In situ eutrophication caused by fish farms in the northern Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba) is beneficial for its coral reefs: a critique

2003 ◽  
Vol 261 ◽  
pp. 299-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Loya ◽  
E Kramarsky-Winter
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Mauro Giovanni Zucconi ◽  
Levy D. Obonaga ◽  
Edgardo Londoño-Cruz

Coral reefs are very important and highly biodiverse ecosystems that are exposed to various stressors, including biological ones, such as parasitism and corallivory – the direct consumption of coral tissue by a predator. Knowledge on the effects of corallivory on the coral reefs in the Colombian Pacific is poor. Therefore a study was set up to quantify the abundance of and the corallivory rate by the snail Jenneria pustulata in La Azufrada and Playa Blanca coral reefs (Gorgona Island, Colombia). Snails were manually sampled from the underside of Pocillopora sp. colonies and measured in situ to determine their size structure for each reef. To measure possible damage caused by corallivory, several snails were kept under controlled laboratory conditions for 24 h. Snail sizes and corallivory varied significantly between reefs (P=0.0001; P«0.001). Snails from Playa Blanca were larger than snails from La Azufrada, while corallivory was higher in La Azufrada than in Playa Blanca. Although corallivory rates by J. pustulata are smaller than rates reported for other predators in different coral species, it is recommended to continue this kind of investigations in order to increase the knowledge on biological dynamics of this species and to understand how they affect the reefs at Gorgona Island.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anggita Kartikasari ◽  
TODHI PRISTIANTO ◽  
RIZKI HANINTYO ◽  
EGHBERT ELVAN AMPOU ◽  
TEJA ARIEF WIBAWA ◽  
...  

Abstract. Kartikasari A, Pristianto T, Hanintyo R, Ampou EE, Wibawa TA, Borneo BB. 2021. Representative benthic habitat mapping on Lovina coral reefs in Northern Bali, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 4766-4774. Satellite optical imagery datasets integrated with in situ measurements are widely used to derive the spatial distribution of various benthic habitats in coral reef ecosystems. In this study, an approach to estimate spatial coverage of those habitats based on observation derived from Sentinel-2 optical imagery and a field survey, is presented. This study focused on the Lovina coral reef ecosystem of Northern Bali, Indonesia to support deployment of artificial reefs within the Indonesian Coral Reef Garden (ICRG) programme. Three specific locations were explored: Temukus, Tukad Mungga, and Baktiseraga waters. Spatial benthic habitat coverages of these three waters was estimated based on supervised classification techniques using 10m bands of Sentinel-2 imagery and the medium scale approach (MSA) transect method of in situ measurement.The study indicates that total coverage of benthic habitat is 61.34 ha, 25.17 ha, and 27.88 ha for Temukus, Tukad Mungga, and Baktiseraga waters, respectively. The dominant benthic habitat of those three waters consists of sand, seagrass, coral, rubble, reef slope and intertidal zone. The coral reef coverage is 29.48 ha (48%) for Temukus covered by genus Acropora, Isopora, Porites, Montipora, Pocillopora. The coverage for Tukad Mungga is 8.69 ha (35%) covered by genus Acropora, Montipora, Favia, Psammocora, Porites, and the coverage for Baktiseraga is 11.37 ha (41%) covered by genus Montipora sp, Goniastrea, Pavona, Platygyra, Pocillopora, Porites, Acropora, Leptoseris, Acropora, Pocillopora, Fungia. The results are expected to be suitable as supporting data in restoring coral reef ecosystems in the northern part of Bali, especially in Buleleng District.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Charrieau ◽  
Katsunori Kimoto ◽  
Delphine Dissard ◽  
Beatrice Below ◽  
Kazuhiko Fujita ◽  
...  

