Coral reefs are considered the marine equivalent of tropical rain forests. The very mention of them tends to bring to mind the corals themselves, which are tiny animals belonging to the group Cnidaria and living in colonies consisting of many individuals, each called a polyp. Or, images are evoked of fish and other marine inhabitants that rely on this diverse and beautiful ecosystem for habitat, shelter and food. Often overlooked and underappreciated is the algae, which is important to reef ecology and productivity. There are many types of algae and not all are bad, said Jack Kittinger, director of Conservation International-Hawaii. Results of surveys in healthy, fairly unimpacted islands, such as those in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, have shown reef habitats containing an abundance of algae groups in conjunction with corals. Also, some areas not only have naturally occurring algae, but appear to be dominated by it rather than the coral species. Still, algae-dominated reefs are the degraded remains of once diverse coral communities and knowing how they got that way is critical information, he added. A new study found just one-third of Hawaii’s coral reef ecosystems are dominated by healthy corals and calcareous algae. “Identifying multiple coral reef regimes and their drivers across the Hawaiian archipelago” was published Monday in the Philosophical Transaction of Royal Society — Biological Sciences. It was a collaboration between the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stanford University’s Center for Ocean Solutions, University of Hawaii, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Conservation International-Hawaii. Subscribers follow the link for the full story by WHT reporter Carolyn Lucas-Zenk.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:00:11 +0000
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