.

BLAGRRA BLAGRRA OptionalOptional Belt Transects Belt Transects Rapid Surveys for Ecological Emergencies

www.agrra.org

St. John, USVISt. John, USVISept. 2005Sept. 2005

© C. Rogers

BLAGRRA Belt TransectsBLAGRRA Belt Transects

For rapidly assessing population-level changes in coral species during, and

following, mass bleaching events, outbreaks of disease, or other acute

ecological perturbations.

Permission is granted to use the photographs in this presentation with the BLAGRRA Program and, with attribution, for other valid educational projects.

All other uses are strictly prohibited.All other uses are strictly prohibited.

RationaleRationaleMass bleaching events and some diseases cause discoloration of live coral tissues.

Elevated levels of coral mortality characterize ecological emergencies (severe environmental perturbations) in coral reefs.

© C. Rogers

Bleaching CategoriesBleaching Categories

BLBL

PP

PP

© P. Dustan© P. Dustan

normalnormal

© T. Turner© T. Turner

deep Montastraea

Close-up

Normal, Pale, Bleached:should be specific for the species at the particular location & habitat

shallow Montastraea

Codes: P = pale; BL = fully bleached

© C. Rogers© C. Rogers

normalnormal

Codes for Common DiseasesCodes for Common Diseases

WP = White Plague

BB = Black Band

© C. Rogers

YB = Yellow Band© R. Ginsburg © J. Miller

DS = Dark Spots

© A. Bruckner© A. Bruckner

Easily Confused with BleachingEasily Confused with Bleaching

© M. Brandt

Diseased tissues are pale or bleached. Diseased tissues are dark.

© A. Bruckner© A. Bruckner

Stephanocoenia interseptawith Dark Spots

Montastraea faveolata with Yellow Band

Close-up

New MortalityNew MortalityWhiteWhite skeletons are intact (unless live tissues have just been bitten by a fish or abraded), with no sediment, algae, or other visible cover.

Would have died within the previous seconds to 1 - 2 days.

Conspicuous during outbreaks of disease, bleaching-related mortality events, and just after hurricanes or other large-scale perturbations.

new mortalitynew mortality

© P. Dustan© P. Dustan

Diseased Mycetophyllia

Close-upClose-up

live tissueslive tissues

© G. Schmahl© G. Schmahl

© P. Dustan© P. Dustan

Close-up

New mortality:dead & white

Bleached: translucent tissueswithout visible algal pigments

Easily confused!Easily confused!

and

© R. Ginsburg

Close-up

© L. Benvenuti

© C. Rogers

Transitional MortalityTransitional MortalitySkeletons are mostly intact and covered with a thin layer of sediment, or biofilms, or tiny, multi-colored turf algae (unless they have just been bitten by a fish or abraded).

Would have died within the previous days to months.

Conspicuous afteroutbreaks of disease, bleaching-related mortality events, hurricanes or other perturbations. Turf algae on Acropora palmata

© P. Dustan

transitional transitional mortalitymortality

Close-up new mortalitynew mortality

old mortalityold mortality

Close-uplive tissueslive tissues

Old Mortality (OM)Old Mortality (OM)

Skeletons are completely covered with thick algal turfs, seaweeds or encrusting animals that aren’t easily removed (unless these organisms have just been bitten by a fish or abraded).

Would have died within the previous months to years or decades-centuries.

Accumulate overtime in long-lived corals.

Turf algal-sediment mat on Diploria strigosa© J. Lang

Post-Bleaching MortalityPost-Bleaching Mortality

Stony corals may survive a bleaching event but later succumb to disease or unknown causes.

Tissues survive bleaching,

November, 2005

Bleaching and Delayed Mortality in Montastraea faveolata

Tissues pale +abundant WP,March, 2006

Live tissues look “normal,”

February, 2005

Extensive old mortality byFebruary, 2007

© J. Miller © J. Miller © J. Miller

WP

WP

© J. