Coral Health in protected and unprotected areas in Wai’opae, Hawaii

1. Size Class A = 0-5cm B = 6-10cm C = 11-20cm D = 21-40cm E = 41-80cm F = 81-160cm G = 161-180cm V = >180cm Figure 6b: Incidents of unhealthy conditions in different size classes of Porites lobata Coral Health in protected and unprotected areas in Wai’opae, Hawaii Toni Makani Gregg*, Nicole Hoku Cody, Shauna Kehaunani Tom, Misaki Takabayashi Marine Science Department, University of Hawaii at Hilo *ASLO MAS Program • Common Coral Aliments found in Hawaii • Coral bleaching, loss of symbiotic zooanthallae, makes corals appear white in color and is the best documented diagnostic condition of corals’ unhealthy state. The result may lead to reductions in growth, production, and death (Wilkinson 1998). Bleaching is often associated with global warming, solar radiation, and over fishing (Photos 1 and 2). • Growth anomalies (“tumors”) on Montipora spp. Are an accelerated growth of the gastrovascular canals (Gulko 1998: Photos 3 and 4). • “Coral zit” or trematodiasis on Porites coral is thought to come from a parasite passed on from platyhelminthes to the coral. Some reports indicate that once the trematode parasite is eaten from the coral colony, the colony can now recover on its own (Photos 5 and 6). Background In the Hawaiian creation chant, the Kumulipo, corals are depicted as the first organism to arise on earth. So corals were thought of as a god and the coral reef is the body and from her all other life is born. In the first chapter of the Kumulipo: ‘Hanau Kumulipo I ka po, he kane, ‘Kumulipo born in the night, a male Hanau Po’ele I ka po, he wahine, Po’ele born in the night, a female Hanau ka ‘ukuko’ako’a, A coral insect was born, from which Hanau kana, he ‘ako’ako’a, puka’ was born a perforated coral’ (Liliuokalani, 1897) Project Aim:To monitor the coral health in protected and unprotected areas in Wai’opae, Kapoho in east Hawaii. Materials and Methods The Wai’opae tide pools in Kapoho are located in a Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD) with a high abundance of corals and fish (Figure 1). In a MLCD, there is no taking or gathering of any kind allowed. We characterized the coral health conditions in pools in the MLCD (protected) and outside the MLCD (unprotected). All coral colonies along a 25m transect line in each pool were repeatedly surveyed every month. We used the same observer as much as possible for consistency. Photo documentation was done periodically in all pools for further analysis. The colony size, conditions and proportion of each condition were recorded for each coral. Data were analyzed via ANOVA, using MINITAB. Of the 60 species of reef-building corals found in Hawaii, approximately 25% are endemic to this island chain. These corals shelter approximately two thousand invertebrates and are key to sustaining the very important coral reefs ecosystem in Hawaii. In the last two decades, coral reefs all over world have been reported as either bleached or diseased especially in the Caribbean. However, many aspects of coral diseases remain poorly understood because most of the diseases (e.g. white band disease, tremadtodiasis), the causative agents have not yet been identified. Most corals diseases do not seem to be species-specific and two diseases could represent different symptoms of the same causative agent (Green and Bruckner 2000). Figure1: Map of Hawaiian Islands and Wai’opae Tide pools, Kapoho Photo 3 Photo 5 Photo 7 Photo 4 Photo 6 Photo 1 Photo 2 • Results/Conclusions • Montipora capitata, Porites compressa, and Pocillopora damicornis were the least healthy (Figure 2). • Overall, the proportion of unhealthy corals is increasing over time (Figure 3). • The proportion of unhealthy corals was slightly higher for the pools close to shore and inside MLCD (Figure 4). • M.capitata mostly affected by partial bleaching and growth anomalies with the larger colonies (Figures 5a, b). • P.lobata mostly affected by trematodiasis on the colonies ranging from 20 to 80cm (Figures 6a, b). Figure 5a: Breakdown of Montipora capitata ailment conditions. Figure 6a: Breakdown of Porites lobata ailment conditions. Figure 3: Seasonal Trend Size Class A = 0-5cm B = 6-10cm C = 11-20cm D = 21-40cm E = 41-80cm F = 81-160cm G = >160cm Inside of MLCD Outside of MLCD Figure 5b: Incidents of unhealthy conditions in different size classes of Montipora capitata. Acknowledgements: Keaholoa STEM Program provided an internship opportunity for T.M.G., N.H.C., and S.K.T. The American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) and the Minorities in the Aquatic Sciences Program (MAS) provided travel and conference funding for T.M.G. Figure 4: The proportions of unhealthy corals in pools inside and outside of MLCD. Figure 2: Species and percent unhealthy with condition.