Award Abstract # 2019992
RUI: Pattern and process in four decades of change on Caribbean reefs

NSF Org: OCE
Division Of Ocean Sciences
Recipient: THE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION
Initial Amendment Date: September 17, 2020
Latest Amendment Date: December 15, 2020
Award Number: 2019992
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Daniel J. Thornhill
dthornhi@nsf.gov
 (703)292-8143
OCE
 Division Of Ocean Sciences
GEO
 Directorate For Geosciences
Start Date: October 1, 2020
End Date: September 30, 2025 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $705,074.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $705,074.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2020 = $705,074.00
History of Investigator:
  • Peter Edmunds (Principal Investigator)
    peter.edmunds@csun.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: The University Corporation, Northridge
18111 NORDHOFF ST
NORTHRIDGE
CA  US  91330-0001
(818)677-1403
Sponsor Congressional District: 32
Primary Place of Performance: California State University Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge
CA  US  91330-8303
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
32
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): LAGNHMC58DF3
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Population & Community Ecology,
BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
Primary Program Source: 01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 1128, 1174, 1315, 1650, 4444, 8556, 9117, 9229, 9251
Program Element Code(s): 1128, 1650
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

The coral reef crisis refers to the high rates of death affecting tropical reef-building corals throughout the world, and the strong likelihood that coral reefs will become functionally extinct within the current century. Knowledge of these trends comes from the monitoring of coral reefs to evaluate their health over time, with the most informative projects providing high-resolution information extending over decades. Such projects describe both how reefs are changing, and answer questions addressing the causes of the changes and the form in which reefs will persist in the future. This project focuses on coral reefs in United States waters, specifically around St. John in the US Virgin Islands. These reefs are protected within the Virgin Islands National Park, and have been studied more consistently and in greater detail than most reefs anywhere in the world. Building from 33 years of research, this project extends monitoring of these habitats by another five years, and uses the emerging base of knowledge, and the biological laboratory created by the reefs of St. John, to address the causes and consequences of the bottleneck preventing baby corals from repopulating the reefs. The work is accomplished with annual expeditions, staffed by faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and teachers, coupled with analyses of samples at California State University, Northridge, and Florida State University, Tallahassee. The students and teachers assist with the research goals at the center of this project, but also engage in independent study and integrate with the rich and diverse societal context and natural history of the Caribbean. The scope of the science agenda extends to schools in California, where students are introduced to the roles played by marine animals in ecosystem health, concepts of long-term change in the biological world, and the role of science engagement in promoting positive environmental outcomes. In addition to generating a wide spectrum of project deliverables focusing on scientific discovery, the project promotes STEM careers and train globally aware scientists and educators capable of supporting the science agenda of the United States in the 21st Century.

This project leverages one of the longest time-series analyses of Caribbean coral reefs to extend the time-series from 33 to 38 years, and it tests hypotheses addressing the causes and consequences of changing coral reef community structure. The project focuses on reefs within the Virgin Islands National Park (VINP) and along the shore of St. John, US Virgin Islands, and is integrated with stakeholders working in conservation (VINP) and local academia (University of the Virgin Islands). Beginning in 1987, the project has addressed detail-oriented analyses within a small spatial area that complements the large-scale analyses conducted by the VINP. The results of these efforts create an unrivaled context within which ecologically relevant hypotheses can be tested to elucidate mechanisms driving ecological change. Building from image- and survey- based analyses, 33 years of data reveal the extent to which these reefs have transitioned to a low-abundance coral state, and the importance of the bottleneck preventing coral recruits from contributing to adult size classes. The intellectual merits of this project leverage these discoveries to address eight hypotheses: (H1) long-term changes are defining a cryptic regime change, with the low coral abundance reinforced by, (H2) enhanced community resilience, (H3) low post-settlement success, (H4) negative effects of peyssonnelid algal crusts (PAC) on juvenile corals, (H5) inability of juvenile corals to match their phenotypes to future conditions, (H6) impaired population growth caused by reduced genetic diversity, (H7) the premium placed on PAC-free halos around Diadema sea urchins for coral recruitment, and (H8) biotic homogenization occurring on a landscape-scale.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Lenz EA, Edmunds PJ "Sponge necrosis in the US Virgin Islands" Reef encounter , v.Novembe , 2021 Citation Details
Edmunds, Peter J. "Coral recruitment: patterns and processes determining the dynamics of coral populations" Biological Reviews , v.98 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12987 Citation Details
Edmunds, PJ and Perry, CT "Decadal-scale variation in coral calcification on coral-depleted Caribbean reefs" Marine Ecology Progress Series , v.713 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14345 Citation Details
Edmunds, Peter J. and Smith, Tyler B. "Spatial variation in the dynamics and synchrony of coral reef communities in the US Virgin Islands" Marine Biology , v.169 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04048-5 Citation Details
Levitan, Don R. and Best, Rachael M. and Edmunds, Peter J. "Sea urchin mass mortalities 40 y apart further threaten Caribbean coral reefs" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , v.120 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218901120 Citation Details
Edmunds, Peter J. and Clayton, Jessica "A decade of invertebrate recruitment at Santa Catalina Island, California" PeerJ , v.10 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14286 Citation Details
Edmunds, Peter J. "Persistence of a sessile benthic organism promoted by a morphological strategy combining sheets and trees" Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , v.289 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0952 Citation Details
Edmunds, Peter J. "Recruitment hotspots and bottlenecks mediate the distribution of corals on a Caribbean reef" Biology Letters , v.17 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0149 Citation Details

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