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Journal Articles - UP - MSI

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  • Partial mortality in Porites corals: Variation among Philippine reefs
    Wesseling, Ineke; Uychiaoco, Andre J.; Aliño, Porfirio M.; Vermaat, Jan E. (Wiley, 2001-01)
    Partial mortality or tissue necrosis was quantified in the massive scleractinian coral Porites at three sites in The Philippines (Bolinao, NW Luzon; Puerto Galera, Mindoro; and El Nido, N Palawan). Overall, 15 ± 1 (mean ± 1 standard error, 642 replicates) percent of colony area was dead, mean colony area was 1135 plusmn; 127 cm2, and lesion density was 1.7 ± 0.1 dm—2. Total live coral cover varied between 20 and 63% in belt transects, and Porites and Acropora cover were inversely correlated. ANOVA models incorporating effects of site, colony size, sedimentation rates, wave exposure and depth were highly significant but explained only a small proportion of the variation observed in lesion density and percent dead area (respectively 8 and 2%). Lesion density was found to vary significantly with site (contributed 29% to this explained variance), decrease with increasing colony area (33%), and increase with increasing sedimentation (23%) and wave exposure (14%). Colony size was significantly explained by the factor site (contributing 61% to the total 29% explained variance) and depth (34%), with the smallest colonies being observed in Bolinao and the largest in El Nido. Densities of lesions were highest in Bolinao, intermediate in Puerto Galera, and lowest in El Nido. This pattern is parallel to intensity of human reef exploitation and opposite to that in colony size, live coral cover and Acropora cover. Since only a small part of the observed variance in partial mortality estimators was explained by the ANOVAs, other factors not quantified here must have been more important (e.g. disease incidence, predation, human exploitation).
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    Co-occurrence of a marine heatwave and a reported tomato jellyfish (Crambione mastigophora Maas, 1903) bloom in March 2020 at El Nido, Palawan, Philippines
    Quilestino-Olario, Raven; Concolis, Brenna Mei M.; Atup, Dale Patrick D.; Cortes, Aiza; Yñiguez, Aletta T.; Edullantes, Brisneve (The Plankton Society of Japan/The Japanese Association of Benthology, 2023-05-31)
    Globally, observations on marine species during marine heatwaves (MHWs) help outline the scope of the MHW’s possible biological effects. In line with this effort, this paper presents a 2020 MHW that coincided with a reported ‘tomato jellyfish’ (Crambione mastigophora Maas, 1903) bloom on 23 March 2020 in the Corong-Corong Bay of Palawan, Philippines. Detecting a moderate MHW from 21 March to 04 April 2020, the analysis of sea surface temperatures revealed that most areas surrounding the bloom site attained their peak positive anomalies on the same day as the reported bloom. Certain physical mechanisms present in the first quarter of 2020 may have played a role in the occurrence of both events: the presence of cyclonic eddies and parallel monsoonal winds alongshore can induce upwelling which promotes biological productivity in surface waters, while the observed weakening of winds have been associated with anomalous warming of the sea surface. Further studies are still highly recommended to determine the exact causes of the jellyfish bloom and what conditions make it more likely to happen during MHWs. However, if the C. mastigophora is hypothetically able to continually bloom amidst warming temperatures, the increasing trend of MHW frequency and intensity in the West Philippine Sea (where the reported bloom site is situated) may consequently yield more future co-occurrences. This paper aims to hopefully contribute to the existing knowledge of possible biological impacts associated with extreme marine events, especially in the Philippine context where both jellyfish blooms and MHWs are understudied.
    The authors would like to express sincere gratitude to the anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped improve and clarify this manuscript. The authors would also like to thank Mr. Alimar Amor for his permission on the still photos in Figs 1c and 1d from his recorded jellyfish bloom video on 23 March 2020. This paper is also made through the funding of DOST̶ Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development under the Survey of Heatwaves in the Philippine Seas project (DOST Project No. 9615).