Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene

The cover photograph is courtesy of Jacob Asher, NOAA, Coral Reef Ecosystem Division. The photograph is from Jarvis Island.

Charles BirkelandEditor

Coral Reefs in theAnthropocene

EditorCharles BirkelandDepartment of BiologyUniversity of Hawaii at ManoaHonolulu, HI, USA

ISBN 978-94-017-7248-8 ISBN 978-94-017-7249-5 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-7249-5Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London

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Robert Earl Johannes

26 September 1936–4 September 2002

The book is dedicated to Bob Johannes who continuously opened new doors tothe understanding and management of coral reefs. His pioneering work wasexceptionally original and influential because he followed his own insight intotruly important processes and was not constrained by mainstream paradigmsand by the perspectives of his peers and administrators. He was able toperceive the value of knowledge of peoples of other cultures and training.He recognized that Pacific islanders sometimes knew the biology and lifehistories of coral reef fishes better than did the scientists and that many of

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their management practices were more effective. He was able to listen to thelocal fishermen, placing their knowledge as complementary to science.

Bob was a real pioneer because he was true to himself. As he developed apreviously unrecognized field of study and became a leader in this new field, hewould ponder what was important to the world, and then on several occasions,he would make seemingly abrupt and dangerous changes in direction of hiscareer. His dissertation at the University of Hawaii was involved with theprocesses that control coastal and oceanic productivity. During his postdoc atthe University of Georgia, his host Lawrence R. Pomeroy noted that “Bob wasone of the true pioneers of marine microbial ecology – before there was arecognized field of marine microbial ecology. His work is still cited as land-mark stuff.” Bob then focused on the ecology of coral reefs. He coedited bookson tropical marine pollution in 1975 and on coral reef research methods in1978. His first student Chris D’Elia said “While Bob is appropriatelyremembered as a prolific author and researcher, he had strong leadershipskills as well. For example, he did an exceptional job as chief scientist on the1971 Symbios Expedition.”

Bob Johannes was also one of the first to recognize and act on the impor-tance of having the general public be aware of the implications of new findingsin coral reef ecology. In 1972, he produced a movie “Cloud Over a CoralReef” on reef degradation in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, resulting from substantialnutrient input from a sewer outflow and urban runoff. The movie was madewith the hope that it could help provoke some public action to correct theproblem. Some of his colleagues gave him a bit of flak for this because in theearly 1970s there was a prevalent opinion that scientists should practice purescience and leave communicating with the public for someone else to do.

Bob Johannes was always ahead of his time. In closing his 1975 review ofpollution and degradation of coral reef communities, he concluded that “envi-ronmental crises develop faster than they can be completely assessed. In thiscontext it is more important to make interim decisions in time than to makescientifically satisfying decisions later. Pollution biologists sometimes injecttoo much traditional laboratory caution into matters of immediate practicalconcern. They hesitate because their information is not final. . . environmentalpost mortems become their stock and trade. ‘They measure and we weep.’”

In Palau during the mid-1970s, Bob Johannes discovered the value oftraditional community-based resource management systems and began todevelop the concept of integrating indigenous knowledge with Western sci-ence. His method of living in Palau and learning by discussing fishingpractices with the elder fishermen was so outlandish at the time; some of hiscolleagues had concluded he had “dropped out.” The book he produced in1981 on his findings, Words of the Lagoon, has become a classic oncommunity-based resource management. In 1978, Bob wrote a review of thetraditional marine conservation methods in Oceania and their demise. In2002, he wrote a more hopeful review of the renaissance of community-based marine resource management in Oceania. Tom Graham wrote that

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“Although Bob took no credit for these positive changes, they can easily betraced in large part to his efforts during the last 25 years to reveal the value ofcustomary models of resource management, as well as his success at inspiringothers to help salvage what was left of them.”

Johannes respected the importance of rigorous science in testinghypotheses, but he stressed that also taking a less constrained multiculturalperspective can allow us to have a better chance of having the right hypothesesto test. In The Plight of the Osfish, or Why Quantitative Sophistication Is NoSubstitute for Asking the Right Questions, he told of how a fisheries agencyused a rigorously designed survey of fishermen to approach the mystery of whythe bonefish populations were declining through the years. The fishermen wereselected randomly for the review and were asked to check which of thealternative answers to questions seemed correct. An independent investigatornamed “Bert” made a point of asking the older men, some so old they nolonger did much fishing (a biased, non-random selection), and interviewedthem with an open flexible discussion (not easily analyzed quantitatively likethe forms with checked alternatives), allowing the older men to simply expresstheir opinions rather than choosing among a well-organized series ofalternatives. The interviews with the elders provided the correct insight intowhat was happening with the bonefish because the quantitative forms were notasking the right questions.

