Coral Reef Ecosystem Division
In support of NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program, the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division (CRED) conducts extensive research to support management and conservation of coral reef ecosystems in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. Research activities include interdisciplinary Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEAs) and long-term monitoring, benthic habitat mapping, oceanographic observations, and more. In leading the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP), CRED collaborates with federal, state, and territorial agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and academic partners to conduct biennial surveys of coral reefs throughout the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI), Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), the Territories of Guam and American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA). Using standardized methods for IEAs at more than 50 islands and atolls across diverse gradients of biogeography, environmental conditions, and human activity, Pacific RAMP enables comparative analysis that improves understanding of the complex processes influencing the health of coral reef ecosystems throughout the region. IEAs provide essential baseline information by which to assess, predict, and mitigate impacts of climate change, fishing, pollution, and other stressors on coral reef ecosystems. The knowledge gained is shared with local, regional, national, and international resource managers and stakeholders to improve decision making for the long-term conservation and management of coral reef resources. CRED also conducts research to better assess and predict accumulations of marine debris affecting coral reef ecosystems and leads multiagency projects to remove debris from reefs and shorelines.
The CRED is organized into five thematic program areas:
- The Oceanography and Water Quality Program observes and monitors key oceanographic processes, environmental parameters, and water quality conditions using: in situ observations collected from ships and small boats, surface and subsurface moored instrument arrays, and satellite-tracked drifter buoys; data from satellite-borne remote sensors; and oceanographic models. The program also develops tools and instruments to improve IEAs, including Ecological Acoustic Recorders (EARs) to monitor activities of marine biota and vessels through the sounds they produce, Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) to assess and monitor invertebrate biodiversity, and Bottom Camera (BotCam) bait stations to assess relative abundance of bottomfish.
- The Ecosystem Monitoring and Analysis Research Program conducts Rapid Ecological Assessments (REAs) and towed-diver surveys to quantitatively and qualitatively document the spatial distribution, density, species composition, size structure, and condition of corals, other macroinvertebrates, fish, and algae during biennial Pacific RAMP surveys. REAs involve stationary point counts of organisms, roving diver surveys, belt transects, photoquadrats, video transects, and specimen sample collection. Towed-diver surveys using digital video or still cameras provide broad spatial coverage of benthic composition and provide detailed information on the abundance and distribution of ecologically important fish and macroinvertebrate taxa. EARs are used to document biological changes over shorter time scales than are possible to study during biennial Pacific RAMP cruises. ARMS are used to assess spatial patterns and temporal trends of indices of invertebrate biodiversity, contributing to the International Census of Marine Life's Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems (CReefs) project.
- The Benthic Habitat Program uses multibeam echo sounders, towed cameras, autonomous underwater vehicles, and other tools to create benthic habitat maps describing the depth, character, and composition of the seafloor and associated biota in and around coral reefs.
- The Marine Debris Program, with support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, uses towed-diver and swim surveys to assess distributions and accumulations of derelict fishing gear and other marine debris in the MHI and NWHI and unmanned aerial systems to locate marine debris at sea. CRED divers manually remove marine debris from reefs and shorelines and collect data on the type, distribution, and density of debris. The Program also conducts research to better understand impacts of marine debris and develop cost-effective means to locate and remove marine debris at sea.
- The Data Management and Integration Program formats, documents, synthesizes, integrates, distributes, and archives data collected by CRED and its partners. The program applies quality controls to data, enters the data into an Oracle database and/or ArcSDE geodatabase, and produces metadata compliant with NOAA's Coral Reef Information System. The databases facilitate access to the data and enable spatial and temporal analyses and integration of CRED's multidisciplinary ecosystem observations.
CRED has 67 staff members, including 9 federal employees, 56 employees of the University of Hawaii's Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR), and other staff. Grants—primarily to JIMAR—accounted for the largest CRED expenditures in FY 2008.
Key 2008 Accomplishments
- Issued the Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Report for American Samoa: 2002-2006 as a PIFSC Special Publication, a culmination of reef surveys during American Samoa RAMP cruises in 2002, 2004, and 2006. The report is available online at http://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/cred/hmapping/amsareport.php. The Marine Debris Program removed 31 tons of derelict fishing gear from the NWHI and 6.5 tons from the MHI. The Program and its partners have removed nearly 660 tons of marine debris from the NWHI since 1996.
- Conducted multibeam mapping of seafloor around French Frigate Shoals (3300 km2) using the NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai and around Brooks Bank (145 km2) using the R/V AHI. Recorded extensive underwater video using camera sled and drop camera. Multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data, optical validation data, and high-resolution benthic habitat mapping products are available at http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc.
- In partnership with EOD, University of Hawaii, Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), and Bishop Museum, CRED contributed to mapping and interpretation of mesophotic coral ecosystems in the Auau Channel, main Hawaiian Islands, using a towed camera. Used video data from an underwater camera sled to estimate fish biomass in the 35-130 m depth range at Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Products from the survey will soon be available at http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pibhmc.
- Led Pacific RAMP cruises on the NOAA Ships Hi'ialakai and Oscar Elton Sette to American Samoa, MHI, NWHI, and the PRIA to continue long-term integrated ecosystem monitoring. Partners included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, the American Samoa Department of Commerce, American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, the Hawaii Governor's Office, DAR, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, University of Hawaii, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), Bishop Museum, and National Geographic. CRED continued monitoring oceanographic conditions and water quality at 54 islands, atolls, and banks in the U.S. Pacific Islands using 24 moored surface-telemetered buoys and 237 subsurface oceanographic moorings.
- In partnership with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and NOAA's Coral Reef Watch program, CRED collected water samples in American Samoa, MHI, NWHI, and the PRIA to establish baseline observations of carbonate chemistry in diverse reef habitats as part of a broader effort to understand potential long-term impacts of climate change-induced ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems. In partnership with HIMB, CRED deployed 18 EARs to monitor biological sounds and motorized vessel traffic at sites in American Samoa, Guam, Hawaiian Archipelago, Saipan, and the PRIA. A manuscript on use of EARs to understand ecological processes was published. Analyzed data from 12 ARMS deployed at French Frigate Shoals in late 2007 to document the presence of three alien species not previously reported for the NWHI. In collaboration with CReefs partners, CRED deployed 195 ARMS throughout American Samoa, MHI, NWHI, and the PRIA to establish baseline indices of cryptic invertebrate biodiversity across the region. CReefs colleagues also deployed 54 ARMS at sites in Australia and Brazil. CRED hosted an international workshop to develop protocols for molecular processing and analysis of ARMS samples.
Challenges, Problems, and Limitations
The primary challenge for CRED is to provide timely, unbiased scientific information on the condition of coral reef ecosystems in the Pacific Islands Region and processes influencing them. The information must be easily interpreted and presented in a manner useful to resource managers, policy makers, and other key stakeholders. To meet the challenge, CRED needs to continue long-term reef monitoring, integration of ecosystem observations, and studies of reef resources and processes across the Pacific Islands. These tasks will require a sustained commitment of funding and extensive access to NOAA research vessels. The Division is also challenged to improve methods used to identify, understand, and explain complex spatial and temporal patterns and relationships across multidisciplinary biological and environmental data sets.
Future Focus and Direction
In response to a new Roadmap for the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, CRED will focus on improving responsiveness to local management needs for scientific information to address impacts of climate change, fishing, land-based pollution, and other forces. To help facilitate better communication, CRED will assign scientific liaisons at the Center to work closely with resource managers in each of the six areas (MHI, NWHI, American Samoa, Guam, CNMI, and the PRIA) and investigate the detailing of CRED staff to work on location with management agencies in American Samoa, Guam, and CNMI.
CRED will produce coral reef ecosystem monitoring reports for the Mariana Archipelago, the Hawaiian Archipelago, and the PRIA over the next 3 years, using the recently completed American Samoa report as a template. CRED will continue to organize Pacific-wide integrated ecosystem observations into relational geospatial databases to enable comparative spatial and temporal analyses of marine ecosystems across the Pacific Islands Region. CRED will also investigate the role of ecosystem biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem resiliency.
Specifically, in 2009 CRED will:
- Assign scientific liaisons at the Center to work closely with resource managers across the Pacific Islands Region
- Lead interdisciplinary Pacific RAMP cruises to Guam, CNMI, and Wake Atoll.
- Produce a draft Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Report for the Mariana Archipelago: 2003-2007.
- Complete production of benthic habitat maps showing areas of hard and soft substrate for the Mariana Archipelago.
- Conduct initial testing of the SeaBED autonomous underwater vehicle for efficient collection of optical data to ground-truth moderate depth habitat mapping.
- Continue development of protocols for processing and analyzing ARMS data as part of the CReefs biodiversity project.
- Work to establish a baseline understanding of carbonate chemistry processes in Pacific Island reef environments and develop tools to monitor impacts of ocean acidification on reef ecosystems.
- Create ocean circulation maps of American Samoa, the Mariana Archipelago, and Hawaiian Archipelago for studies of larval transport and recruitment.
