Reefscapers Diary 2017

Monthly report updates from our Reefscapers coral biologists at Kuda Huraa and Landaa Giraavaru.

You may also be interested in our Reefscapers Diaries – and – the Coral Frame Collection to view the latest photographs of your own sponsored coral frame as part of our Reefscapers coral propagation project.

January 2017

31 new coral frames and 65 recycled frames were transplanted at Landaa Giraavaru during January. 36 of the frames were located in our new ‘Water-Villa-300’ site, and 60 frames at the ‘Parrot Reef’ site (which now totals 458 frames). We only used Pocillopora species as healthy Acropora species are still rare and live mostly beyond 12m deep.

At Kuda Huraa, 9 sponsored frames and 13 recycled frames were placed in the Channel site during January.

Coral Growth Study
To closely study coral growth, we have placed new coral micro-fragments on Perspex sheets in an aquarium, where conditions are optimal and observations can be made regularly. So far, the coral fragments are showing good health overall. Holes were drilled in the Perspex sheets and fragments were sized accordingly (so we do not use glue or fixative substances that could impact the experiment). Several species have been used on the two sheets including encrusting, massive and digitate corals.

February 2017

At Landaa Giraavaru, 31 new frames were transplanted during February, at our new ‘Water Villa 300’ site. Fragments of Pocillopora species continue to be the only type of coral that we use, as healthy Acropora species are still rare and live mostly beyond 12 metres deep.

At Kuda Huraa, 19 new coral frames were made and a further 31 frames were recycled and deployed in our Channel area. Frames continue to show good health and have not been affected by predation. Frames that were transplanted with Acropora coral fragments have been doing very well; the colonies are growing nicely and now cover the cable tie that was used to attach them to the frame. Pocillopora coral fragments are healthy but are not growing as quickly. Efforts will be made to collect more Acropora colonies from the reef off Girifushi (Military Island) as they are showing to be more successful on our frames.

The coral micro-fragments have been showing good progress, and the skeleton of some fragments have started covering the Perspex sheet. We have been using a program called Pix4D to render 3D images, to closely observe and study the patterns of growth.

Our Coral Taxonomy Project is still ongoing during 2017.

March 2017

38 new frames were transplanted at Landaa Giraavaru during March, using fragments of Pocillopora corals as large Acropora species have not been found at shallow depths. Juvenile Acropora colonies are starting to appear near our new ‘Blu Reef’ site. These colonies are budding from deceased colonies built upon the old square frames. Monitoring has begun on five of the small colonies to track growth and to observe whether bleaching occurs during the warmer months.

We have 26 frames at the House Reef site deployed since the 2016 bleaching event. Surviving Acropora colonies on deeper frames (10m) were fragmented and replaced on old frames (recycling) to expand our strategically placed ‘nursery’ with better resilience against a future bleaching event.

The overall health of the House Reef has been decreasing, with digitate coral species becoming scarce, making coral collection for our frames more difficult. Most remaining Pocillopora colonies are diseased and partly covered in algae, making our Reefscapers work more important as colonies must be collected and propagated to reduce disease mortality. Species of ‘massive corals’ are showing scars from parrot fish feeding, and suffer from crown of thorns predation.

April 2017

As the El Nino events persist around the world, we are seeing the effects on our corals in the Maldives. Elevated temperatures (up to 30 degrees Celsius) recorded on nearby reefs have caused some colonies to lose colouration. As we enter the warmest period of the year (April into May), careful monitoring has begun at each of our coral frame sites. This year is not predicted to be as catastrophic as last year’s bleaching event, however, we have already witnessed stressed corals of all sizes, with some bleaching on our coral frames and the smaller wild reef colonies. Although temperatures are not as high as those seen in 2016, we have observed bleaching in some areas, with natural Pocillopora colonies losing some colouration. Pocillopora fragments on our frames and the few surviving wild Acropora colonies have also been getting paler.