<p>Ocean acidification is a consequence of current anthropogenic climate changes. The concomitant decrease in pH and carbonate ion concentration in sea water may have severe impacts on calcifying organisms. Coral reefs are among the first ecosystems recognized vulnerable to ocean acidification. Within coral reefs, large benthic foraminifera (LBF) are major calcium carbonate producers.</p><p>The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of varying pH on survival and calcification of the symbiont-bearing LBF species <em>Peneroplis</em> spp. We performed culture experiments to study their resistance to ocean acidification conditions, as well as their resilience once placed back under open ocean pH (7.9).</p><p>After three days, small signs of test decalcification were observed on specimens kept at pH 7.4, and severe test decalcification was observed on specimens kept at pH 6.9, with the inner organic lining clearly appearing. After 32 days under pH 7.4, similar strongly decalcified specimens were observed. All the specimens were alive at the end of the experiment. This result demonstrates the resistance of <em>Peneroplis </em>spp. to an acidified pH, at least on a short period of time.</p><p>After being partially decalcified, some of the living specimens were placed back at pH 7.9. After one month, the majority of the specimens showed recalcification features, mostly by addition of new chambers. The trace elements concentrations of the newly formed chambers were analysed by LA-ICPMS. Interestingly, more chambers were added when food was given, which highlights the crucial role of energy source in the recalcification process. Moreover, the newly formed chambers were most of the time abnormal, and the general structure of the tests was altered, with potential impacts on reproduction and in situ survival. In conclusion, if symbiont-bearing LBF show some resistance and resilience to lowered pH conditions, they will remain strongly affected by ocean acidification.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amandine Declerck ◽  
Matthias Delpey ◽  
Thibaut Voirand ◽  
Ioanna Varkitzi

<p>Keywords: eutrophication; high resolution ocean modeling ; Chla satellite data ; biogeochemistry</p><p>Maliakos Gulf corresponds to mesotrophic waters that can reach eutrophic conditions and are occasionally subject to Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) (Varkitzi et al. 2018). At the same time, it is an important fish farming and aquaculture production area. A large issue is thus related to the monitoring and forecasting of the risk of occurrence of algae blooms in the Gulf. For this purpose, the present study couples predictions from a high-resolution numerical ocean model with satellite observation to improve the monitoring and anticipation of threats for the local fish farms induced by occasional eutrophication.</p><p>This solution is developed in the frame of the MARINE-EO project (https://marine-eo.eu/). It combines satellite observation with high-resolution ocean modelling to provide detailed information as a support to fish farms management and operations. It is implemented in an operational platform, which provides continuous information in real time as well as short term predictions. The deployed solution uses CMEMS physical products as an input data and offers to refine this solution in order to provide a local information on site using a downscaling strategy. High resolution satellite products and ocean modelling allow to include the impact of local coastal processes on currents and water quality parameters to provide a proper monitoring and forecasting solution at the scale of a specific fish farm.</p><p>To model specific eutrophication processes, a NPZD (Nutrients-Phytoplankton-Zooplankton-Detritus) biogeochemical model is used. Included in the MOHID Water modelling system, the water quality module (Mateus, 2006) considering 18 properties: nutrients and organic matter (nitrogen, phosphorus and silica biogeochemical cycles), oxygen and organisms (phytoplankton and zooplankton) was deployed in the western Aegean Sea. The simulated chlorophyll a concentrations are used to compute a risk level for the eutrophication occurrence. To complete this indicator, another risk level was based on the eutrophication variation following Primpas et al. (2010) formulation. In addition to model forecasts, ocean color observations from the Sentinel-2 MSI and Landsat-8 OLI sensors are used to provide high resolution chlorophyll a concentrations maps in case of bloom events. The processing chain uses the sixth version of the Quasi-Analytical Algorithm initially developed by Lee et al. (2002) and an empirical relation based on a database built using the HydroLight software to compute chlorophyll a concentration.</p><p>Two past eutrophication events monitored in situ (Varkitzi et al. 2018) were studied to assess the accuracy of the developed tool. Although few in situ data were available on environmental input (as rivers flow and nutrient concentrations), it was possible using statistics to reproduce qualitatively these blooms. Finally, an operational demonstration was conducted during 2 months of the 2020 autumn season, to showcase real time monitoring and predictive perspectives.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 453
Author(s):  
Andrea M. Gomez ◽  
Kyle C. McDonald ◽  
Karsten Shein ◽  
Stephanie DeVries ◽  
Roy A. Armstrong ◽  
...  

Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. In the last few decades, a combination of stressors has produced significant declines in reef expanse, with declining reef health attributed largely to thermal stresses. We investigated the correspondence between time-series satellite remote sensing-based sea surface temperature (SST) datasets and ocean temperature monitored in situ at depth in coral reefs near La Parguera, Puerto Rico. In situ temperature data were collected for Cayo Enrique and Cayo Mario, San Cristobal, and Margarita Reef. The three satellite-based SST datasets evaluated were NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch (CoralTemp), the UK Meteorological Office’s Operational SST and Sea Ice Analysis (OSTIA), and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (G1SST). All three satellite-based SST datasets assessed displayed a strong positive correlation (>0.91) with the in situ temperature measurements. However, all SST datasets underestimated the temperature, compared with the in situ measurements. A linear regression model using the SST datasets as the predictor for the in situ measurements produced an overall offset of ~1 °C for all three SST datasets. These results support the use of all three SST datasets, after offset correction, to represent the temperature regime at the depth of the corals in La Parguera, Puerto Rico.


2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1627) ◽  
pp. 20120442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean D. Connell ◽  
Kristy J. Kroeker ◽  
Katharina E. Fabricius ◽  
David I. Kline ◽  
Bayden D. Russell

Predictions concerning the consequences of the oceanic uptake of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) have been primarily occupied with the effects of ocean acidification on calcifying organisms, particularly those critical to the formation of habitats (e.g. coral reefs) or their maintenance (e.g. grazing echinoderms). This focus overlooks direct and indirect effects of CO 2 on non-calcareous taxa that play critical roles in ecosystem shifts (e.g. competitors). We present the model that future atmospheric [CO 2 ] may act as a resource for mat-forming algae, a diverse and widespread group known to reduce the resilience of kelp forests and coral reefs. We test this hypothesis by combining laboratory and field CO 2 experiments and data from ‘natural’ volcanic CO 2 vents. We show that mats have enhanced productivity in experiments and more expansive covers in situ under projected near-future CO 2 conditions both in temperate and tropical conditions. The benefits of CO 2 are likely to vary among species of producers, potentially leading to shifts in species dominance in a high CO 2 world. We explore how ocean acidification combines with other environmental changes across a number of scales, and raise awareness of CO 2 as a resource whose change in availability could have wide-ranging community consequences beyond its direct effects.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 485-491
Author(s):  
Sung-Hoon Hong ◽  
Tae-Yoon Kim ◽  
Yun-Shik Choi ◽  
Jeong-Ho Kim ◽  
Yong-Ju Kwon ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 151 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-334
Author(s):  
Alfréd Dulai ◽  
Tamás Henn ◽  
Krisztina Sebe

This paper examines Badenian (middle Miocene) macroinvertebrates – corals and molluscs – from the Pécs-Danitzpuszta sand pit (Mecsek Mts, SW Hungary) in order to extend our knowledge on Miocene normal marine deposits of the Mecsek region. Corals occur reworked in the upper Miocene sand that was deposited in the brackish Lake Pannon, and presumably originate either from the middle Badenian Pécsszabolcs or the upper Badenian Rákos Member of the Lajta Formation. A total of seven taxa were identified. These taxa suggest subtropical conditions and a lack of coral reefs in the Badenian. Molluscs were found in situ in the upper Badenian Szilágy Clay Marl Member of the Baden Formation and the Rákos Member of the Lajta Formation. They dominantly consist of bivalves and represent benthic assemblages typical of the middle Miocene Central Paratethys.


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