Toward the end of his life, with the support of a Pew Fellowship andleveraged funds from the Nature Conservancy and the South Pacific ForumFisheries Agency, Bob Johannes undertook extensive investigations of theecological, economic, and social effects of the suddenly arising billion-dol-lar-per-year live reef food fishery and destructive fishing practices such asfishing with cyanide and explosives.

Bob Johannes taught us that we must respond to environmental or manage-rial crises in time with the best available information, we should keep amulticultural perspective on problems so we have a better chance of askingthe right questions, and we should integrate indigenous knowledge withWestern science, but his most important contribution was his discovery thatthe diverse and unpredictably variable multispecies reef fisheries are toocomplex to manage with rigorous scientific algorithms for optimal or sustain-able yield, and so he made a compelling case for adaptive data-less manage-ment. Attempts to manage coastal finfisheries to achieve optimal yields havebeen dismal, but Bob reported examples of successful indigenous adaptivedata-less management. To establish a priori regulations based on quantitativeassessments is comparable to attempting the programming of an automobile togo between home and the office downtown using data on distances, speeds,timings of stoplights, etc. The conditions of such trips are just too variable forthis to work. The more successful approach is to use a driver to flexibly adjustto unexpected numbers of pedestrians, behaviors of motorists, and unexpectedevents such as jaywalkers, ambulances, and fender benders. However, by“data-less,” Bob did not mean we should do away with quantitative research

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(which would be “dataless”). Quantitative research is still important, but itmust be complementary to a flexible adaptive management based on indige-nous knowledge. If we demand quantitative research for the management ofeach coastal marine system, it would not be cost-effective even if it weretheoretically possible.

The Authors

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Preface

When Life and Death of Coral Reefs came out in 1997, it was just before the 1997–1998

circumtropical warming and bleaching event, an event that awakened us to the realization that

processes affecting coral reefs were expanding to a global scale. Our basic perspectives on

coral reefs have been changing at an accelerating pace, so each new book is produced with a

whole new paradigm. This book is new, not an update or revision. Even in some chapters

covering the same subject in the two books, a change in perspective is required by the

unfolding of our perception of the nature of forces affecting coral reef systems. For example,

in Life and Death of Coral Reefs, Barbara Brown provided an excellent timeless review of the

conceptual framework of disturbances, organizing her chapter around different scales of

tolerances and on the different kinds of natural and human disturbances. In this book, Margaret

Miller shifted the focus from disturbance as events to disturbance as continuing trends. The

fact that coral disturbance regimes are continuing to worsen while recovery capacities are

waning compels us to accept that management strategies must focus on both of these

processes.

New perspectives are also being provided by new tools. Nancy Knowlton and Matthieu

Leray give a tour through the disparate ways the techniques of molecular genetics have caused

major changes in our understanding of the evolutionary history of corals and have transformed

our understanding of ecological and biological processes of coral reefs. Molecular biology

opens more doors to coral reef science than the telescope did to astronomy because molecular

genetics leads us through more dimensions. Dan Barshis follows this with an explanation of

the genomic potential for coral survival of global changes in ocean chemistry and climate. The

new perspectives of each chapter in this book are important for efforts in conservation, not just

science.

Peter Glynn and Derek Manzello explain that while the effects of ocean acidification on the

metabolic expense of calcification may vary among genera of corals, the acceleration of

bioerosion by lower pH is general and critical. Adapting to ocean acidification by itself is

facing an indifferent nonresponsive physical factor, but adapting to bioeroders is coevolving in

an arms race. Dennis Hubbard takes us through how changes in seawater temperature, storm

intensity, aragonite saturation state, and pH bring major shifts in the balance between

carbonate production, destruction, and export. From a global perspective, Pamela Hallock

spells out how the production and preservation of reef limestones is intimately connected to

the Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, especially of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

She elucidates how records preserved in limestones provide scientists and policy makers with

insights into likely consequences of human activities for the future, not only of reefs but of the

diversity of ecosystems on Earth.

Gisele Muller-Parker, Chris D’Elia, and Clay Cook tell how cost-benefit analysis is a useful

approach to examine symbioses in the context of environmental change and human impacts

upon corals and coral reefs. By using new tools developed to assess the stability of the

symbiosis, we may be better able to understand and predict the effects of future stressors

and perturbations that threaten reef ecosystems.

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Esther Peters explains how the multitude of stressors affecting reef organisms, particularly

along heavily urbanized coastlines, and the introduction of species to distant reefs by global

transport are contributing to disease in coral reefs. She presents new developments in disease

diagnoses, an overview of diseases of reef organisms, and how diseases have adversely

affected coral reefs. The application of concepts from the field of conservation medicine

aids our understanding of diseases and their influence on organisms of reef ecosystems

Mark Hixon tells how the coral-seaweed-herbivore triangle is an accepted generalization

embedded within a complex web of biotic interactions and abiotic conditions that bring

exceptions. He provides rules of thumb for management that are essential for fostering the

ecological resilience of coral reefs.

