Coral Basics What is Coral Bleaching? Long-term Effects of Bleaching Monitoring for Bleaching

2. Coral Bleaching Webinar • Coral Basics • What is Coral Bleaching? • Long-term Effects of Bleaching • Monitoring for Bleaching • Managing Bleaching • Classroom Connections

3. Coral Basics

4. Anatomy of a Coral Reef-building Corals Also known as… Hard corals Stony corals Hexacorals

5. Anatomy of a Coral Are reef-building Corals… Animals? Plants? Minerals?

6. Question Slide #1 • Reef-building corals are ______________ • Plants • Animals • Minerals

7. All Three! Anatomy of a Coral • Animal – polyp mouth tentacles – multiples of 6

8. Anatomy of a Coral • Plant – zooxanthellae Symbiotic algae that give coral their colors

9. Anatomy of a Coral • Mineral - skeleton

10. How do corals feed? Coral Feeding

11. Question Slide #2 • How do corals feed? • With their tentacles • Via photosynthesis • By osmosis • Both a and b • Both b and c

12. How do corals feed? Coral Feeding Photosynthesis – 70% Raptorial – using tentacles (Direct Absorption)

13. How do corals reproduce? Coral Reproduction Asexually – polyps splitting to create clones of themselves This is how an individual colony grows

14. Sexually – spawning to create genetically new polyps through cross fertilization. Coral Reproduction This is how new colonies start.

15. What do reef-building corals need to survive? Coral Survival Hard Surface Clear, sunlit water Moving water Warm water (68-86F)

16. What is Coral Bleaching?

17. Question Slide #3 • What is coral bleaching? • Dead coral • Form of starvation • Loss of a symbiotic partner • Both a and b • Both b and c

18. Coral Bleaching

19. Coral bleaching is caused by environmental stresses. These may include extremes in… • Salinity • Pollution • Sedimentation • Temperature Coral Bleaching

20. What does it look like? Coral Bleaching FGBNMS 2010

21. Polyps become mostly clear, showing the white skeleton beneath. Coral Bleaching

22. Paling is a sign that corals are starting to bleach. Coral Bleaching

23. Bleaching may not occur evenly across a single colony. Coral Bleaching

24. Different colonies of the same species may respond differently. Coral Bleaching

25. Paling, bleached and dead sections may all occur in the same colony. Coral Bleaching

26. Long-Term Effects of Bleaching

27. Question Slide #4 • Coral can recover from bleaching. • True • False

28. EFGB Deep Station 11 July 2016 February 2017 October 2016 Bleaching is not necessarily a death sentence. • Recovery of Colpophyllia natans and Orbicella franksi colonies • Paling of Montastraea cavernosa colony

29. EFGB Shallow Station 102 July 2016 February 2017 October 2016 Corals can recover from bleaching if the stressor is eliminated quickly enough. • Recovery of Pseudodiploria strigosa, Orbicella franksi, Orbicella faveolata colonies • 1 Orbicella franksi colony still paling

30. EFGB Shallow Station 208 July 2016 February 2017 October 2016 Corals can die if the stressors continue for too long. • Orbicella franksi colonies paling • Orbicella faveolata colony paling • Partial mortality of Orbicella franksi and Porites astreoides colonies

31. Long-term effects: • More susceptible to disease • Less energy available for skeletal growth • Less energy available for reproduction • Loss of habitat for other creatures

32. Monitoring for Coral Bleaching

33. Question Slide #5 • Which of the following is not used to measure water temperature for monitoring purposes? • Satellite • Hand-held probe • Dive computer • Buoy • Datasonde

34. How do we monitor water temperatures on the reef? Monitoring • Water quality instruments on the sea floor (hourly) • Handheld water quality probes (opportunistically) • TABS Buoys (daily) • Satellite measurements of SST* (daily) *Sea Surface Temperature

35. Monitoring

36. Remote Sensing System - NOAA Coral Reef Watch Monitoring

37. Remote Sensing System - NOAA Coral Reef Watch Monitoring DHW=Degree Heating Weeks (86F) (68F) SST=Sea Surface Temperature

38. Satellites & Bleaching Tutorial Monitoring • Bleaching Threshold = 1C above Maximum Monthly Mean • Degree Heating Week (DHW) = heat stress accumulated over the past 12 weeks • 4 DHW = significant coral • bleaching likely • 8 DHW = widespread • bleaching and mortality • likely

39. Managing Bleaching: What’s a Reef Manager to Do?

40. Reduce pollution, coastal runoff and overfishing to enhance overall reef health Reef Management

41. Artificially shade or cool selected reefs • to lessen impacts • Inoculate corals with heat resistant strains of zooxanthellae Reef Management

42. Restrict potentially stressful activities during and after a bleaching event Reef Management

43. Help new corals recruit or transplant new corals after a bleaching event Reef Management

44. Classroom Connections

45. Flowergarden.noaa.gov Resources

46. Flowergarden.noaa.gov/education/ Resources

47. Flowergarden.noaa.gov/education/bleaching.html Resources

48. Flowergarden.noaa.gov/education/teachers.html Resources

49. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html Resources

50. Kelly Drinnen Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary 4700 Avenue U, Building 216 Galveston, TX 77551 Phone: 409-621-5151 ext. 105 Email: Kelly.Drinnen@noaa.gov www.facebook.com/FGBNMS http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov