Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring ProjectUS EPA Water Quality Protection Program

Steering Committee PresentationMarch 11th, 2015

Rob Ruzicka, Mike Colella, Jim Kidney, Vanessa Brinkhuis, Lucy Bartlett, Kevin Macaulay & Many Others

CREMP is funded by US EPA Water Quality Protection ProgramFederal Award No. X7-95447709

A presentation of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/Fish & Wildlife Research Institute

CREMP Spatial Framework – 2014

Methods - Present

• Camera surveys on 300 transect• Stony coral demographics - 40 sites; all stations• Octocoral demographics – 18 sites; all stations• Xestospongia demographics – 11 sites; 2 stations per site• 2014 Add-ons – 2 additional stations at 6 patch reefs• 2014 Add-ons – 6 historic and 3 canal restoration hardbottom sites

Benthic Cover Results 2012 vs. 2013 –Habitat Comparisons

• Significant increases in green, decreases in red • Overall coral cover was similar between years• Differences between habitat types; no Keys-wide changes for any benthic groups • N = 40 sites

Stony Coral Octocoral Sponge Macroalgae

2012 2013 Diff. 2012 2013 Diff. 2012 2013 Diff. 2012 2013 Diff.

BCP (2) 2.4œ1.8 2.1œ1.8 NC 0.0œ0.0 0.0œ0.0 NC 2.0œ0.8 1.3œ1.0 NC 33.0œ8.1 58.8œ16.4 ↓

OD (11) 3.4œ0.4 3.7œ0.4 NC 13.2œ0.4 13.2œ0.4 NC 6.0œ1.1 5.2œ0.3 ↓ 16.7œ3.2 17.9œ2.1 NC

OS (12) 5.4œ1.1 5.4œ1.2 NC 16.6œ1.1 16.5œ1.1 NC 1.2œ0.3 1.0œ0.8 NC 11.6œ2.8 9.8œ1.8 NC

P (15) 15.7œ2.6 15.2œ2.6 NC 14.5œ3.0 15.2œ2.7 NC 4.2œ1.0 4.3œ0.6 NC 10.7œ2.9 9.3œ2.0 NC

OVERALL (40) 8.5œ1.3 8.5œ1.3 NC 14.0œ1.4 14.7œ1.3 NC 3.7œ0.6 3.4œ0.5 NC 13.7œ1.8 14.3œ2.1 NC

1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Mea

n C

ove

r (%

) ±

SE

0

5

10

15

20

25

Macroalgae Octocorals Sponges Stony Corals Zoanthids

N = 34 sites

Long Term Trends in Benthic Cover – Florida Keys

1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Mea

n C

ove

r (

%)

± S

E

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

CNAT OANN MCAV PAST SSID

N = 34 sites

Long Term Trends in Benthic Cover – Coral Species

* * * ** *

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Keys-wide OD OS P

Den

sity

(co

loni

es/m

2 )Stony Coral Density

2011201220132014

* * * ** *

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Keys-wide OD OS P

Den

sity

(co

loni

es/m

2 )Stony Coral Density

2011201220132014

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Keys-wide OD OS P

Den

sity

(co

loni

es/m

2 )Octocoral Density

2011201220132014

* *

Demographic Results – Stony Corals

• 1546 more colonies counted in 2012 than in 2011 (8261 in 2011, 9807 in 2012)

76% < 10cm in diameter, and 87%

A) Molasses Shallow

2001

2009

B) Conch Shallow

2001

2009

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http://danopendygrasse.photoshelter.com/image/I0000X4N7DJJHC_8&ei=-FYAVdqhN8mpogS8kYCQCg&bvm=bv.87920726,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNFn_dca3dqZdftcZVEmgOM1pBeLtg&ust=1426171930103255http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http://danopendygrasse.photoshelter.com/image/I0000X4N7DJJHC_8&ei=-FYAVdqhN8mpogS8kYCQCg&bvm=bv.87920726,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNFn_dca3dqZdftcZVEmgOM1pBeLtg&ust=1426171930103255