The introductory chapter reveals how the trophic structure of the coral reef ecosystem

provides the greatest difference between gross productivity and net productivity, perhaps of

any marine system. To export a substantial supply of food for humans, the net production

might be enhanced by reducing the upper trophic levels, and this has generally been happening

nearly globally before coral reef science became active. The final chapter tells how some

islanders harvest reef resources for subsistence and local market yet maintain the integrity of

the coral reef system by harvesting the intermediate-sized individuals from fish populations

and taking the interest rather than the capital. The Palauans have exemplified the globalization

of their economy while maintaining the integrity of their coral reef systems by keeping

resource consumption local and having their international economy service-based rather

than export-based.

Until recent decades, the conditions during the present Neogene Period were the best

experienced for reef building by scleractinian corals since the Middle Jurassic. Although the

hermatypic scleractinia were diverse through 130 million years previous to the Neogene, the

shallow ocean waters were low in magnesium, low in pH, and high in temperature, so reef

construction was meager. The Anthropocene may be returning corals from temporarily

magnificent reef accretion to the “norm.” We may keep the corals, but lose the ecosystem

services of reefs.

Honolulu, HI, USA Charles Birkeland

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Acknowledgments

I am especially grateful to Mark Nakamura for producing many of the figures in three of the

chapters. Joan Roughgarden, Bob Steneck, and Charlie Veron graciously allowed me to copy

or use their diagrams. Jacob Asher, Larry Basch, Dave Burdick, Richard J. Hamilton, Danielle

Jayewardene, Russell T. Sparks, Charlie Veron, and Bill Walsh generously allowed me to use

their photographs.

Gerry Davis, Peter Edmunds, Doug Fenner, Zac Forsman, Peter Houk, Noah Idechong,

Trina Leberer, Bert Leigh, Sonia Rowley, Nanae Singeo, Celia Smith, Lance Smith, George

D. Stanley, Jr., Kaho Tisthammer, Peter Vroom, Bill Walsh, and Ivor Williams provided

valuable comments and suggestions.

This publication incorporates Fig. 12.4 which is # Australian Institute of Marine Science

and CRR Pty Ltd [2000]. The Australian Institute of Marine Science does not necessarily

endorse any modification to that material.

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Contents

1 Coral Reefs in the Anthropocene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Charles Birkeland

2 Changing Influences Between Life and Limestones in Earth History . . . . . . . 17

Pamela Hallock

3 Reef Biology and Geology – Not Just a Matter of Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Dennis K. Hubbard

4 Bioerosion and Coral Reef Growth: A Dynamic Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Peter W. Glynn and Derek P. Manzello

5 Interactions Between Corals and Their Symbiotic Algae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Gisele Muller-Parker, Christopher F. D’Elia, and Clayton B. Cook

6 Exploring Coral Reefs Using the Tools of Molecular Genetics . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Nancy Knowlton and Matthieu Leray

7 Genomic Potential for Coral Survival of Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Daniel J. Barshis

8 Diseases of Coral Reef Organisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Esther C. Peters

9 Geographic Differences in Ecological Processes on Coral Reefs . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Charles Birkeland

10 Reef Fishes, Seaweeds, and Corals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Mark A. Hixon

11 Coral Disturbance and Recovery in a Changing World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Margaret W. Miller

12 Biology Trumps Management: Feedbacks and Constraints

of Life-History Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Charles Birkeland

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

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Contributors

Daniel J. Barshis Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk,

VA, USA

Charles Birkeland Department of Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu,

HI, USA

Clayton B. Cook Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University,

Fort Pierce, FL, USA

Christopher F. D’Elia School of the Coast & Environment, 1002-P Energy, Coast &

Environment Building, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

Peter W. Glynn Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries, Rosenstiel School of Marine

and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

Pamela Hallock Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Florida at

St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

Mark A. Hixon Sidney & Erica Hsiao Endowed Chair in Marine Biology, Department

of Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

Dennis K. Hubbard Department of Geology, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, USA

Nancy Knowlton Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History,

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

Matthieu Leray Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History,

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

Derek P. Manzello Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division, Atlantic Oceanographic

and Meteorological Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Miami,

FL, USA

Margaret W. Miller Southeast Fisheries Science Center, NOAA/NMFS, Miami, FL, USA

Gisele Muller-Parker Division of Graduate Education, National Science Foundation,

Arlington, VA, USA

Esther C. Peters Department of Environmental Science & Policy, GeorgeMason University,

Fairfax, VA, USA

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