CORAL REEF CRISIS Think Tank # 5: A Strategic Planning Session for Ocean Acidification Research Little Cayman Research Centre December 3 – 7, 2007 Carrie Manfrino Jim Hendee Central Caribbean Marine Institute PO Box 1461 Princeton, NJ 08540

Central Caribbean Marine Institute RESEARCH EDUCATION OUTREACH US 501(c)3 – Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey Cayman Islands Non-Profit, Grand Cayman UK Charity with headquarters in London Little Cayman Research Centre Primary Asset

RESEARCH EDUCATION OUTREACH CCMI MISSION RESEARCH EDUCATION OUTREACH “Sustaining biodiversity through research, education, and outreach”

CCMI’s Key Strategic Thrusts To become the premier marine institute providing research and education facilities and programs based in the Caribbean. To be a leader in Caribbean community-based outreach programs promoting sustainable coral-reef ecosystems through better understanding of the existing reef environment. To establish programs that result in dialogue, strong relationships, and support from the Cayman Island’s Government and community. To develop capital and academic resources that fully fund and support our research and education programs. To develop a faculty that establishes the intellectual reputation of the institute.

Research Themes Connectivity: Stress Response: Understand how reef organisms are connected at various depths and across geographic regions where social differences can be measured in relation to marine environmental conditions. Stress Response: To better understand how coral reefs are stressed as a result of global climate change and human impacts.

CCMI Research Programs Climate Change & Coral Reef Stress . LAMP – Long-Term Assessment & Monitoring Program CCMI’s umbrella program to study our most threatened species and critical habitats in the Cayman Islands. Ecological Information- on the coral reef system (AGRRA, CARICOMP, LAMP Protocols) Environmental Information via NOAA-ICON Station – Instrumentation Measure effects of climate change on coral reefs Improves technological capacity for weather forecasting, storm prediction, tracking, and modeling.

Research In Progress: Reef Resiliency Studying resiliency of our reefs since 2005. Importance: Knowing where juvenile corals are most likely coming from and where they are most likely going to settle is fundamental to coral regeneration. Recruitment has not declined over all the years. Juvenile growth rates per species Juvenile survival over time Adult population has stabilized loss since 2004. Fish populations are not decreasing This work is illustrating that juvenile coral growth and that the community structure is similar to the overall adult population. We infer that the history of low fishing pressure and low growth of fleshy algae results in resiliency despite mortality. 25cm & m2 quadrants

Long Term Strategy Without Science- Everything is anecdotal Centre of Excellence for Climate Change and Environmental Stress Research on Coral Reefs; Coordinating a global effort with NOAA to understand the community changes in response to climatic variations; Build a resident research program at LCRC that also provides research staff to address adaptations to climate change; Build partnerships that will benefit from the NOAA instrumentation capability, CCCC, World Bank , OTEP.

Think Tank #5: Ocean Acidification

Think Tank # 5: A Strategic Planning Session for Ocean Acidification Research Little Cayman Research Centre WHY LITTLE CAYMAN ? Central Caribbean Marine Institute PO Box 1461 Princeton, NJ 08540

Little Cayman and the Cayman Islands Little Cayman Research Centre Bloody Bay Marine Park

Establish Little Cayman as a Reference Site for Reef Research Marine Protected Areas > 50 % of island Low Human Population and Development Variety of Reef Settings

Top six species (= 70 % Community) Diploria strigosa Montastrea annularis Montastrea cavernosa Montastrea faviolata Framework Building Non-Framework Building Montastraea sp. continued to decline. Mortality was high in the massive corals Montastrea annularis and M. faveolata. Agaricia (Ag.spp.) – Lettuce Coral Porites porites (PP) – Finger Coral

Annual Ecological Studies 1999 –Present Long Term Database Annual Ecological Studies 1999 –Present To monitor trends in coral diversity and mortality on reefs that have low local human impact. Gather data that provides insight into global trends of coral degradation without the confounding factors of local anthropogenic influences. Create a long term coral reef monitoring program in the Cayman Islands.

Major Results 1999 - 2007 Coral Cover, Fish Biomass and density remains above average. Algae competition was insignificant and continues to not be an issue. Recruitment was above average and we see little change over the years. White Plague (syndromes) were taking a toll especially on the large massive colonies, cover has been reduced from 26 – 17% on average. No clear trend in disease and mortality in relation to human activities White Plague disease is slowly working its way up this colony of Dendrogyra located on the leeward side of Little Cayman.

Are corals recruiting & regenerating ? Recruits per square meter in 1999 and 2004 Availability of substrate Availability of corals Sustainability of juveniles N-S Differences in recruitment

Global Influence Despite their isolation from heavy fishing, pollution, and other human induced stresses, the coral reefs around Little Cayman are still showing signs of degradation. This is evidence that corals are being stressed by a large scale change in their environment, and that the lack of local impact may not aggravate the condition but it is not enough to neutralize the global influence.

Local: Reef Resiliency

CCMI - NOAA Objectives Establish LCRC as a Reference Site for for Climate Change and Coral Reef Stress Research; Coordinating a global effort with NOAA to understand the community changes in response to climatic variations; Build a resident research program at LCRC that also provides research staff to address adaptations to climate change; Build partnerships that will benefit from the NOAA instrumentation capability.