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The Decline of Elkhorn Coral at Buck Island Reef National Monument

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The Decline of Elkhorn Coral at Buck Island Reef National Monument Summer 2008 • Volume 25 • Number 1 www.nature.nps.gov/ParkScience National Park Service PARKScience U.S. Department of the Interior Integrating Research and Resource Management in the National Parks THREATENED CORAL AT BUCK ISLAND REEF Monitoring captures the devastating 2005 bleaching event of the barrier reef • Learning center goes virtual • The Park Science interview: Mike Soukup • Remembering Eric York • Adaptive management for national parks 3 Contents 832 42 DEPARTMENTS SCIENCE FEATURES From the Editor 2 The decline of elkhorn coral at Buck Island Reef National Monument: 36 Protecting the fi rst threatened coral species In This Issue 5 Monitoring captures the devastating 2005 bleaching event of the barrier reef that Comments & Corrections 6 surrounds a newly expanded national monument in the Virgin Islands. By Ian Lundgren 20 Years Ago in Park Science 7 Sidebar: Basic ecology of elkhorn coral and threats to its survival. 42 Tribute 8 Eric York Assessing the effects of ungulates on natural resources at Assateague 44 Profi le 10 Island National Seashore Interview with Mike Soukup Research is beginning to suggest a new management approach to what has been a controversial park management issue. Information Crossfi le 14 By Mark Sturm Science Notes 23 Sidebar: Saving the seabeach amaranth. 50 Field Moment 87 CASE STUDIES Collaboration of the Natural Resource and Museum programs: 52 A research tool for information archives at Dinosaur National Monument ON THE COVER Archivist and curator secure, protect, catalog, and ensure access to a wealth of information, resulting in an archival processing and cataloging handbook for many users. Tropical marine habitats of the U.S. By Lynn Marie Mitchell and Ann Elder Virgin Islands host reef communities such as the elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) of Buck Island Reef National Using virtual Research Learning Centers for disseminating science 56 Monument. Elkhorn coral is one of information about national park resources the fi rst coral species to be protected One-stop shopping for science information about natural and cultural park resources. under the Endangered Species Act. By Tomye Folts-Zettner, Tom Olliff, Cheryl McIntyre, and Tom Porter Surveys in 2003–2004 determined the species’ distribution and documented wave damage, predation, disease, and other stressors such as bleaching. Investigators continue monitoring the effects of the severe bleaching event of 2005 (see page 36). NATIONAL PARK SERVICE/HANK TONNEMACHER 36 PARK SCIENCE • VOLUME 25 • NUMBER 1 • SUMMER 2008 Science Feature The decline of elkhorn coral at Buck Island Reef National Monument: Protecting the fi rst threatened coral species By Ian Lundgren UCK ISLAND REEF NATIONAL proclamation describes the monument prescribed in the original park purpose, al- Monument lies just north of the and its “adjoining shoals, rocks, and lowing fi shing in some areas but protecting Bisland of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin undersea coral reef formations” as “one of others. In 2001 the relatively small na- Islands. When it was established in 1961, the fi nest marine gardens in the Caribbean tional monument was expanded to 19,015 the park encompassed 176-acre (71 ha) Sea,” which are of “great scientifi c interest acres (7,695 ha), and all forms of resource Buck Island and 704 acres (285 ha) of and educational value to students of the extraction were completely prohibited marine habitat surrounding it. The park sea and to the public.” Multiple use was (fi g. 1). Figure 1. Map of Buck Island Reef National Monument; inset: St. Croix. SOUTH FLORIDA/CARIBBEAN NETWORK SCIENCE FEATURE 37 In a tropical marine ecosystem, coral reef the monument boundary. These additional Elkhorn decline communities live in a fragile, interdepen- habitats preserve ecological links that help Elkhorn was the dominant coral species in dent relationship and include essential, sustain the monument and its resources. wave-exposed and high-surge reef zones interconnected habitats. The 2001 expan- Another important part of the boundary throughout the Caribbean Sea before the sion of Buck Island Reef National Monu- expansion was placing a vast reef shelf 1970s (Adey and Burke 1976). Dense stands ment added coral reefs, sea grass beds, and area of elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata), of elkhorn coral formed and dominated sand communities, as well as algal plains, a major reef-building species, under the barrier reef and unique “haystack shelf edge, deep and dimly lit reefs, and management of the National Park Service features” (patch reefs that resemble hay- deep oceanic habitats not originally within (see fi g. 1). stacks) surrounding Buck Island (fi g. 2). However, in the 1970s and 1980s this spe- cies drastically declined primarily because of a bacterial syndrome called white-band disease (see sidebar) (Aronson and Precht In 2006, elkhorn coral 2001). Since then, hurricanes, bleach- was listed as threatened ing events, and outbreaks of predators under the U.S. have