At Landaa Giraavaru, a total of 33 new coral frames were placed into the water during April, located at our ‘Blu Reef’ and ‘Water Villa 300’ sites. Once again, Pocillopora species were generally used, as they are the most predominant of the branching corals on our reef. Some Acropora were placed on frames when broken fragments were found.

To mitigate the effects of the warming ocean temperatures, we have been working to relocate some coral frames exhibiting stress. To test the resilience of our corals, frames were moved to shaded areas, deeper areas or left in place. The primary goal is to restore the reefs without needing to relocate vulnerable frames each time the ocean temperatures start to rise. We hope to find some coral genotypes that are naturally more resilient to the warmer waters.

At Kuda Huraa, 12 new coral frames were transplanted during April. We have also been busy relocating a total of 108 existing frames from shallower waters at the Channel site to cooler waters on our House Reef (at depths of 10 to 13m). The area we chose has a sandy substrate and healthy colonies of Acropora and Pocillopora nearby. 40 frames will remain in our Channel to act as a scientific control group for the experiment. Stacks of 5 frames were deployed using a lift-bag that acts as a ‘parachute’ to ensure the frames land the correct way up. We then removed the lift-bag by freediving rather than scuba diving, as this was faster and more efficient.

Further afield, we observed healthy coral cover on some wild reefs in Rasdhoo Atoll. Acropora recruits were found on reef flats at depths of just 50cm, with mature Acropora colonies at 5m. As we might expect, exposed sites on the outskirts of the atolls present the best cover of healthy corals.

May 2017

May has brought some cloudy weather and seasonal monsoon rain, cooling the ocean temperatures and allowing any temporarily paled coral colonies to recover. During the month, we transplanted 10 new frames at Kuda Huraa and 14 at Landaa Giraavaru.

Currently, Landaa Giravaaru has 3,200 coral frames deployed in its waters; 2,500 of these will no longer be monitored as they are diseased or bleached following last year’s coral bleaching event. These frames still provide an important ecosystem for a myriad of marine life, so many with surviving colonies are being ‘recycled’ by removing dead corals and replacing them with new living fragments. To keep pressure off the natural reefs, all new fragments will be harvested exclusively from our frames, and we are photographing our work to discover which species work best as donors.

We have also observed many bouldering corals recruiting naturally to a cement block, attached to a buoy (photos below). So we have started to deploy some overgrown frames in this area of the lagoon, to add additional viable surface area for the recruits to attach.

June 2017

This year, the ocean temperatures did not reach the deadly highs of 2016, however, we have seen stressed corals at each of our sites. To mitigate the effects of warmer ocean temperatures, we have been moving some frames to deeper areas at the Parrot Reef and Blu Beach sites, and to locations underneath the over-water villas. The coral fragments on these shaded frames currently have darker algae, and seem to be growing at a faster rate compared to adjacent frames exposed to partial or full sun. We will continue to monitor these frames closely.
During the month of June, we transplanted 30 new coral frames into the lagoons at Kuda Huraa and Landaa Giraavaru. We have also been busy recycling our older frames (following the recent coral bleaching events) and returning mechanically damaged frames to the local island of Fulhadhoo for refurbishment. We have also started to use a kayak for transporting frames around the shallower parts of the lagoon.

Parrot Reef Re-Mapping Project
In June, we started a large project to remap and sort our Parrot Reef site. Through 5 dives, we rearranged all 400+ frames of Parrot Reef into straight lines, and then pinpointed their locations using QGIS geographical software. In the future, deploying frames in a linear fashion will become the standard, especially at large scale, enabling clear and concise mapping.

July 2017

During July, 12 new coral frames were transplanted at Kuda Huraa and 31 at Landaa Giraavaru.

At Kuda Huraa, 32 old frames were recycled from the Starfish and Turtle sites and deployed in our Channel area; these are the frames that suffered during the recent coral bleaching event and have now been given a new lease of life. We have also transplanted new Pocillopora coral fragments onto some old frames at the Water Villa site, that had become a shelter for a variety of fish. We expect the corals to grow well here, as they are shaded by the jetty and exposed to strong currents.

