Damage To Coral Reefs Research Articles

Responding to Vessel Groundings and Oil Spills in National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries1

ABSTRACT The United States National Park System contains over two million acres of submerged lands, and the nation's thirteen marine sanctuaries have over 18,000 square miles of ocean waters and habitats. From the public's perspective, national parks and marine sanctuaries are public goods that should be protected for future generations. Historically, however, response operations within these protected waters have not consistently preserved the environmental integrity of the nation's valuable resources. Vessels are often abandoned and remain aground, thereby emitting residual oil and physically damaging coral reefs and seagrass beds after the responders have removed the accessible oil. Additionally, responders often fail to consult with natural resource trustees and, as a result, physically damage the environment during response operations. This paper presents case studies and lessons learned from vessel groundings and oil spill response operations in national parks, marine sanctuaries, and other protected areas, from the Point Reyes National Seashore to the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary. The topics of Natural Resource Trustee consultations, application of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, effective use of the Unified Command System, response cost internalization methods, and ecological sustainability are logically presented to argue for a more proactive and consistent national response posture in protected waters.“Surely our people do not understand even yet the rich heritage that is theirs … Our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred.”—President Theodore Roosevelt (Shullery, 1979)

Dose–response modeling of recreationally important coral-reef attributes: a review and potential application to the economic valuation of damage

Dose–response modeling has been widely used to document links between anthropogenic stressors and ecosystem attributes, and as a basis in the economic valuation of pollution damage. We review studies on the relation between anthropogenic stress factors and coral-reef attributes valuable in recreation, discuss the components of the economic value of coral reefs, and examine the potential use of dose–response functions in the economic valuation of coral-reef damage.

Fifty years of Marine and Freshwater Research

Factors causing global degradation of coral reefs are examined briefly as a basis for predicting the likely consequences of increases in these factors. The earlier consensus was that widespread but localized damage from natural factors such as storms, and direct anthropogenic effects such as increased sedimentation, pollution and exploitation, posed the largest immediate threat to coral reefs. Now truly global factors associated with accelerating Global Climate Change are either damaging coral reefs or have the potential to inflict greater damage in the immediate future: e.g. increases in coral bleaching and mortality, and reductions in coral calcification due to changes in sea-water chemistry with increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. Rises in sea level will probably disrupt human communities and their cultures by making coral cays uninhabitable, whereas coral reefs will sustain minimal damage from the rise in sea level. The short-term (decades) prognosis is indeed grim, with major reductions almost certain in the extent and biodiversity of coral reefs, and severe disruptions to cultures and economies dependent on reef resources. The long-term (centuries to millennia) prognosis is more encouraging because coral reefs have remarkable resilience to severe disruption and will probably show this resilience in the future when climate changes either stabilize or reverse.

Global and local threats to coral reef functioning and existence: review and predictions

Factors causing global degradation of coral reefs are examined briefly as a basis for predicting the likely consequences of increases in these factors. The earlier consensus was that widespread but localized damage from natural factors such as storms, and direct anthropogenic effects such as increased sedimentation, pollution and exploitation, posed the largest immediate threat to coral reefs. Now truly global factors associated with accelerating Global Climate Change are either damaging coral reefs or have the potential to inflict greater damage in the immediate future: e.g. increases in coral bleaching and mortality, and reductions in coral calcification due to changes in sea-water chemistry with increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. Rises in sea level will probably disrupt human communities and their cultures by making coral cays uninhabitable, whereas coral reefs will sustain minimal damage from the rise in sea level. The short-term (decades) prognosis is indeed grim, with major reductions almost certain in the extent and biodiversity of coral reefs, and severe disruptions to cultures and economies dependent on reef resources. The long-term (centuries to millennia) prognosis is more encouraging because coral reefs have remarkable resilience to severe disruption and will probably show this resilience in the future when climate changes either stabilize or reverse.

The MV Wellwood and other large vessel groundings: coral reef damage and recovery : S. R. Gittings, T. J. Bright & D. K. Hagman, in: Proceedings of the colloquium on global aspects of coral reefs, Miami, 1993, ed R.N. Ginsburg & F.G.W. Smith, (University of Miami, RSMAS), 1994, pp 174–180

The MV Wellwood and other large vessel groundings: coral reef damage and recovery : S. R. Gittings, T. J. Bright & D. K. Hagman, in: Proceedings of the colloquium on global aspects of coral reefs, Miami, 1993, ed R.N. Ginsburg & F.G.W. Smith, (University of Miami, RSMAS), 1994, pp 174–180

Damage and recovery of coral reefs affected by El Ni�o related seawater warming in the Thousand Islands, Indonesia

Extensive coral bleaching occurred during sea-water warming (as a result of the 1982/3 El Nino Southern Oscillation event) in 1983 on the shallow reefs in the Java Sea. Mean seawater temperatures rose by 2–3° C over a six month period with values greater than 33° C being recorded between 1200–1500 h. As many as 80–90% of corals died on the reef flats at the study sites, with the major casualties being branching species in the genera Acropora and Pocillopora. Five years after the event the community structure of the study sites has recovered significantly, though coral cover is still 50% of its former level. Contrasting patterns of recovery at two selected sites, in close proximity to each other, are discussed.

Hindcast hurricane characteristics on the Belize barrier reef

Hurricane Greta was the most intense of the 1978 Atlantic hurricanes, with a minimum central pressure of 947 hPa (mb) just prior to passage across the Belize barrier reef in the western Caribbean. At Carrie Bow Cay, along the Belize barrier reef, 12 km south of the point where the storm crossed the barrier, coral reef damage was moderate and island damage rather extensive. Felled palm trees indicated that the most destructive storm force came from the SW, from across the barrier reef lagoon. Hindcasting of hurricane winds at Carrie Bow indicated that the palms probably fell in response to the most intense storm winds from the SW. Hindcast, significant waves at Carrie Bow reached a maximum height of 10.0 m with a period of 12.7 s. The largest waves that reached Carrie Bow from across the lagoon were hindcast to have a significant wave height of 2.8 m, significant period of 7.0 s and were responsible for construction of a storm berm at Carrie Bow, facing the lagoon.