Status of the Montastraea annularis species complex in

the face of increasing local human stress and climate

change: Lessons learned and recommendations

Edwin A. Hernández-Delgado, Raisa Hernández,

Tagrid Ruiz, María Ocasio, & Alberto Sabat

University of Puerto Rico, Department of Biology,

Center for Applied Tropical Ecology & Conservation

Coral Reef Research Group, UPR-RP

coral_giac@yahoo.com22nd U.S. Coral Reefs Task Force Meeting

Acropora/Montastraea Workshop

October 30 – November 4, 2009, San Juan, PR

Objectives

• Summarize what is the actual condition of the M. annularisspecies complex in several representative coral reefs in PR.

• Discuss several case studies regarding combined local

M. annularis et al.

regarding combined local anthropogenic impacts and climate change (i.e., sea surface warming).

• Identify some research gaps, needs, and suggest some management actions.

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/d/dying.asp

Facts

• Unprecedented coral mortality

event in the Caribbean at least in

the last 220,000 years (Pandolfi &

Jackson, 2006).

• Time scales necessary for coral reef

recovery from any type of recovery from any type of

disturbance will increase with

increasing spatial scales of impacts.

• Current spatial magnitude of coral

mortality will require radical

actions and decisions, both in land

and sea. Large-reef building corals

will require a recovery time scale

out of our context.

“Montastraea annularis”

• Species complex:

– M. annularis.

– M. faveolata.

– M. franksi.

• Wide bathymetric distribution (>60 m), • Wide bathymetric distribution (>60 m), principal reef-builder in the Atlantic.

• Simultaneous hermaphrodites.

• Annual reproductive cycles.

• Extremely low sexual recruitment rates.

• High recruit mortality rates.M. faveolata

“Montastraea annularis”

• Annual skeletal growth rate <1 cm.

• Highly susceptible to different diseases and/or syndromes.

• Inability to recover lost tissue following disease/syndrome impacts.

• Susceptible to prolonged exposure (>8-15 DHWs) to high SSTs.

• Susceptible to chronic water quality degradation (i.e., transparency, sedimentation, eutrophication).

Bleached M. faveolata

“Montastraea annularis”

• Susceptible to a wide diversity of

competitors (i.e., sponges, encrusting

tunicates, algae, cyanobacteria).

• Deepwater (>30 m) colonies appear to

be in better shape than those from be in better shape than those from

shallower reefs.

• All surveyed shallow-water reefs (<20

m) show at least a moderate degree

of population declines.

M. annularis

60

Increasing M. annularis abundance withincreasing water transparency

Mann

6E-2

0.24

0.42

0.6Low

Moderate

Moderate

ModerateHigh

High

High

High High

BombardedModerate

LowLow

Bombarded

High

2D Stress: 0.13

Water transparency (m)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

% C

ove

r M

. annu

laris

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

y= -4.57 + 1.42xr= 0.8488, p<0.0001

Threshold in

transparency?

Low Low

Low

LowBombarded

Moderate

Moderate

But significant coral reef decline

within 1997-2009

CR1

% C

ora

l cover

60

80

100

<4 m

4-8 m

>8 m

Repeated Measures ANOVAYear p<0.001Depth p=0.2881Year x Depth p=0.9999

(Hernández-Delgado & Sabat, in prep.)Year

- 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

% C

ora

l cover

0

20

40

60

CR1

M.

an

nula

ris s

pp

. co

mp

lex

30

40

50

Collapsing population of

Montastraea annularis

-72%

Time

- 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007

% C

ove

r M

. a

nn

ula

ris

0

10

20

-52%

Oth

er e

xam

ple

s from

PR

% Coral cover

60

80

100

1999

2005

2007

Site

s

PFL

PCR

CLP-S

IBE

CBT

PSO

CSJ

PLT

PLM

DIA

NEG

CAR-S

CAR-D

PSAR

PAR-N

PAR-S

PMUJ

PCAR

% Coral cover

0

20

40

Cu

leb

raF

aja

rdo

CR

Mo

na

Eastern PR coast: M. annularis species complex

population collapse? c

om

ple

x s

pp.

