Proliminaqy Re2oi-T on Itariiie Dtolog Study of Onot,Or: Atoll, Gilbert Iu!.Alds
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Proliminaqy Re2oi-t on itariiie Dtolog Study of Onot,or: Atoll, Gilbert Iu!.alds Part I by John EE.hddl Issuacl by TI23 PACIFIC SCIENCE BGAW National Acadenii of Scioncos--National Research Council Eiashirigton, D. C. December 15, 1352 PRTXfMINARY REPORT ON Mh?INZ EIOLO!X STUDY OF OI4OTOA ATOLL, GTLEFZT I%iU?DS SC1'34TIE'IC INVFS'I'IGATIOPJS IN D!XCPOiVESTA Pacific Science Board N~tionaLResearch Council Dr. H. Banner Uiiiversity of Hawaii Honolt~lu, Hawaii February 20, 1952 Part IT ~dr.John E. Randall University of Hat~aii Honolulu , Hawaii March L+, 1952 This field xorlc was carried on in coni1eci;ion with the Coral Atoll Project of the Pacific Science Board of the National Research Council and ms sxppor-Led by fut~?sgranted to the XatLon::l Acadw of Sciences from the Office of Maw.?. Resenl,ch. Generom cooperation was received fram the PIilitarj- Air Transport Seyvlce and the United States Coast Guard Ln anssisting with transportation, tiin University of Hawaii i? supplying much needed equipnent, the admlnis- trative officials of tha Gilb~rtand Ellice Islands Colony. The author is pzrticularly grateful. for the assistance estended by Xiliss EMlestine Akers mcl Kz. Earold $. Coolidge of the Pacific Sciecce Board. Th~ksa.re also due to Dr, Preston E. Cloud, Jr., the leader of the ~xpedition,for the use of the map he made of the islmd, and to R. Tacker Abbo-bt of the U. S. National PIusevm for the identification of Bone of the molluscs. The mri?e bio:lLogical r'rork on Uno'toa j.s dtvisible into five portions: 1. Tile investigatioil of shallow water ecological associations, re- por'ted !lerein: A, The ecology of the rrindr,;ard reef, B. The ecology of the lagoon reefs and shores. 2. The investigation of thc deeper water ecological asscciaticns, to be reported by Dr. Pres-Lon E. CLond, Jr, 3. The investigation of the rnnr'ine algae, to be re??orted by Dr. Edwin I40ul, L. The 5nvestigation of the ichthyofauna, reported by Er. John Randall and appended to th6s report. 5. The native use of tlzz rfiarine liizvertobr-ates for food, reported herein. iiy portion of the stuci~,the inarino in~e~tebrates,rras severely limited by an attack of blood poisoning and a subsequent attack oi' influenza that resulted from attemp-bing to do field work :?hen not fullg recovered from the first illness; as a result of the-e two illnesses, over ffive of the ten %reeks spent on Onotoz rrere lost and the investigat-ions made were neither as thorough nor as extensive as planned. The followiing repmts ore rei,and should be taken to show merely the extent of the work 60ne. Tho idenfifications are fiilld idmtifications and must be confirmed by expatt.;, vith the except.ion of soiiie of tine mollum% r,rliich have already been iden-Lified by R. Tucker kloiwt-t of tho TJ. S. ?rational 14usem; and no coccli~.sinnsarc! ir1co::poratcd in the reports. hJnen tliese reports are published the deficiencies vill. be corrected. The - ind?.rard reef on Gnotoa is found along the northern, eastern and southern shores of the atoll, presen-Ling an alnost unbroken barricade against the force of the prevailing wares, It varies in vbd-l;h froi;~three or four hundred feet to ova a q-~arterof a 31i1e a?d is nore extensfvely devsloped around the southern island thm arounr! the rorthern, As it is of quite uniform height, structve and biotic zones, a sirlgle transec-t across its surface rias . deemed to be indicative of the general ecology of the recf. ------Condi.tims of Gk;?. Reef The inshore border o? the Feel' is coiqmsed eit,her of consolictated and eroded coral rock or :;nodeinzte1y Fine sad ~Lththe wper edge extendbg to the mexin~uk~heigllt of the sto:.i~:taws 2nd tho 13rier- edge vxying but u&~allyabout the 2.0 to 2.5 foot ti& Level, Be:rond this skq? shorerrard area tine r?ef ilat e.,te... LK?S to a m.iform srea of slight slope, vrii,h ,'re:pei?-t sr:.a;l. to large s~~allowpoo~sof ~~ater lei.: ~~5lov $ids. Y:?s rxf fl~tin the transsct stxdiedtas 650 feet bi'c~ti, Cear~arclof the ITS.? ;!.at is a depres-;io?, the heck-ridgz trough, be"c.rb-.n 50 .w.d.1C0 fee: vld2 zie raging in de$h from . about the 0,2 to the - 2.5 foot tidal level. The final edge of the reef is tile coralline ridge (or Lithotharmion ridge by previous ~rorkers),a r~mpnr.tbetveen l.0 and 2,O feet above the zero tide and 50 - 100 fezt broad. Its shore~mrdedge presenk an almost co.ltir~uous frclt of redclish cordline algae, but on its sez~ardside soon develop.e.eer, fisswes or surge channels at rj.gi3-t w.gles to. the shore that reach six or nor* feet below the surface of the reef aid that are of varying rridthl, ~rrideningas they reach seariard. T'ne seaward edge of tine cordline ridge thus separates into a series of separa.te and depressed fingers that finallg slope rapidly dom to the growing reef surlacc beloti. The outermost reef or the reef shelf is relatively narrori, about three hundred feet iide, and slopes rather rapidly from about ten feet deep on the shoremrd side to over thirty or thirty five feet deep -. , . on the seaward side; it consists of living coral gro~~incin irregular ~nouncls r7ith areas betmen the heads strew xith dead coral fragments. Beyond this . reef shelf the bottom drops suddenly a~ray, at a slope of perhaps norc than L,S0 and soon disappears in the t~rbid'aters;this last zone was not eqlored at all, The viniimrd reef facing the trade :rinds scstains the almost continuous beatin? of the waves. :?t lou tide the waves are broken egainst the coralline ridge and only slizht mves are felt in the backridge trough: I-Ior~ever~when tile tide is high, only a 7,ortion of .the strong riaves is cxpmdcd against the coralline ~idgeand the asjacent t-ough and moderste sized r.iz.ves srieep 'across the reef flat, carr~yingenough energy to now coral. rocks a foot or two in The rcef fl2.t froikx the coralline ridge back is the evident result of the consolidation of a li~ingcoral reef, chiefly or --Heliopora, by coralline algae; in dxost all areas the old !!eliopora is co.aploiely dead a~dcovored rrith the algae to make an aldost table-like top. his top, hotrever, is pitted vith small to large depressions, and in many areas perforatcd'by . burrotrs leading doym mong the old coral fronds, Animals living upon the ilat are subjected to many biological vicissitudes in addition to thc action of .laves. In the ins!lore area esneciolly the reei . flat is exposed to the air for severai ho~ursat a time at the lomr low waters, and those airtals t!iat cannot cigrate to the shallorr pools must be oble to ~rithstmclthis period of dessication. Those animals in the pods, as vell as those exyosed to the air must also be able to withstand great changes in salinity of their environment, for the high tide has the normal ocean salinity, ~i'nilethe loir tide mag expose thex to torrentid rains which riou3.d lover the salinity of the topmost layers at least to alxost zero. Hotrever, because of the difference in specific gravity and the a.bsence of agitation in tkzse small bodies of wntw it is likely thet the bottoms of the pools and the burrow i~ the rock es;3ecially 'L.their normal saltnity. ?robab:Iy the r,iost pl-onounced physical changa the minals are stlbjected to is the change in tempratvre for %be c?ark reef surface on low tides is exl,osed for long periods to the tropical sun. At these times the r~aterin the inshore pools become hot to the touch (strtdies oil tempratwe m?a by Strasburg will be re!?orted by cloud): yet yith tile flooding tide the temperature will drop perhaps lsOin a few milutes. Previous studies hayre sho-m that the oxygen cmtent of Yne water over the reef at high tide and in the pools at lor. ,tide is almys near if not above its sat~rationvalue. Gut as the tmperature rises tLis salrration value, in grams of ox:ygen per liter of sea ?rater, decrease; rapidly, so the reef inhabitants must be able to aclju-st to less than nonncl oxygen, Tvo biological conditions o: the reef ?lit sho~ldbe r81entioned 2.s i.n- flucnclnr; its ecology. In -:he fii-st place thz reef su~face.lot in the small tide pools is covered in most areas by a dense alga& mat that affords botA food and protection for the inhs?.>it,?nts; this .ins ?ar-ticdarl:i true in tile middle and outer portions of the reef ?la& Secondly, r.hila fs; lxgcr :mxiato~sand scavevengers like la:-ger fish, lobster md cr&s were f0ur.d rrhile the smey was conducted at l:xi tide, they moved onto the reef ?.t high tide. -iietk~ods ar,d LirnItztions -of the Study: The objects of the ir,vectigation .;rere to fix6 the transition of dominant forms over tl.e reef surface, and, if possible, to clesignate sharply delimited zones on the reef through a quantitative study, On the main reof flat the study was conducted ?sy -3aytng out a series of continuous stations, twenty feet vide aid fifty feet long, and within than areas ex'ten5ing the length of the station on? or two feet ?:ide.