At Landaa Giraavaru, we have monitored (cleaned, maintained, photographed) a total of 108 frames at the Parrot Reef and Landaa Water Villa sites. We will be designating specific areas of frames for monitoring every six months (rather than individual scattered frames), to facilitate easier and more efficient monitoring. Our coral frames at the Water Villas site were much healthier, with higher fragment growth rates and less mortality compared to the Parrot Reef frames. Frames that were found with dead fragments were recycled during the dives from nearby healthy colonies; the dead fragments were not removed to preserve the 3D complexity of the marine ecosystem.

Coral bleaching is caused when the water temperature increases beyond a certain threshold, and can result in coral mortality if this temperature threshold remains exceeded for a relatively prolonged period of time. The symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) that provide energy to the corals through the reaction of photosynthesis produce lethal levels of oxygen as the reaction speed is increased by the warm water temperatures. The quantity of light in the environment equally effects the production of oxygen, the latter increasing proportionally to the amount of light provided. Bleaching is a process during which corals expel the symbiotic algae to reduce the amount of oxygen produced.

In April this year, several colonies of Pocillopora showed signs of bleaching through lack of colour. This was alarming as 2016 was a year of widespread mass bleaching. In order to prevent bleaching on our coral frames a second year in a row, more than one hundred frames were relocated to deeper waters on our house reef, a cooler site with less light (so reduced risk of bleaching). Fortunately, the monsoon cloud and rain came early enough this year to interrupt the bleaching in the Channel area by lowering the water temperatures.

We recently partnered with The Manta Trust to participate in their educational outreach program at the local island of Kendhoo. The team created an educational presentation aimed at educating the local students on the impact the coral reef has on their daily life, as well as how they can best protect it. After the short presentation and informational handout, everyone participated in a Coral Reef ‘Jenga’, a game designed to increase awareness of the positive and negative interactions affecting reefs and the ‘collapse’ of an ecosystem. The schoolchildren thoroughly enjoyed the game and seemed to take away a lot from it.

After the fun and games, we headed to the ocean for a brief snorkel on the house reef. As seems to be the norm throughout the atoll, large bouldering corals and some Pocillopora were present; on closer inspection, recruits of Acropora, Galaxea and other less common recruits were found in high numbers. We pointed out some of the various coral species, as well as any diseased and bleached corals we encountered, encouraging the children to continue visiting their reef and look for changes in the coral cover.

To further understand the impact of water temperatures at our different sites around Kuda Huraa, temperature loggers were placed in both the Channel and House Reef. The data recorded shows the daily variations of temperature in the shallower Channel area are greater (1.9◦C variation) than at the deeper House Reef site (0.8◦C variation) as might be expected. More surprisingly, the average daily temperature of the two sites was found to be identical, explained by the low temperatures observed in the Channel overnight.

It is likely that these variations in temperature at the Channel site are what have stressed the corals, causing paling and bleaching. Furthermore, corals on the House Reef (at 12m) bleach later in the year than Channel corals (at 3m) and are therefore more likely to be “saved” by the arrival of the monsoon.

August 2017

At Kuda Huraa, a total of 12 new frames were sponsored and a further 17 frames were recycled from the old Starfish site and deployed in the Channel area.  All frames located at the Spa site are being recycled or replenished to attract fish to the area. Some frames contained natural growing coral (Montipora foliosa, Pocillopora verrucose, Porites cylindrica) and we used Pocillopora fragments to fill remaining spaces.

At Landaa Giraavaru, we made 25 new frames and we are continuing to monitor our ‘Diseased Colony Experiment’. Early results suggest that specifics of the location might be obscuring any results, due to disease or predation from Drupella.

Coral ‘P5’ in our ongoing Diseased Colony Experiment

September 2017

At Kuda Huraa, a total of 14 new frames were sponsored and a further 49 frames were recycled and deployed mostly at the Water Villa site. We observed that some shaded Pocillopora fragments were deeply coloured (high zooxanthellae concentrations) and very healthy, likely to compensate for low light and maintain the required energy input. Our dead mature frames continue to attract many fish and marine life, so we recycle the frames with the least coral growth.

