitoring Network. |