40

50

60

2003

2005

2007

Site

PLT PLM CDI PFL PCR CBT

% C

over

M.

annula

ris c

om

ple

x s

pp.

0

10

20

30

An

om

alie

s

Temperature (C)

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

Yea

r-rou

nd

the

rma

l an

om

alie

s (20

03

-20

08

)

Pe

riod

Jan 1-15

Jan 16-31

Feb 1-15

Feb 16-28

Mar 1-15

Mar 16-31

Apr 1-15

Apr 16-30

May 1-15

May 16-31

Jun 1-15

Jun 16-30

Jul 1-15

Jul 16-31

Aug 1-15

Aug 16-31

Sep 1-15

Sep 16-30

Oct 1-15

Oct 16-31

Nov 1-15

Nov 16-30

Dec 1-15

Dec 16-31

Temperature (C)

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

Mon

thly M

axim

um

Mass bleaching impacted M. annularis complex

• Montastraea spp.

impacts:

– M.annularis 97.1%Alam

Ecar

Acer

Agra

Mcom

Ssid

Cnat

Dstr

Mfer

Irig

Dcli

Past

Mcav

Apal

*

– M.annularis 97.1%

– M. faveolata 90.4%

– M. franksi 92.1%

– M. cavernosa 36.7%

% Bleaching

0 20 40 60 80 100

Spe

cie

s

Cbre

Srad

Mmea

Dcyl

Pdiv

Pbra

Ahum

Aten

Afra

Lcuc

Ffrag

Isin

Msqu

Basb

Pfur

Mann

Aaga

Mfra

Mfav

Malc

Dlab

Ppor

Alam

*

**

Hernández-Delgado et al., unpub. data

Montastraea annularisMann

6E-2

0.24CLA1

DIA2

PFL1

PFL2

PFL4

PFL8

PFL9

PFL10

PCR2PCR5

PCR6

PCR7

PCR8 PCR9

PCR11

PLAR2

PLAR3

PSOL1

PSOL2

PSOL3

PSOL4PSOL5

PSOL6

PSOL7

PSOL8

PSOL9PSOL10

CBT1 CBT2

2D Stress: 0.2

Community structure and oceanographic patterns

influenced bleaching severity

Severe

Moderate

Limited

circulation

0.42

0.6

Sha1Sha2

Sha3

CSJ1

CSJ2

CSJ3

CLA2

CLA3

PLT1PLT2PLT3

PLT4

PLT5

PLT6

PLT7

PLT8

PLM1

PLM2

PLM3

PLM4

PLM5PLM6

PLM7

PLM8

PLM9

SDP1

SDP2

SDP3

SDP4

DIA1DIA3DIA4

PFL2PFL3 PFL5

PFL6

PFL7

PFL10PCR1

PCR3

PCR4

PCR10

PLAR1

PLAR2

CBT3

CBT4

CBT5

Moderate

MinimumModerate

circulation Strong

Circulation

Mona Island’s coral reefs are also collapsing

% C

ora

l

30

40

Garcia (2000)

Garcia (2000)Hernandez (1997)

Hernandez (1993)

Site

CAR

(5-1

0 m

)

CAR

(10-

15 m

)

SAR (5

m)

ARE (5

m)

MU

J (1

5-20

m)

PCA (1

0-12

m)

% C

ora

l

0

10

20

Garcia (2000)

Ferrer y Canals (1981)

Hernandez (1997)

Abrupt decline in % living tissue cover%

Cora

l co

ver

20

25

30

35

Pre-mortality

Post-mortality

Sites

CAR-S CAR-D PSAR PAR-N PAR-S PMUJ PCAR

% C

ora

l co

ver

0

5

10

15

20

Major reef-building species undergoing

significant mortality

• Most large reef builders

have recently died or

have suffered significant

partial mortality.

