Century-scale records of land-based activities recorded in Mesoamerican coral cores

Carilli, Jessica; Prouty, Nancy G.; Hughen, Konrad A; Norris, Richard D.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.07.024

Cited by 48 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Extension rates in corals have been linked to several factors, including SST (Lough & Barnes 1997, nutrient availability (Edinger et al 2000, Lough & Barnes 2000, Carilli et al 2009), light intensity (Kawaguti 1937, Yonge 1963, Lough & Barnes 2000, and turbidity (Done 1982, Edinger et al 2000, Carilli et al 2009 Hong Kong coastal waters (Tables 2 & 3), typical of a coastal site adjacent to the mouth of a major river. The coral core site locations show no strong geographical gradient in temperature, salinity or turbidity (Table 3).…”

Section: Coral Growth Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coral communities of Hong Kong: long-lived corals in a marginal reef environment

Goodkin¹,

Switzer²,

McCorry³

et al. 2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Hong Kong's coastal waters afford a marginal environment for coral reef growth, with high seasonal and short-term variability in water temperatures (ranging from <14°C in winter to 31°C in summer), and low summer salinity (as low as 15 psu) due to runoff associated with the Asian wet monsoon season and the Pearl River Delta. Yet Hong Kong hosts 84 reef-building coral species in 28 genera of 12 families of the Scleractinia, distributed in 5 broad communities with strong geographic and environmental affinities and key indicator species. Coral communities farthest from the influence of the Pearl River Delta have relatively high sea bed coverage and species diversity (30 to 50% coverage, and > 30 spp. per site), and also host some large, old corals. X-radiographs of a core of one massive Porites colony confirms ~200 yr of growth, with 2 short-term periods of mortality, hidden in the skeleton by overgrowth. Very low linear extension rates (< 4 mm yr -1 ) in this coral and 2 others are anomalous for Porites corals and are indicative of the high-stress environment. Low growth rates suggest that other Hong Kong corals, despite the harsh environmental conditions, may also live for centuries, contributing to the development of 'incipient reefs'. KEY WORDS: Hong Kong · Long-lived massive corals · Porites · South China SeaResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Mar Ecol Prog Ser 426: 185-196, 2011 ate framework, slow or stunted growth rates, and decreased depth distribution (Harriott & Banks 2002). The lack of framework in these communities is primarily attributable to a lack of significant calcium carbonate accretion (Buddemeier & Smith 1999, Kleypas et al. 1999b. In many instances corals in these communities attach to hard substrata as isolated colonies growing on exposed bedrock (e.g. Macintyre 2003). Although coral communities can have species diversity similar to that of true coral reefs (>140 spp. in the Indo-Pacific region; Sheppard & Sheppard 1991, Perry 2003, most have much lower species diversity (< 90 spp.; Harriott & Banks 2002, Moyer et al. 2003, Nozawa et al. 2008.One such marginal environment hosting coral communities is the area around Hong Kong. Hong Kong (22' 20°N, 114' 11°E) lies on the southern Chinese coast, in the tropics, some 320 km south of the Tropic of Cancer (Fig. 1). Hong Kong waters experience a range of temperatures (from 14 to 31°C) and salinities (typically 24 to 25 practical salinity units, or psu, comparable to ppt) generated by the interplay of the monsoonal systems, changing ocean currents, and freshwater discharge (Tang & Ni 1996, Lee & Liu 1998. Hence the coral communities of Hong Kong are living at the edge of their physiological tolerances (e.g. Veron 1995, Harriott 1999. Episodic widespread partial-to-total colony mortality and localized community mortality of corals and other tropical marine species are observed at meteorological or oceanographic extremes (e.g. precipitation events or sea surface temperature [SST] minima;McCorry...