Many frames at the Channel and House Reef were originally been placed on a sandy substrate to reduce the effects of Drupella snail predation, but making the lower bars vulnerable to smothering by sand. We have been moving some of these frames to rubble and rock areas to determine if Drupella predation is still an issue, and after 3 weeks, predation has still not been observed. All frames remaining on the sand are currently being lifted every 2 weeks to prevent further smothering.

New wild Acropora coral recruits have been observed at various sites, particularly on the pylons of the water villas and boardwalk, which is encouraging news.

To improve the location mapping of our frames, we have been taking high resolution drone pictures at low tide. All frames are easily visible, so we can accurately map them on QGIS.

Drupella predating on coral fragment on frame LG2794

At the Water Villas site, we have started to line the boardwalk to provide partial shade to the newly transplanted coral fragments, and also to increase visibility of our propagation project to (land-based) guests.

At Deep Blu, the deeper frames moved here in April are doing quite well (except for fragments on the bottom bar due to the sandy substrate). On the natural reef in this area we have observed large Acropora humilis, Acropora digitifera and other species growing quickly, so have decided to create a deep water coral nursery here.

At the new Seaplane site (just off the Staff Beach crest) we have located 2 new frames and 2 recycled frames, filled with Acropora nasuta and Acropora muricata harvested from Voavah. This area has a 25m temperature gauge that we visit regularly, and we observed many new bouldering recruits on the hard substrates. It will be interesting to see how these frames grow as there is a high flow of cooler water, and if the corals reach spawning maturity this could help to naturally repopulate the House Reef.

The Spa site was hit hard by the 2016 bleaching event, but we are delighted to find new coral recruits on our frames, mainly Acropora, large Pocillopora colonies and various encrusting species. Another surprise was to find the partially-shaded frame LG1540 alive and thriving, with healthy Porites cylindrica and two well-established colonies of Echinopora horrida (the only surviving frame of this species).

An exploratory trip was made to the Elephant site, which has not been monitored since the 2010 El-Nino event. There are many large bouldering corals, as well as Pocillapora damicomis and Pocillopora verrucosa. It would be interesting to monitor this area to see how the framework of dead colonies and old frames can affect recruitment. This site seems to be well-placed, as the numerous recruits seen in 2014 (A.digitifera, A.retusa, A.nasuta, A.humilis, A.gemmifera) are occurring again in 2017.

Earlier this year at Parrot Reef, we moved all the coral frames into straight lines and remapped the whole area, and this month we replaced any missing tags (on a best-guess basis due to the original poor mapping). Some frames have been affected by disease and Drupella predation, and some Pocillopora colonies were bleached on both the frames and natural reef (unexpected, as water temperatures have remained around 28C).

Various Acropora recruits found at the Spa site

October 2017

At Kuda Huraa, a total of 16 coral frames were sponsored and a further 42 frames were recycled (predominantly in the channel and house reef areas).

At the Spa site, almost all the frames have now been recycled. Pocillopora fragments will have to be closely monitored as fine sediment from surrounding seagrass beds is often seen on natural Montipora foliosa and Porites cylindrica colonies. Although these species are resilient to sediment, our new Pocillopora fragments will be very susceptible to smothering. So far, recycling efforts have been very successful, with fragments attaching and starting to grow, encouraging fish and marine life to populate the area (moray eels, pufferfish, many small and juvenile fish).

Some coral frames in the House Reef and Channel sites are sinking into the sandy substrate, so we are lifting these frames weekly to protect the coral fragments on the lowest bars. Relocating the affected frames onto harder rubble will take priority, as Drupella snails remain absent in the frames we have already moved. We have also observed some healthy fragments on the top bars have become stripped of live tissue by corallivores (coral eaters), especially hungry butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae). Interestingly, one of our coral frames has been incorporated into a damselfish ‘algae farm’, and the fiercely territorial damsels are chasing away other species of fish, including any corallivores!

