Featured Coral Publications

Below is a sampling of publications generated by NOAA's coral ecosystem activities. Visit the Featured Archive to see a past list of highlighted publications. To access a complete list of NOAA coral ecosystem related publications, use the CoRIS Geoportal (http://coris.noaa.gov/geoportal/) search tool.

Implementation of the National Coral Reef Action Strategy: Report on NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program Activities from 2010 to 2011

This report covers coral reef-related activities conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Program during Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011. It fulfills the requirement under the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 of periodic reporting on the activities undertaken to advance coral reef conservation as outlined in the National Coral Reef Action Strategy.

Coral reef ecosystems of American Samoa: a 2002-2010 overview

During a series of Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (Pacific RAMP) expeditions to the islands and reefs of American Samoa in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, scientists in the PIFSC Coral Reef Ecosystem Division and partner organizations collected extensive information on coral reef biological communities and habitats and the oceanographic and water-quality parameters influencing them. The survey methods and results are described in this overview report, available for download in PDF format.

Deep Sea Research and Technology Program 2012 Report to Congress

This report, prepared in consultation with the Regional Fishery Management Councils, highlights the discovery of deep-sea coral habitats and other progress made in the nationwide research by NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program in 2010 and 2011.

Computing Applications for Satellite Temperature Datasets: A Performance Evaluation of Graphics Processing Units

The Coral Reef Watch program of NOAA develops and provides remote sensing tools for the conservation of coral reef ecosystems. Reef managers and other stakeholders have expressed a desire for higher resolution monitoring tools than those currently available. In moving to higher resolution global products, Coral Reef Watch faces the challenge of orders of magnitude increase in the size of datasets. Traditionally this would mean simply upgrading to faster x86 Intel-based systems however Intel performance per processor has peaked due to frequency scaling issues. Newer Central Processing Unit (CPU) development has adopted a path of multiple cores rather than increasing an individual CPU's performance. To take advantage of newer hardware, a change to parallel programming methods is required and fortunately satellite datasets are relatively well suited to parallel algorithms. However, a newer form of commodity parallel hardware, the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) is significantly advancing in both speed and performance, pushed hard by the demand of consumer gaming enthusiasts.

Total Economic Value for Protecting and Restoring Hawaiian Coral Reef Ecosystems

This report documents results of a study commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve methods for measuring the economic values that the U.S. public places on the protection and restoration of coral reef ecosystems. The work focused on the coral reefs of Hawaii. These reefs are obviously of economic importance to both the state and the nation, yet there has been less economic research focused on the reefs of Hawaii compared to other parts of the United States, particularly Florida, in the past. Several human activities impinge on Hawaii's coral reefs. In order to gain insights into the public's values for coral reef protection and restoration, the study focused on impacts from fishing and damage to reefs from ship accidents.

NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program MPA Management Assessment Checklist (pdf, 116 KB)

The NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) MPA Management Assessment Checklist was developed as a simple too to assess the management of MPAs in priority coral reef sites in US jurisdictions and international areas important to the CRCP and jurisdictional partners. It will allow CRCP managers to better understand the needs of its partners in the MPA management community and help managers build and/or maintain the management capacity necessary for successful implementation of the MPA management goals and objectives.

User's Guide for the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program MPA Checklist (pdf, 209 KB)

This user's guide was developed as a reference to be used with the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program MPA Checklist to provide further clarification on the fourteen assessment areas addressed in the checklist, and to assist assessment participants in the selection of a specific tier for each assessment area. The guide includes instructions on how to conduct assessment interviews and how to complete the checklist document.

Saline-Saturated DMSO-EDTA as a Storage Medium for Microbial DNA Analysis from Coral Mucus Swab Samples

Culture-independent methods for studying the microbial community of the coral surface mucopolysaccaride layer (SML) increasingly have been used to evaluate the health of the animal host. After the initial collection and preservation of the sample, the duration of the sample voyage to a recipient laboratory is often another critical part of the sampling process, as unanticipated delays may exceed the length of time a dry shipper can remain cold, or mishandling of the shipper can cause it to exhaust prematurely. In remote areas, service by international shipping companies may be non-existent, which requires the use of an alternative preservation medium. Other methods for preserving environmental samples for microbial DNA analysis include drying on various matrices (DNA cards, swabs), or placing samples in liquid preservatives (e.g., chloroform/phenol/isoamyl alcohol, TRIzol reagent, ethanol). These methodologies eliminate the need for cold storage, however, they add expense and permitting requirements for hazardous liquid components, and the retrieval of intact microbial DNA often can be inconsistent. An evaluation of saline-saturated DMSO-EDTA (SSDE) as an ambient temperature storage medium for coral mucus samples are presented here.