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Section: Coral Growth Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coral communities of Hong Kong: long-lived corals in a marginal reef environment

Goodkin¹,

Switzer²,

McCorry³

et al. 2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Notably, all of the cores had skeletal growth anomalies associated with the 1998 bleaching event (as well as the 1995 bleaching event in the Cayos Cochinos core), suggesting that all of the sampled corals bleached during those events (ESM Fig. S1; Carilli et al 2009a). The mean difference between the pre-and post-bleaching annual mean d 18 O in the Turneffe Atoll and Cayos Cochinos cores was 0.3 %.…”

Section: O Versus Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The slabs were X-rayed to reveal annual density bands that were used both for growth rate analysis (Carilli et al 2009a) and to guide isotopic sampling. Samples of *200-300 lg of skeletal powder were drilled along corallite walls using a small drill press and a drill bit *0.5 mm in diameter.…”

Section: Coral Core Isotopic Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Baseline shifts in coral skeletal oxygen isotopic composition: a signature of symbiont shuffling?

et al. 2013

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Decades-long records of the stable isotopic composition of coral skeletal cores were analyzed from four sites on the Mesoamerican Reef. Two of the sites exhibited baseline shifts in oxygen isotopic composition after known coral bleaching events. Changes in pH at the calcification site caused by a change in the associated symbiont community are invoked to explain the observed shift in the isotopic composition. To test the hypothesis that changes in symbiont clade could affect skeletal chemistry, additional coral samples were collected from Belize for paired Symbiodinium identification and skeletal stable isotopic analysis. We found some evidence that skeletal stable isotopic composition may be affected by symbiont clade and suggest this is an important topic for future investigation. If different Symbiodinium clades leave consistent signatures in skeletal geochemical composition, the signature will provide a method to quantify past symbiont shuffling events, important for understanding how corals are likely to respond to climate change.

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“…The increase in coastal development in Meso-America over the past 30 years was modeled as a progressive increase in the number of reef cells affected by nutrification and sedimentation forcings across the entire region. Given evidence that dissolved nutrients and sediments can be transported significant distances from land-based sources (Andre´foue¨t et al 2002, Carilli et al 2009b, Soto et al 2009), we assumed that these forcings affected offshore atolls as well as reefs adjacent to the coast.…”

Section: Meso-american Reef System Instantiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional-scale scenario modeling for coral reefs: a decision support tool to inform management of a complex system

Melbourne-Thomas¹,

Johnson²,

Fung³

et al. 2011

Ecological Applications

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Abstract. The worldwide decline of coral reefs threatens the livelihoods of coastal communities and puts at risk valuable ecosystem services provided by reefs. There is a pressing need for robust predictions of potential futures of coral reef and associated human systems under alternative management scenarios. Understanding and predicting the dynamics of coral reef systems at regional scales of tens to hundreds of kilometers is imperative, because reef systems are connected by physical and socioeconomic processes across regions and often across international boundaries. We present a spatially explicit regional-scale model of ecological dynamics for a general coral reef system. In designing our model as a tool for decision support, we gave precedence to portability and accessibility; the model can be parameterized for dissimilar coral reef systems in different parts of the world, and the model components and outputs are understandable for nonexperts. The model simulates local-scale dynamics, which are coupled across regions through larval connectivity between reefs. We validate our model using an instantiation for the Meso-American Reef system. The model realistically captures local and regional ecological dynamics and responds to external forcings in the form of harvesting, pollution, and physical damage (e.g., hurricanes, coral bleaching) to produce trajectories that largely fall within limits observed in the real system. Moreover, the model demonstrates behaviors that have relevance for management considerations. In particular, differences in larval supply between reef localities drive spatial variability in modeled reef community structure. Reef tracts for which recruitment is low are more vulnerable to natural disturbance and synergistic effects of anthropogenic stressors. Our approach provides a framework for projecting the likelihood of different reef futures at local to regional scales, with important applications for the management of complex coral reef systems.

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Century-scale records of land-based activities recorded in Mesoamerican coral cores

Cited by 48 publications

References 42 publications

Coral communities of Hong Kong: long-lived corals in a marginal reef environment

Coral communities of Hong Kong: long-lived corals in a marginal reef environment

Baseline shifts in coral skeletal oxygen isotopic composition: a signature of symbiont shuffling?

Regional-scale scenario modeling for coral reefs: a decision support tool to inform management of a complex system

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