A) Molasses Shallow

2001

2009

B) Conch Shallow

2001

2009

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

No

. per

m2

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6 N = 60

ABCD D A

Keys-Wide X. Muta Density

Source of Variation

DF Sum of Squares

MeanSquare

F P

Site 9 102.949 11.439 6.454

Site Density – No. of X. muta m-2 ± SE in 2014

0.20œ0.5

0.54œ0.6

0.26œ0.4

0.57œ0.5

0.47œ0.4

0.50œ0.6

0.23œ0.50.70œ0.9

0.46œ0.50.25œ0.5Rock KeySand Key

E SamboW Sambo

Looe Key

Sombrero

Tennessee

Alligator

Conch

Molasses

Base Diameter (cm)

0-2 3-6 7-12 13-21 22-32 >33

Nu

mb

er o

f C

olo

nie

s

0

20

40

60

80

100

1202014

Keys-Wide X. muta Mortality

Base Diameter (cm)

0-2 3-6 7-12 13-21 22-32 >33

Nu

mb

er o

f C

olo

nie

s

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

21.7% 27.8% 30.9% 14.4% 4.4% 15.0%

Mortality across all size classes = 15.6%N = 103

Growth

Size Class 2009 2014

I 6 1II 31 7III 78 19IV 64 75V 60 74VI 50 112

I II

III IV

V VI

Change in Size Class

No. of Colonies

0 981 1522 39

N = 289

Base Diameter (cm)

0-2 3-6 7-12 13-21 22-32 >33

Nu

mb

er o

f C

olo

nie

s

0

20

40

60

80

100

1202009

Base Diameter (cm)

0-2 3-6 7-12 13-21 22-32 >33

Nu

mb

er o

f C

olo

nie

s

0

20

40

60

80

100

1202010

Base Diameter (cm)

0-2 3-6 7-12 13-21 22-32 >33

Nu

mb

er o

f C

olo

nie

s

0

20

40

60

80

100

1202011

Base Diameter (cm)

0-2 3-6 7-12 13-21 22-32 >33

Nu

mb

er o

f C

olo

nie

s

0

20

40

60

80

100

1202012

Base Diameter (cm)

0-2 3-6 7-12 13-21 22-32 >33

Nu

mb

er o

f C

olo

nie

s

0

20

40

60

80

100

1202013

Base Diameter (cm)

0-2 3-6 7-12 13-21 22-32 >33

Nu

mb

er o

f C

olo

nie

s

0

20

40

60

80

100

1202014

Keys-Wide X. muta Population Structure

Has growth and survivorship in X. muta led to an increase in sponge cover on deep reefs?

1. Used the formula of a circle to estimate the basal coverage of X. muta A = 3.14r2

2. Total cover in 2009 ~1,850m2

3. Loss in cover between 2009 and 2014 due to mortality ~417m2

4. Total cover in 2014 after growth and recruitment ~2768m2

5. Net gain in 5 years ~500m2

20132010

2014

Juvenile Census and Survivorship

Settlement on tiles

CRCP Coral Recruitment Study

CRCP Coral Recruitment Study

• Three Year Study First tile deployment in 2015 Focuses on both stony and octocorals

• Goals: Create an annual index of recruitment success across a broad spatial scale Identify recruitment hotspots in FL Determine if early life history processes are limiting recovery (e.g., larval settlement, juvenile survivorship)

Summary

1. Little change between 2012 & 2013 for all taxa groups

2. Octocoral density in most habitats 2x stony coral density

3. Density of large framework building corals unchanged since 2011

4. Small increases in coral cover due to smaller, weedier corals

5. Density of octocorals and X. muta increasing

6. Findings by CREMP has been leveraged into additional projects• Assessing effects of 2014 bleaching – working with TNC Disturbance

Response Monitoring Team • Coral Recruitment & Juvenile Survivorship Study – Georgia Southern and

Nova Southeastern Universities• Water temperature monitoring network – NOAA, University of South Florida,

FWRI

CREMP Publications and Reports available at http://research.myfwc.com/

Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project�US EPA Water Quality Protection Program Steering Committee Presentation�March 11th, 2015Slide Number 2Slide Number 3Slide Number 4Slide Number 5Slide Number 6Slide Number 7Slide Number 8Slide Number 9Slide Number 10Slide Number 11Slide Number 12Slide Number 13Slide Number 14Slide Number 15Slide Number 16Slide Number 17Slide Number 18Slide Number 19Slide Number 20�Summary�Slide Number 22