further decimated the populations Endangered Species Act. of elkhorn coral (see sidebar) (Bruckner 2002). In 2006, elkhorn coral was listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (National Marine Fisheries Service 2006). Managers’ growing concern for elkhorn coral and the impending critical habitat designation under the recovery plan led to coral surveys in 2003–2004 (Mayor et al. 2006). Investigators determined the spatial distribution of the species (fi g. 3) and the presence of disease, predation, and wave damage. The surveys estimated that between 97,232 and 134,371 large elkhorn coral colonies (at least a meter in length or height) were present at Buck Island Reef National Monument at that time. Investigators observed white-band disease on 11–12% of elkhorn colonies of all sizes and called for increased monitoring of this species to better understand the dynamics of other stressors, such as bleaching, pre- dation, and severe storms, which can lead to its further decline (Mayor et al. 2006). Figure 2. Divers enjoy an elkhorn coral hay- stack feature at Buck Island Reef. HANK TONNEMACHER 38 PARK SCIENCE • VOLUME 25 • NUMBER 1 • SUMMER 2008 1991 to the present, explain why this event was so severe (see fi g. 4). Biologists documented changes in elkhorn coral conditions by analyzing repeat photography (fi g. 5). They preferentially photographed colonies from the planar view (i.e., from directly above) and in shallow water from a consistent oblique angle. They analyzed photos from August and November 2005 and January 2006 using the following categorical evalua- tion: live healthy tissue retained its normal brown coloration; bleached or mottled tissue was pale or white; and dead tissue had previously been alive but now was covered with algae. The change in live tissue from August 2005 to January 2006 (when bleaching was no longer evident) is Figure 3. Distribution and density of elkhorn coral colonies at Buck Island Reef National the estimated loss as a result of the bleach- Monument in 2004. PHILIPPE MAYOR ing event. Of the colonies examined, 82% Bleaching event The much higher water temperatures over a much longer period A benefi cial outgrowth of the 2003–2004 in 2005, as compared with historical records from 1991 to the monitoring was the impetus to include elk- present, explain why this [bleaching] event was so severe. horn coral monitoring as part of the vital signs monitoring program being developed at Buck Island Reef National Monument experienced bleaching, with maximum for Buck Island Reef National Monument for more than 12 weeks. Data loggers bleaching for all sites occurring in Novem- by the South Florida/Caribbean Network deployed by the National Park Service on ber 2005. Interestingly, colonies located of the National Park Service. Elkhorn coral both the forereef (33 feet [10 m] deep) and on the backreef (at a medium depth monitoring began in March 2005, just be- backreef (8 feet [2.5 m] deep) zones of the among the three habitats) were impacted fore the onset of a major bleaching event, national monument showed that problem- before colonies on the shallower forereef and focused on colonies in the three major atically high water temperatures seemed to and much deeper reef shelf (fi g. 6). More types of elkhorn habitat: forereef, backreef, be tri-phased during the bleaching event importantly, mortality was twice as high and reef shelf. Investigators monitored (fi g. 4) (Lundgren and Hillis-Starr 2008). on the backreef and forereef as on the reef sites monthly for health parameters: pres- Initially temperatures in both the forereef shelf (see fi g. 6). Mortality on the backreef ence and progression of disease, preda- and backreef habitats fl uctuated above and occurred sooner than on the forereef. The tion, bleaching, storm damage, and overall below the bleaching threshold, exceeding backreef experienced the highest average change in live tissue cover. This monitoring the threshold 61% of the time on the fore- tissue mortality during the event (66%), completely recorded the impact of the reef and 84% of the time on the backreef. followed by the forereef (58%) and the bleaching event in late 2005. By the fi rst week in August, temperatures reef shelf (36%) (fi g. 7). Overall, out of 44 had exceeded the bleaching threshold at colonies monitored, only 2 did not experi- Elkhorn coral has anecdotally been both reef habitats and remained lethal for ence any mortality during the bleaching known to be resistant to bleaching; how- 10 weeks. In the last phase, temperatures event. ever, in 2005, elkhorn reefs experienced again fl uctuated above and below the the widest-scale bleaching ever reported bleaching threshold as they had before Discussion and conclusion in the U.S. Virgin Islands. According to the August. The much higher water tempera- Though shallow elkhorn coral habitat is National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- tures over a much longer period in 2005, present on the barrier reef and scattered ministration (NOAA), water temperatures as compared with historical records from haystack features surrounding Buck Is- in 2005 exceeded the bleaching threshold land, the majority of elkhorn coral habitat SCIENCE FEATURE 39 Figure 4.
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