Coral

Coral reef communities are some of the most complex and diverse ecosystems in the world (Lapointe, 1997). This delicate ecosystem is now thought to be in danger of being destroyed within the next century (Adey et al., 2001). While coral reefs only cover 0.2% of the ocean area, they are estimated to provide habitat to around 33% of all marine fish species and millions of other marine organisms. Moreover, coral reef ecosystems support humans by providing enormous fish catches annually, contributing significantly to the protein intake of the developing world.

Coral reefs are often considered the rainforests of the oceans, in that they harbor a wealth of biodiversity, much of which still needs to be studied and documented. It is quite possible that these disappearing ecosystems, much like the tropical rainforests of the world, may be of importance to human health in providing chemicals and and other answers to health conditions.

Coral reefs provide both a physical and biological habitat for a host of organisms.

• Their habitat creates a fishery for fish and shellfish.

• Their presences help to create diving, fishing, and boating industries.

• They offer erosion protection from long waves to our beaches and supply sand to the beaches.

Detrimental effects are well known from both natural causes and the activities of man.

These include:

• Hurricanes

• Fishing practices

• Collection for tourist souvenirs

• Global warming (bleaching)

• Ship groundings and anchor draggings

• Sedimentation/turbidity

• Habitat loss from development

• Beach renourishment

• Fiber optic cables

• Undersea pipelines

• Eutrophication/pollution

• Over-harvesting of resources

• Diseases

• Exotic species

• CO2 rise => acidic ocean

Only through understanding of how the system works, can we better manage our activities that tend to degrade and destroy the coral reefs. Much of the effort for long-term monitoring and to fill priority information gaps has only been started in the past few years.

Conservation Science Institute fellow, Carlos G. A. Ormond, has been working on Caribbean coral reefs and recently began the Caribbean Coral Reef Management and Conservation Program -Panama (CCRMCP-Panama). The program aims to properly understand the mechanisms of coral reef degradation in the Caribbean and Panama in order to provide important information for the efficient management and conservation of coral reefs by organizations and governments throughout the Caribbean. Ormond is the principal investigator and project leader, and is working with researchers from the Conservation Science Institute and the Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation. 

The declining health of coral reefs is being associated with recent reports of declines in coral cover and a phase-shift to macro algal dominated reefs in the Caribbean (Lirman, 2001). A combination of disease, pollution and over fishing are implicated as the most likely cause of this degradation (McClanahan et al., 2001). Most scholars agree that the critical point of the Caribbean coral reef health was reached in the early 1980's, when the primary reef-builder in the Caribbean, acroporid corals, began to undergo widespread regional declines (Ritchie and Smith, 1998; Hoegh-Guldberg, 2000; Miller et al., 2002). For nearly 500,000 years, acroporid corals, Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis, characterized and structured coral reefs throughout the Caribbean (Jackson, 1994). But in the mid 1980's, a coral disease, termed white-band disease, began to spread throughout the Caribbean, afflicting only corals of the Acropora genus. From recent surveys, it has been estimated that white-band disease killed nearly 95% of Acropora corals in some parts of the Caribbean (Ritchie and Smith, 1998; Hoegh-Guldberg, 2000). It is for this reason that in 1999 Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis were designated Candidate Species to be listed as endangered or threatened under the protection of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (Diaz-Soltero, 1999 in Miller et al., 2002).

Under this pretense, Carlos, Conservation Science Institute and the Institute for Tropical Ecology and Conservation propose to investigate the status of Acropora palmata and the factors (i.e.. water quality, sedimentation and genetic variation among sites) that reflect their status along the Caribbean coast of Panama. Findings from this project may help with the creation of marine protected areas for coral reefs (Thomas 1999).

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Adey, W. H., McConnaughey, T. A., Small, A. M., Spoon, D. M.. 2000. Coral reefs: endangered, biodiverse, genetic resources. In C. Shepparad (ed.) Seas at the Millenium: An Environmental Evaluation.  Pergamon, Amsterdam pp33-43.

Christie, P., White, A., Deguit, E.  2002. Starting point or solution? Community-based marine protected areas in the Philippines. Journal of Environmental Management. 66(4):  441-454.

Edinger, Evan N., Risk, M. J. 2000. Reef classification by coral morphology predicts coral reef conservation value Biological Conservation. 92(1):  1-13.

Guzmán, H. M., 2003. Caribbean coral reefs of Panama: present status and future perspectives. In J. Cortés (ed.) Latin American Coral Reefs. Elsevier Science, London pp 243-274.

Hodgson, G. 1999. A global assessment of human effects on coral reefs. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 38(5): 345-355.

Hoegh-Guldberg, O., 2000. Coral Disease. In McGraw-Hill 2000 Yearbook of Science and Technology.

Howard, M., Connolly, E.,  Taylor, E.,  Mow, J.  M., 2003 Community-based development of multiple-use marine protected areas: Promoting stewardship and sharing responsibility for conservation in the San Andres Archipelago, Colombia. Gulf & Caribbean Research. 14(2): 155-162.

Jackson, J. B. C., 1994. Community Unity. Science 264: 1412-1413.

Lapointe, Nutrient thresholds for bottom-up control of macroalgal blooms on coral reefs at Discovery Bay, Jamaica and southeast Florida. Liminology and Oceanography 42: 1119-1131.

Lirman, D., 2001. Competition between macroalgae and corals: effects of herbivore exclusion and increased algal biomass on coral survivorship and growth. Coral Reefs 19: 392-399.

Mascia, M. B., 2003. The human dimension of coral reef marine protected areas: Recent social science research and its policy implications. Conservation Biology. 17(2): 630-632.

McClanahan, T. R.,  1999. Is there a future for coral reef parks in poor tropical countries? Coral Reefs. 18(4): 321-325.

McClanahan, T. R., Muthiga, N. A., Mangi, S., 2001. Coral and algal changes after the 1998 coral bleaching: interaction with reef management and herbivores on Kenyan reefs. Coral reefs 19: 380-391.

Miller, M. W. , Bourque, A. S., Bohnsack, J. A., 2002. An analysis of the loss  of  Acroporid corals at Looe key, Florida, USA: 1983-2000. Coral Reefs 21: 179-182.

Nagelkerken, I., van der Velde, G., 2003. Connectivity between coastal habitats of two oceanic Caribbean islands as inferred from ontogenetic shifts by coral reef fishes. Gulf & Caribbean Research. 14(2): 43-59.

Ritchie, K. B., Smith, G. W., 1998. Type II white-band disease. Revista de Biologia Tropical 46:199-203.

Thomas, J. D., 1999. A model for siting marine protected areas in coral reefs: A synthesis of geology and biodiversity American Zoologist. 39(5): 122A-123A.

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