Coral reefs provide critical ecosystem services to coastal human populations who depend on them for their livelihoods, and they are also among the most threatened coastal systems.  Until recently, coral reefs worldwide demonstrated the capacity to recover from disturbances such as cyclones that cause widespread loss of live coral.  Reefs were ecologically resilient in that coral would become re-established in the years following a disturbance.  However, increasingly coral reefs have been observed to transition to a state where seaweeds, not live coral, dominate the landscape.  The causes of these state shifts have been attributed to a combination of human-induced drivers that lower the ecological resilience, with overfishing and nutrient loading hypothesized to be key drivers, as both can foster growth of seaweeds.  Although reefs in many regions are shifting to a seaweed-dominated state, some reefs appear to exhibit higher levels of local social-ecological resilience, allowing them to avoid persistent state shifts.  This is the case on the South Pacific island of Moorea, French Polynesia.  Over the past several decades the coral communities of Moorea have been subjected to repeated disturbances, including cyclones, coral bleaching, and outbreaks of predatory crown-of-thorns sea stars (COTS).  In each case, these have resulted in tremendous loss of coral but the reef has returned to coral dominance within about a decade.

The central aim of this research was to better understand the adaptive capacities of Moorea’s social ecological systems that enable the coral reefs to return to coral dominance following large-scale disturbances.  To do this, we employed an integrative social and natural science approach that addressed specific place-based questions about resilience, sustainability and adaptive capacity of coastal systems, while developing a framework that allowed us to explore more complex questions about the Moorea social ecological system, as well as provide a model for the integration of ecology and social science in other coastal systems.  Our research activities included three approaches.  First, we conducted surveys of hundreds of coastal households and fishers to gain a better understanding of fishing practices and underlying decision-making.  Surveys were conducted in three districts in Moorea that vary with respect to coastal development and amount of tourism.  Second, we performed a two-year long market analysis of fish being caught and sold on the island.  This entailed weekly roadside surveys of fish being sold and interviews with each seller to obtain information about the location where fish were caught.  This information was compared to availability of different species of fish on the reef as estimated in surveys conducted by scuba divers.  Third, we developed ecological and spatial bio-economic models that explored the interaction between environmental disturbance, fishing practices, and reef resilience.

The research project had a participatory, integrative-training component that provided hands-on experience for three graduate students.  As part of that training the students had the unique experience of working alongside and in collaboration with the PIs and were exposed to their different expertise: modeling, marine science, and anthropology.  The students also received hands-on field training as they conducted the household surveys and interviews in Moorea.  The graduate students also attended a workshop held for fishers, stakeholders and members of the public that the project team hosted during July 2015 in Moorea.

This research contributes to our understanding of the socio-cultural, economic, and environmental influences on ecological knowledge and is providing insight into the social dimensions of the ecological resilience demonstrated by Moorea’s coral reefs.  Our findings will guide local community groups on Moorea and other locations with coral reefs in developing sustainable fishing practices along with strategies for conservation and management of marine resources.  To disseminate the project’s findings as widely as possible, the Principal Investigators and graduate students have given numerous presentations at national and international conferences, scientific workshops, and public meetings, as well as produced technical publications in the scientific literature and graduate theses.

Last Modified: 12/28/2016
Modified by: Sally J Holbrook