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Abstract: Reciprocal transplant experiments of the corals Pocillopora eydouxi Milne Edwards & Haime and Porites lobata Dana were carried out for an 18 month period from September 2004 to March [...]

The degree to which coral reef ecosystems will be impacted by global climate change depends on regional and local differences in corals’ susceptibility and resilience to environmental stressors. Here, we present data from a reciprocal transplant experiment using the common reef building coral Porites lobata between a highly fluctuating back reef environment that reaches stressful daily extremes, and a more stable, neighbouring forereef. Protein biomarker analyses assessing physiological contributions to stress resistance showed evidence for both fixed and environmental influence on biomarker response. Fixed influences were strongest for ubiquitin-conjugated proteins with consistently higher levels found in back reef source colonies both pre and post-transplant when compared with their forereef conspecifics. Additionally, genetic comparisons of back reef and forereef populations revealed significant population structure of both the nuclear ribosomal and mitochondrial genomes of the coral host ( FST = 0.146 P < 0.0001, FST = 0.335 P < 0.0001 for rDNA and mtDNA, respectively), whereas algal endosymbiont populations were genetically indistinguishable between the two sites. We propose that the genotype of the coral host may drive limitations to the physiological responses of these corals when faced with new environmental conditions. This result is important in understanding genotypic and environmental interactions in the coral algal symbiosis and how corals may respond to future environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

n 1917, Alfred Mayor recorded rich coral communities in distinct zones on the reef flat along a permanent transect at Aua village in Pago Pago Harbor, American Samoa. In the 1950s-1980s, this area was seriously degraded by chronic pollution from two tuna canneries and fuel spills in the inner harbor and by coastal development. By the 1970s, coral communities had declined substantially. Mayor provided a map and photographs of the transect in his 1924 report and so we were able to repeat surveys along the same transect in 1973, 1980, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2007. In 1992, a large pipe was installed to export wastewater from the tuna canneries to the harbor mouth. Management of coastal development and fuel spills had improved by the early 1990s. We found that since then, there has been a significant recovery of coral communities on the reef crest and outer reef flat where there is consolidated reef substratum (up to 30 m back from the reef crest). In contrast, we found that recovery has been substantially slower or absent behind the reef crest, where the substratum is primarily loose rubble. In particular, the Acropora zone recorded on the outer reef flat in 1917 (120–140 m behind the reef crest) had disappeared completely by the 1990s. Recovery is now proceeding in this zone by the slow accumulation of Acropora muricata colonies that are large enough to become established on the loose substratum. The recovery of coral communities on a few large stable blocks of reef rock scattered across the zone of loose rubble was similar to the recovery on the solid reef crest. The large stable blocks provided a natural experiment that demonstrated resilience (rates of recovery) of the coral communities after chronic or acute disturbance was determined largely by stability of the substratum.

Our changing climate poses growing challenges for effective management of marine life, ocean ecosystems, and human communities. Which species are most vulnerable to climate change, and where should management focus efforts to reduce these risks? To address these questions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Climate Science Strategy called for vulnerability assessments in each of NOAA's ocean regions. The Pacific Islands Vulnerability Assessment (PIVA) project assessed the susceptibility of 83 marine species to the impacts of climate change projected to 2055. In a standard Rapid Vulnerability Assessment framework, this project applied expert knowledge, literature review, and climate projection models to synthesize the best available science towards answering these questions. Here we: (1) provide a relative climate vulnerability ranking across species; (2) identify key attributes and factors that drive vulnerability; and (3) identify critical data gaps in understanding climate change impacts to marine life. The invertebrate group was ranked most vulnerable and pelagic and coastal groups not associated with coral reefs were ranked least vulnerable. Sea surface temperature, ocean acidification, and oxygen concentration were the main exposure drivers of vulnerability. Early Life History Survival and Settlement Requirements was the most data deficient of the sensitivity attributes considered in the assessment. The sensitivity of many coral reef fishes ranged between Low and Moderate, which is likely underestimated given that reef species depend on a biogenic habitat that is extremely threatened by climate change. The standard assessment methodology originally developed in the Northeast US, did not capture the additional complexity of the Pacific region, such as the diversity, varied horizontal and vertical distributions, extent of coral reef habitats, the degree of dependence on vulnerable habitat, and wide range of taxa, including data-poor species. Within these limitations, this project identified research needs to sustain marine life in a changing climate., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Coral reefs on remote islands and atolls are less exposed to direct human stressors but are becoming increasingly vulnerable because of their development for geopolitical and military purposes. Here we document dredging and filling activities by countries in the South China Sea, where building new islands and channels on atolls is leading to considerable losses of, and perhaps irreversible damages to, unique coral reef ecosystems. Preventing similar damage across other reefs in the region necessitates the urgent development of cooperative management of disputed territories in the South China Sea. We suggest using the Antarctic Treaty as a positive precedent for such international cooperation.