Wild coral recruits

At the Water Villa site, the frames along the boardwalk are doing very well, often skipping the slight bleaching stage that occurs within the first month after fragmentation. The Acropora coral fragments have been bleaching and phosphorescing but seem able to recover well (regaining their zooxanthellae), particularly the more shaded frames. In order to test our protocol, we recycled two frames with fragments from the same donor colony. On one frame we placed all the fragments on the top of the bar in the standard manner; on the other frame we placed all the fragments on the bottom of the bar. Preliminary results suggest that frames left in the sun are healthier, and also that the shaded frames suffer from increased algal growth due to the lack of herbivorous fish. To overcome this, we will create a line of frames extending out to the natural reef, to encourage more fish to migrate to the area. Shaded/unshaded fragments seem similar in size, although the shaded corals are darker due to increased number of zooxanthellae.

Webcam Experiment
To study the physical changes that occur in corals during the bleaching process, we are attempting to replicate a video posted by Melissa Roth “Coral Bleaching Time-Lapse in White and Fluorescent Light”. Specifically, we wish to investigate the formation of a bubble within the coral, that seems cause bleaching and death. We are using a webcam with attached magnifying glass for close-up filming, and experimenting with different methods of heating the water.

Coral frames deployed at Landaa

Coral frame LG3090 (left, unshaded) and LG3089 (right, shaded)

November 2017

At Kuda Huraa, a total of 25 new coral frames were deployed, predominantly in the House Reef and Channel sites. We have been avoiding sandier areas, as recent stormy weather has increased sediment and sand movement in the lagoon. Some Crown of Thorns starfish (COTS) have been removed from the natural reef, and we are also monitoring the populations of other corallivores (coral-eating species) such as Cushion Stars and Drupella snails.

At Landaa Giraavaru, we transplanted 30 new coral frames this month.
At the VAVA site, we observed some coral disease affecting Pocillopora species on both our coral frames and the natural reef, species that appear healthy and thriving at the Water Villas site.
Our Moon ‘nursery’ was one of the best areas to grow corals, and although the site still has lots of fish, the overall coral cover on the frames is low. We spotted only a handful of new coral recruits, including some Acropora colonies.
The Kidney is a small and healthy coral patch, separated from the rest of the reef by a large sandy area; there are large Acropora colonies here, and various bouldering corals at depths of approximately 12 metres.
How were the Acropora colonies at these two sites able to survive last year’s coral bleaching event and continue to flourish? Perhaps their separation from the natural reef meant that coral predators were not able to access these colonies during the post-bleaching period. These coral refuges will help us refine our frame deployment strategies, and could prove to be an important source of fragments for our future coral propagation frames.

healthy Pocillopora corals at our Sunset Water Villas

Coral frame LG2545 at VAVA, growth on western side

December 2017

At Landaa Giraavaru, a total of 33 new frames were placed into the water during December, and a further 9 frames were recycled. We also organised an excursion with the Dive Team, and 10 guests assisted us in building the annual Christmas tree frame, which was great fun!

At Kuda Huraa, 15 new frames were sponsored during December, and a further 80 frames were ‘replenished’ with new coral fragments and relocated to less sandy substrate in the Channel area. We are reintroducing various Acropora species (rather than Pocillopora) using fragments collected from mature Acropora colonies near the reef crest on the Eastern side of the island, where we find a variety of healthy corals:
Acoropra digitifera, A. cytherea, A. muricata, A. intermedia, A. vermiculata, A. aspera, A. nasuta, A. hyacinthus, A. samoensis, A. microphthalma, A. millepora.
Other species include Heliopora coerulea, Tubastrea micrantha and some ‘massive’ corals. We are using Acropora for the middle and upper bars of the frames, and attaching Montipora digitata and Porites cylindrica (or staghorn corals) to the lowest bars, as they are more sand resistant. We also recycled last year’s Xmas tree frame with mainly Acropora species.

We observed some minor coral bleaching in the Channel area and on the natural reef this month (mainly Acropora, Pocillopora and Montipora digitata) probably caused by the shallow warm waters witnessed during the Spring low tide, which exposed some coral colonies to direct sunlight (and was followed by some heavy rainfall). Drupella snails have been found for the first time on our northern House Reef frames; affected fragments were replaced, and the frames relocated to deeper waters to try to avoid further predation.