Satellite Monitoring of Reef Vulnerability in a Changing Climate

Coral reefs throughout the world are subjected to a number of anthropogenic stressors. Some of the most pervasive of these are a result of climate change. Increasing sea surface temperature of the world's oceans is resulting in unprecedented, mass coral bleaching events wherein coral polyps expel their symbiotic zooxanthellae. Research also suggests these disturbances make coral reefs more susceptible to disease. Occurrences of mass bleaching and disease outbreaks prompted the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create Coral Reef Watch, a program that monitors many of the indicators of these events using satellites. Coral Reef Watch provides coral reef managers with near-realtime alerts of bleaching conditions as they develop.

Microbial Community Analysis of Acropora palmata Mucus Swabs, Water and Sediment Samples from Hawksnest Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Colonies of the scleractinian coral Acropora palmata, listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act in 2006, have been monitored in Hawksnest Bay, within Virgin Islands National Park, St. John, from 2004 through 2010 by scientists with the US Geological Survey, National Park Service, and the University of the Virgin Islands. The focus has been on documenting the prevalence of disease, including white band, white pox (also called patchy necrosis and white patches), and unidentified diseases. In an effort to learn more about the pathologies that might be involved with the diseases that were observed, samples were collected from apparently healthy and diseased colonies in July 2009 for analysis.

NOAA Strategic Plan for Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Ecosystems: Research, Management, and International Cooperation

In 2010, NOAA completed a Strategic Plan for Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Ecosystems: Research, Management, and International Cooperation.  The Strategic Plan identifies goals, objectives, and approaches to guide NOAA’s research, management, and international cooperation activities on deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems for fiscal years 2010 through 2019. This plan integrates research and conservation needs and is intended to be a flexible, evolving document that allows NOAA and its partners to address new management challenges and priorities as appropriate. The primary goal of this Strategic Plan is to improve the understanding, conservation, and management of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems. (NOAA Technical Memorandum CRCP 11)

Cooperative Multi-Agency Reef Fish Monitoring Protocol - Florida Keys Coral Reef Ecosystem

Reef fish populations are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems in the south Florida region. Recent precipitous declines in these populations are believed to be due to severe habitat degradation as well as significant increases in recreational and commercial fishing. The monitoring methodologies described in this document are necessary for understanding how natural and manmade stressors are changing reef fish populations and communities. These stressors will continue to increase, and understanding the responses of populations and communities will be critical for their sustainable management. This document provides the background behind and descriptions of the protocols developed for a collaborative, multi-agency effort to monitor reef fish populations in the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. Agencies involved include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Southeast Fisheries Science Center (NOAA Fisheries), Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (UM-RSMAS), and the National Park Service (NPS). This collaborative effort is the culmination of nearly three decades of independent Florida Keys monitoring programs aimed at fish populations in the region.

Implementation of the National Coral Reef Action Strategy: Report on NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program Activities from 2007 to 2009

In April 2010, the CRCP released a Report to Congress highlighting Program activities from 2007 to 2009. This document is the third of the biennial progress reports on implementation of the National Coral Reef Action Strategy that are required by the CRCA. 

The report highlights NOAA CRCP accomplishments from 2007 to 2009; the Program's annual budget for each year was $25.9 million in 2007, $27 million in 2008 and $29.4 million in 2009. During the period covered by this report, the CRCP operated pursuant to thirteen program goals organized under two themes: Understanding Coral Reef Ecosystems and Reducing the Adverse Impacts of Human Activities, and the report presents activities undertaken for each of these goals, including mapping, assessment, monitoring, partnerships, socioeconomic research and restoration, among other, as well as summaries of reports produced during the time period covered. This document also covers the reorganization process of the program from 13 goals to three goals and associated objectives.

 

 

 

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