Montastraea annularis

% F

requ

ency

0

20

40

60

80

100Montastraea faveolata

PM

YBD

RTM

WP

Coplpohyllia natans

80

100Agaricia agaricites

• High prevalence of YBD

and other syndromes.%

Fre

quen

cy

0

20

40

60

80

Diploria clivosa

Site

CA

R (5

-10

m)

CAR

(10-

15 m

)

SAR (5

m)

ARE

(5 m

)M

UJ

(15-

20 m

)PC

A (10-

12 m

)

% F

req

ue

ncy

0

20

40

60

80

100Diploria strigosa

Site

CAR

(5-1

0 m

)C

AR (1

0-15

m)

SAR (5

m)

ARE (5

m)

MU

J (1

5-20

m)

PC

A (10-

12 m

)

Less than 5% of shallow-water colonies spawned

(only isolated polyps spawned in those colonies who did)

Data Sat. Aug. 23, 2008Playa Carlos Rosario, Culebra

# C

olo

nie

s 30

40

50

Spawned

Did not spawned

Species

Mann Mfav Mfra

# C

olo

nie

s

0

10

20

30

• Annual monitoring of shallow water

mass spawning.

– 2006: Total collapse.

– 2007: Total collapse.

– 2008-09: Nearly total collapse.

Are deep water reefs the coral spawning

(=genetic) refuges of the future?

Wednesday August 27, 2008 (Culebra)(10 nights after full moon)

Source: R. Kingsley, M. Mercado

Dramatic loss in % living tissue cover per colony

between 2005 and 2009

Significant mortality in smaller size categories

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1.1

1.2

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

lambda

Time period

4-8 m

> 8 m

Bleaching

Runoff &

disease Mortality &

fragmentation

Long-term consequences of climate change and

other human insults in coral reef functional roles

Declining food

Production!

Update 31-year old Coral Reef Inventory

• Revisit original sites.

• Also include:

– Adjacent islands and keys.– Adjacent islands and keys.

– Shelf-edge reefs.

– Mesophotic reefs.

• Develop a GIS-based model

regarding spatial distribution

and actual conditions of coral

colonies.

Go back to Montastraea Biology 101

• Study basic biology of coral

physiological fragments:

– Survival rates*.

– Growth rates*.

– Tissue regeneration*.

– Competition effects*.

– Gametogenesis*.

– Reproduction*.

– Population genetics.

– Impacts of environmental gradients.

– Geographic and bathimetric

distribution.

– Microbiology.

Population collapse? Hyerarchical approach:

From regional to coral colony scale

• Develop a protocol to monitor

individual tagged coral colonies.

• Modification of existing long-

term ecological monitoring term ecological monitoring

programs to address water

quality issues.

• Develop “early warning signals”.

• Sediment-water toxicity

assessments.

Applied research

• Develop studies regarding

bioerosion rates under different

environmental conditions.

• Document coral recruitment• Document coral recruitment

rates.

• Expand existing experiments

regarding larval culture and

reintroduction of coral spat to

natural reefs.

The past is still the key to the present!

• Develop large scale

sclerochronological studies to:

– Address historical rates of

ecological change across large ecological change across large

spatial scales.

– Determine historical patterns of

change in coral reefs across

anthropogenic gradients.

– Discriminate between historical

trends of localized human impacts

and climate change.

Acknowledgements

• This presentation was made possible by:

• NOAA/CSCOR (NA04NOS4260206, NA05NOS4261159,

NA07NOS4000192 through CCRI/UPR).

• NOAA/CRCP (NA05NMF4631050 to UPR/CRRG).

• NSF through UPR-CREST-CATEC.

coral_giac@yahoo.comhttp://ccri.uprm.edu/

http://crest-catec.hpcf.upr.edu/

787-764-0000, x-2009