Acute effects of back-to-back hurricanes on the underwater light regime of a coral reef

Edmunds, Peter J.; Tsounis, Georgios; Boulon, Ralf H.; Bramanti, Lorenzo

doi:10.1007/s00227-018-3459-z

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…While infectious disease, heat‐induced bleaching, and ocean acidification are major contributors to reef devastation, other disturbances also have widespread effects on coral health. This study cannot account for other coral threats, such as physical damage and photic habitat changes caused by hurricanes (Edmunds, Tsounis, Boulon, & Bramanti, ) and mortality by predation (Kayal et al, ). We observe no trade‐off in a coral's ability to manage the stressors at the duration and level applied in this experiment, but we cannot rule out potential limitations in a coral's ability to respond to every possible threat and disturbance regime.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive genetic associations among fitness traits support evolvability of a reef‐building coral under multiple stressors

Wright

Mera

Kenkel

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Climate change threatens organisms in a variety of interactive ways that requires simultaneous adaptation of multiple traits. Predicting evolutionary responses requires an understanding of the potential for interactions among stressors and the genetic variance and covariance among fitness‐related traits that may reinforce or constrain an adaptive response. Here we investigate the capacity of Acropora millepora, a reef‐building coral, to adapt to multiple environmental stressors: rising sea surface temperature, ocean acidification, and increased prevalence of infectious diseases. We measured growth rates (weight gain), coral color (a proxy for Symbiodiniaceae density), and survival, in addition to nine physiological indicators of coral and algal health in 40 coral genets exposed to each of these three stressors singly and combined. Individual stressors resulted in predicted responses (e.g., corals developed lesions after bacterial challenge and bleached under thermal stress). However, corals did not suffer substantially more when all three stressors were combined. Nor were trade‐offs observed between tolerances to different stressors; instead, individuals performing well under one stressor also tended to perform well under every other stressor. An analysis of genetic correlations between traits revealed positive covariances, suggesting that selection to multiple stressors will reinforce rather than constrain the simultaneous evolution of traits related to holobiont health (e.g., weight gain and algal density). These findings support the potential for rapid coral adaptation under climate change and emphasize the importance of accounting for corals’ adaptive capacity when predicting the future of coral reefs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive genetic associations among fitness traits support evolvability of a reef‐building coral under multiple stressors

Wright

Mera

Kenkel

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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“…Hurricane impacts have been widely assessed in coral reef ecosystems as catastrophic events that not only promote long-term declines in habitat quality (e.g. algal regime shifts, sedimentation), but further hinder recovery processes from other chronic stressors such as coral disease, overfishing, pollution, and sedimentation [ 18 , 24 , 30 , 31 ]. Nevertheless, we know little about how extreme episodic impacts, such as hurricanes, alter the behavior of biological sound production, or biophony, of soniferous (sound-producing) species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hurricane impacts on a coral reef soundscape

2021

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Soundscape ecology is an emerging field in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and provides a powerful approach for assessing habitat quality and the ecological response of sound-producing species to natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Little is known of how underwater soundscapes respond during and after severe episodic disturbances, such as hurricanes. This study addresses the impacts of Hurricane Irma on the coral reef soundscape at two spur-and-groove fore-reef sites within the Florida Keys USA, using passive acoustic data collected before and during the storm at Western Dry Rocks (WDR) and before, during and after the storm at Eastern Sambo (ESB). As the storm passed, the cumulative acoustic exposure near the seabed at these sites was comparable to a small vessel operating continuously overhead for 1–2 weeks. Before the storm, sound pressure levels (SPLs) showed a distinct pattern of low frequency diel variation and increased high frequency sound during crepuscular periods. The low frequency band was partitioned in two groups representative of soniferous reef fish, whereas the high frequency band represented snapping shrimp sound production. Daily daytime patterns in low-frequency sound production largely persisted in the weeks following the hurricane. Crepuscular sound production by snapping shrimp was maintained post-hurricane with only a small shift (~1.5dB) in the level of daytime vs nighttime sound production for this high frequency band. This study suggests that on short time scales, temporal patterns in the coral reef soundscape were relatively resilient to acoustic energy exposure during the storm, as well as changes in the benthic habitat and environmental conditions resulting from hurricane damage.

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“…Their values are lower than the values reported here from July to December 2017 using OLCI data. A variant of K d 490 parameter, K d PAR, was measured in situ before and after hurricane events in St. John Island recording the lowest level of light in coral reef in the Caribbean after a hurricane event [58,59]. Certainly, these events had an unprecedent effect on light attenuation over sensitive benthic communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Quality Anomalies following the 2017 Hurricanes in Southwestern Puerto Rico: Absorption of Colored Detrital and Dissolved Material

et al. 2020

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Absorption of colored dissolved organic matter or detrital gelbstoff (aCDOM/ADG) and light attenuation coefficient (Kd490) parameters were studied at La Parguera Natural Reserve in southwestern Puerto Rico, before and following Hurricanes Irma (6–7 September) and María (20–21 September) in 2017. Water quality assessments involving Sentinel 3A ocean color products and field sample data was performed. The estimated mean of ADG in surface waters was calculated at >0.1 m−1 with a median of 0.05 m−1 and aCDOM443 ranged from 0.0023 to 0.1121 m−1 in field samples (n=21) in 2017. Mean ADG443 values increased from July to August at 0.167 to 0.353 m−1 in September–October over Turrumote reef (LP6) with a maximum value of 0.683 m−1. Values above 0.13 m−1 persisted at offshore waters off Guánica Bay and over coral reef areas at La Parguera for over four months. The ADG443 product presented values above the median and the second standard deviation of 0.0428 m−1 from September to October 2017 and from water sample measurement on 19 October 2017. Mean Kd490 values increased from 0.16 m−1 before hurricanes to 0.28 right after Hurricane Irma. The value remained high, at 0.34 m−1, until October 2017, a month after Hurricane María. Analysis of the Sentinel (S3) OLCI products showed a significant positive correlation (rs = 0.71, p = 0.0005) between Kd490_M07 and ADG_443, indicating the influence of ADG on light attenuation. These significant short-term changes could have ecological impacts on benthic habitats highly dependent on light penetration, such as coral reefs, in southwestern Puerto Rico.

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Acute effects of back-to-back hurricanes on the underwater light regime of a coral reef

Cited by 11 publications

References 39 publications

Positive genetic associations among fitness traits support evolvability of a reef‐building coral under multiple stressors

Positive genetic associations among fitness traits support evolvability of a reef‐building coral under multiple stressors

Hurricane impacts on a coral reef soundscape

Water Quality Anomalies following the 2017 Hurricanes in Southwestern Puerto Rico: Absorption of Colored Detrital and Dissolved Material

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