We recently dived at the Sandbank to gather further evidence to support our newly named hypothesis the ‘Bommie Theory’, which explores why certain isolated sections of deep reef seem to have survived the 2016 coral bleaching event and remain healthy and thriving. And sure enough, we encountered some of the largest and most healthy Acropora colonies at depths of around 12m and situated some distance from the main reef. (We were happy to also find numerous healthy colonies in shallower areas attached to main reef). We plan to carry out further dives in this area, to document the surviving colonies and attempt to understand the distribution of healthy Acropora.

This seems to match what we have seen at our Kidney and Deep Blu sites, too. We think the depth of the reef offered protection against bleaching, probably due to cooler local currents and reduced solar radiation, which would have reduced the stresses on the corals during the period of elevated ocean temperatures in 2016.  The natural separation from the main reef may also have played a part during the recovering months, so we named this our ‘Bommie Theory’ (from the Australian term for an exposed section of reef). A sandy patch of ocean floor creates a natural barrier against some coral predators (corallivores), e.g.: Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS), and Drupella snails. Corallivores are known to be particularly devastating after a bleaching event, as they seek out and decimate any surviving coral colonies.

European Coral Reef Symposium, December 2017  #OceanOptimism

At the beginning of December, our coral biologist Sara attended the European Coral Reef Symposium (ECRS) 2017, held at Oxford University (UK), to give a presentation on the successful working partnership between Reefscapers and Four Seasons. The presentation was very well-received, and stirred up a lot of interest and positive feedback.

The subject of the opening plenary was ocean optimism and success stories. Unfortunately, the majority of environmental news we see in media today is quite negative, and can lead many people to feel that environmental efforts are in many ways ‘pointless’. The plenary speaker, Heather Koldewey, works with the Zoological Society of London on finding solutions and engaging people in marine conservation. When marketing on social media, one of her main messages was that good news always beats bad news, and drives positive engagement. Heather also emphasised the need to act now to help our oceans, as doing nothing until the science is perfected is far worse than starting immediately to do something. This message is certainly what we try to convey with our Marine Savers (and Reefscapers) branding and social media efforts.

Peter Mumby (from the University of Queensland) gave a popular presentation, looking at reef resilience in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The healthier reefs can act as ‘nurseries’, able to propagate and replenish damaged areas; it is estimated that just 3% of the GBR (100 reefs) could promote coral recovery for almost half the GBR. Using this kind of technique applied to Maldives could reveal which specific reefs might be most beneficial for the wider ecosystem and the country as a whole.

Hock K, Wolff NH, Ortiz JC, Condie SA, Anthony KRN, Blackwell PG, et al. (2017) Connectivity and systemic resilience of the Great Barrier Reef. PLoS Biol 15(11): e2003355.

Topics at the Symposium included:

• Citizen Scientists – can data acquired by citizens be useful in research, or is it mainly an awareness exercise? How best to communicate results, to ensure contributors feel their work creates an impact? (Eg: regularly share updated infographics on social media).
• Grace Young (check out her great website!) presented her PhD topic on 3D modelling of coral reefs (using ‘Rhino 3D’). This could useful for comparing growth on our coral frames, and as a real WOW-factor!
• Quantifying the successes and failures of marine protected areas (MPAs):
  • The success of MPAs is often incorrectly measured, so to get a true understanding of the complex issues, there needs to be ‘before’ and ‘after’ measurements taken within the MPA and also at control sites outside the protected area.
  • MPAs focused solely on the local population often fail, so multiple stakeholders are important (locals, external governments, donor influences).
  • Resort areas (in Maldives) are often seen to act as MPAs in their own right, and can have healthier house reefs away from the pressures of a local population.

You may also be interested in our Reefscapers Diaries – and – the Coral Frame Collection to view the latest photographs of your own sponsored coral frame as part of our Reefscapers coral propagation project.