Journal Articles - UP - MSI
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- C30 — A simple, rapid, scientifically valid, and low-cost method for citizen-scientists to monitor coral reefsLicuanan, Wilfredo Y.; Mordeno, Princess Zyrlyn B.; Go, Marco V. (Elsevier, 2021-09)The extent and speed of recent changes in reef coral abundances due to ocean warming and human impacts require more widespread capability to map and measure these changes, especially in countries like the Philippines. We present “C30”, a simple, rapid, scientifically valid, and low-cost method for skin divers or freedivers to take random photo-quadrat images within predefined stations on the upper reef slope. C30 yields coral cover data similar to those collected using the more intensive C5 method and can be as powerful in detecting small differences in reef cover. Less time is also needed for training personnel and sampling. However, more photo-quadrat images, better cameras, and closer collaboration with local scientists are required if higher precision data and estimates of coral diversity are needed from C30. C30 is a valuable tool for participatory, community-based citizen science monitoring of coral reefs.We thank the Department of Science and TechnologyPhilippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (QMSR-MRRD-COR-0-1209 and PCAARRD-GIA 4478), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Coral Reef Visualization and Assessment, The Philippines Project for funding some of the fieldwork. The initial research on citizen-science monitoring was undertaken with funding from Oscar M. Lopez Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Foundation, Inc., The Philippines (Grant number OMLC RG 2017-18). We also thank the DLSU Innovation and Technology Office for the patent application for the C30 monopod in the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. The comments and suggestions of the reviewers are acknowledged and are very much appreciated. WY Licuanan is the holder of the Br H Alfred Shields FSC Professorial Chair in Biology and Br Cresentius Richard Duerr FSC Professorial Chair in Biochemistry.
- Through the boundaries: Environmental factors affecting reef benthic cover in marine protected areas in the PhilippinesPanga, Fleurdeliz M.; Anticamara, Jonathan A.; Quibilan, Miledel Christine C.; Atrigenio, Michael P.; Aliño, Porfirio M. (Frontiers Media SA, 2021-08-18)Philippine coral reefs have been on the decline since the 1970s, and this degradation has posed a risk to biodiversity, food security, and livelihood in the country. In an effort to arrest this degradation, marine protected areas (MPAs) were established across the country. MPAs are known to improve fish biomass, but their effect on live coral cover and other benthos is not yet well documented and understood. In this study, 28 MPAs across the Philippines were surveyed comparing benthic cover and indices between protected reefs and adjacent unprotected reefs. No consistent differences were found between reefs inside and outside MPAs through all the benthic categories and reef health indices considered that are indicative of protection effects or recovery within MPAs. However, there were notable site-specific differences in benthic cover across the study MPAs-suggesting that factors other than protection play important roles in influencing benthic cover inside and outside of MPAs. Storm frequency and proximity to rivers, as a proxy for siltation, were the strongest negative correlates to live coral cover. Also, high coastal population, a proxy for pollution, and occurrence of blast and poison fishing positively correlated with high dead coral cover. The lack of significant difference in benthic cover between reefs inside and outside MPAs suggests that protection does not necessarily guarantee immediate improvement in benthic condition. Correlations between benthic condition and storm frequency, siltation, and pollution suggest that it is necessary to augment MPAs with other management strategies that will address the multiple stressors that are usually indiscriminate of MPA boundaries. Supplementing long-term and systematic monitoring of benthic cover and biodiversity inside and outside of MPAs with data on other important environmental and human impact variables will help improve understanding of benthic cover and biodiversity dynamics inside and outside of MPA boundaries.We would like to thank RARE Philippines and USAID, in collaboration with the Marine Environment and Resources Foundation (MERF), for research funding, coordination, and support in the execution of this research. We would also like to thank the RARE Conservation Fellows and Local Government Units for logistical support and coordination on all of the MPAs studied. We would also like to thank the Fisheries team of the MSI Community Laboratory for the municipal profile data, and the MSI Physical Oceanography Laboratory for the storm frequency and relative exposure index used in the environmental correlation. We would also like to thank the rest of the MERF-RARE Team/MSI Community Ecology Laboratory who joined and supported the many months of data gathering, encoding, and data analysis.
- Survival and sexual maturity of sexually propagated Acropora verweyi corals 4 years after outplantationLigson, Charlon A.; Cabaitan, Patrick C. (Wiley, 2021-04-19)Most coral reef restoration efforts are carried out over 1–2 years, and few have assessed long-term (over 3 years) outcomes. Although studies of outplantation of sexually propagated corals have reported promising initial results, few studies have followed outplanted corals to maturity. Here, we monitored sexually propagated Acropora verweyi corals for 4 years post-outplantation to determine their survival and sexual maturity. These corals were outplanted when 4 months old in two size classes (small = 0.3–0.5 cm; large = 1.0–1.5 cm) at two sites in the northwestern Philippines. Four years after outplantation, the 240 colonies of A. verweyi exhibited 17.9% survival, with mean diameters ranging from 7.48–26.8 cm. Most of the surviving outplants were gravid (81.4% of the 43 colonies) with mean diameters of at least 11.8 cm. Higher survivorship was detected in the initial large size class outplants than in the small ones at the natal site, but not at the other site. However, 4 years after outplantation, there was no significant difference in terms of geometric mean diameter between the initial size classes or between the sites. Results show that 4-month-old outplants of sexually propagated corals can survive until sexual maturity and are already capable of contributing gametes for the potential recovery of degraded coral communities at age 4 years.The authors are grateful to Ronald de Guzman, Francis Kenith Adolfo,and Renato Adolfo for the field and hatchery assistance.This study was supported by a grant from the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology to PCC. The authors are also grateful to Prof. Peter Harrison for providing CAL a research assistantship opportunity and for additional logistical support through an Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development.
- Multiple severe storms revealed by coral boulders at Pasuquin, northwestern Luzon, PhilippinesGong, Shou-Yeh; Liu, Sze-Chieh; Siringan, Fernando P.; Gallentes, Adonis; Lin, Han-Wei; Shen, Chuan-Chou (Elsevier, 2022-11-15)Over 30 meter-sized coral boulders are scattered 45–140 m away from the edge and above high tide on a Holocene reef flat at Pasuquin, northwestern Luzon, Philippines. The boulders are overturned or tilted as indicated by the framework fossil corals in them, but have the same lithology as those along the reef edge and thus were likely broken off from there. The dimensions of boulders larger than 3 m were calculated from 3D models constructed by photogrammetry. Their volumes range from 10 to 53 m3. Assuming 2.1 g/cm3 for wet density, weights of boulders would range from 21 to 110 metric tons. Boulders of such size and weight can't be moved by normal waves, and thus must have been dislodged by extreme wave events (EWEs). Small and well-preserved corals found on the surface of seven boulders were collected for 230Th dating to reconstruct the timing of displacement. The ages of corals are 1781.6 ± 1.9, 1903.4 ± 2.7, 1945.8 ± 1.2, 1956.9 ± 1.2, 1956.75 ± 0.99, 1978.1 ± 1.5 and 2002.78 ± 0.88 CE, respectively. These ages are considered to constrain the timing of boulder displacement from the reef edge. We propose that typhoon-induced EWEs were responsible for the displacement of these boulders at Pasuquin.