Between a Reef and a Hard Place: Capacity to Map the Next Coral Reef Catastrophe

Sharyn M Hickey,Javier X Leon,Kathryn Barker,Shaun K Wilson,Harriet N Davies,Alan J Kendrick,Chris M Roelfsema,Ben Radford,Mathew Wyatt,Thomas H Holmes,J Nikolaus Callow,Karen E Joyce,John Duncan,Daniel Marrable,Kathy Murray

doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.544290

Abstract

Increasing sea surface temperature and extreme heat events pose the greatest threat to coral reefs globally, with trends exceeding previous norms. The resultant mass bleaching events, such as those evidenced on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, 2017, and 2020 have substantial ecological costs in addition to economic and social costs. Advancing remote (nanosatellites, rapid revisit traditional satellites) and in-field (drones) technological capabilities, cloud data processing, and analysis, coupled with existing infrastructure and in-field monitoring programs, have the potential to provide cost-effective and timely information to managers allowing them to better understand changes on reefs and apply effective remediation. Within a risk management framework for monitoring coral bleaching, we present an overview of how remote sensing can be used throughout the whole risk management cycle and highlight the role technological advancement has in earth observations of coral reefs for bleaching events.

Highlights

Coral reef ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots that comprise only 0.1% of the ocean surface (Roberts et al, 2002; Fisher et al, 2015; Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2017) yet are valued at $US36 billion annually due to the ecosystem services coral reefs provide, including subsistence and commercial fisheries, tourism and coastal protection (Spalding et al, 2017)
This paper presents an overview of common current shallow and intertidal coral reef monitoring, assessment, and rapid response strategies in the context of thermal stress
We address the thermal risk to corals alongside technological advances and develop a risk management framework for monitoring the response to thermal induced coral bleaching

Summary

Introduction

Coral reef ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots that comprise only 0.1% of the ocean surface (Roberts et al, 2002; Fisher et al, 2015; Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2017) yet are valued at $US36 billion annually due to the ecosystem services coral reefs provide, including subsistence and commercial fisheries, tourism and coastal protection (Spalding et al, 2017). Whilst still hindered by the same depth issues (

Results

Conclusion