A framework for identifying and characterising coral reef “oases” against a backdrop of degradation

Abstract Human activities have led to widespread ecological decline; however, the severity of degradation is spatially heterogeneous due to some locations resisting, escaping, or rebounding from disturbances. We developed a framework for identifying oases within coral reef regions using long‐term monitoring data. We calculated standardised estimates of coral cover (z‐scores) to distinguish sites that deviated positively from regional means. We also used the coefficient of variation (CV) of coral cover to quantify how oases varied temporally, and to distinguish among types of oases. We estimated “coral calcification capacity” (CCC), a measure of the coral community's ability to produce calcium carbonate structures...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation

St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center's Geologic Core and Sample Database

This database contains a comprehensive inventory of geologic (coral, coral reef, limestone, and sediment) cores and samples collected, analyzed, published, and/or archived by, or in collaboration with, the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS SPCMSC). The SPCMSC Geologic Core and Sample Database includes geologic cores and samples collected beginning in the 1970s to present day, from study sites across the world. This database can be accessed through the CoreViewer 3.0 ArcOnline web mapping application, linked below. A copy of the data can also be downloaded from the web mapping application and the metadata is accessible through a link in the header of the application, as...

Categories: Collection, Data; Tags: Alabama, Atlantic Ocean, Bahamas, Belize, Biological Collection, All tags... CTD measurement, Caribbean Sea, China, Florida, Geological Collection, Georgia, Gulf of Mexico, Honduras, Louisiana, Marshall Islands, Maryland, Mexico, Mississippi, Navassa Island, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pacific Ocean, Phillippines, Puerto Rico, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, United States, Virginia, Washington, age estimation methods, atomic emission spectroscopy, augering, biota, box coring, bulk density, carbon isotope analysis, carbon-14 analysis, chemical analysis, contamination and pollution, coral, core analysis, cores, drilling and coring, environmentfaunal and floral census (microscopic), field sampling, geolocation measurement, geology, geoscientificInformation, grab sampling, grain-size analysis, information technology methods, isotopic analysis, laboratory method, luminescence dating, magnetic susceptibility, marine geology, mass spectroscopy, ndc_collection, oceans, paleomagnetic analysis, permeability, photography, piston coring, porosity, protists, push coring, radiometric dating, rock, rotary drilling, salinity, sample repositories, samples, sea surface temperature, sediment, slight stable isotope analysis, soil sciences, stratigraphy, subsampling, tomography, vibracoring, water chemistry, water quality, x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, Fewer tags

Local-scale ecosystem resilience amid global-scale ocean change: the coral reef example

Coral reefs are massive, wave resistant structures found throughout the tropics, where they have long attracted attention for their beauty, ecological importance, and rich biological diversity. However, in recent years attention to these systems has focused on their downturn in health and the potential that they effectively could disappear within a century. Yet while many coral reefs have deteriorated, a small number have flourished and now represent “oases” with the potential to drive repopulation of the denuded areas that surround them. This working group focuses on the geographic, biological, ecological, and physical features that characterize oases in coral reef communities, and evaluates the potential of...

Categories: Project; Tags: Active, All Working Groups, Climate, Coral Reef Resilience, Coral Reefs, All tags... Ecosystems, Ocean, Fewer tags