Many marine invertebrate species facing potential extinction have uncertain taxonomies and poorly known demographic and ecological traits. Uncertainties are compounded when potential extinction drivers are climate and ocean changes whose effects on even widespread and abundant species are only partially understood. The U.S. Endangered Species Act mandates conservation management decisions founded on the extinction risk to species based on the best available science at the time of consideration-requiring prompt action rather than awaiting better information. We developed an expert-opinion threat-based approach that entails a structured voting system to assess extinction risk from climate and ocean changes and other threats to 82 coral species for which population status and threat response information was limited. Such methods are urgently needed because constrained budgets and manpower will continue to hinder the availability of desired data for many potentially vulnerable marine species. Significant species-specific information gaps and uncertainties precluded quantitative assessments of habitat loss or population declines and necessitated increased reliance on demographic characteristics and threat vulnerabilities at genus or family levels. Adapting some methods (e.g., a structured voting system) used during other assessments and developing some new approaches (e.g., integrated assessment of threats and demographic characteristics), we rated the importance of threats contributing to coral extinction risk and assessed those threats against population status and trend information to evaluate each species' extinction risk over the 21st century. This qualitative assessment resulted in a ranking with an uncertainty range for each species according to their estimated likelihood of extinction. We offer guidance on approaches for future biological extinction risk assessments, especially in cases of data-limited species likely to be affected by global-scale threats. Incorporación del Cambio Climático y Oceánico en Estudios de Riesgo de Extinción para 82 Especies de Coral., (© 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.)

We develop and assess life cycle inventories of a conceptual offshore wind farm using a hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Special emphasis is placed on aspects of installation, operation, and maintenance, as these stages have been given only cursory consideration in previous LCAs. The results indicate that previous studies have underestimated the impacts caused by offshore operations and (though less important) exchange of parts. Offshore installation and maintenance activities cause 28% (10 g CO(2)-Eq/kWh) of total greenhouse gas emissions and 31-45% of total impact indicator values at the most (marine eutrophication, acidification, particulates, photochemical ozone). Transport and dumping of rock in installation phase and maintenance of wind turbines in use phase are major contributory activities. Manufacturing of spare parts is responsible for 6% (2 g CO2-Eq/kWh) of greenhouse gas emissions and up to 13% of total impact indicator values (freshwater ecotoxicity). Assumptions on lifetimes, work times for offshore activities and implementation of NOx abatement on vessels are shown to have a significant influence on results. Another source of uncertainty is assumed operating mode data for vessels determining fuel consumption rates.

Methods for quantitative convergent-beam electron diffraction are outlined and some results of our applications of convergent-beam electron diffraction are shown, with emphasis on quantitative analysis of crystal structures in materials science. Examples of thickness measurements and determination of lattice parameters are presented. Measurements of low-order structure factors to obtain information on bonding charge-density distributions are reviewed, with examples from TiAl intermetallics. For non-centrosymmetric crystals, a method to determine three-phase structure invariants is given. Determination of polarity is also discussed., (Copyright 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Life-history traits of commercially important species, physiological attributes of the framework species, and characteristics of ecosystem processes make coral reefs especially vulnerable to export of biomass. Organisms in ecosystems driven by upwelling and terrestrial nutrient input are more amenable to biomass yield. Nonexportive approaches to resource management, exemplified by Palau, are compatible with the attributes of coral-reef ecosystems; they satisfy to a greater degree the economic demands and pressures of growing human populations, and they provide motivation to manage.

The regular echinoid Eucidaris thouarsii is a conspicuous omnivore on coral bottoms in the Galápagos. Unlike Eucidaris in Panama and mainland Ecuador, Galápagos Eucidaris are large and abundant and graze heavily in the open on live corals day and night. These differences are probably due in large part to more intense predation by fishes on mainland compared with island urchin populations. An assessment of coral growth versus coral attrition from grazing shows that Eucidaris interferes with the establishment of pocilloporid reef frame and therefore reduces reef growth in the Galápagos.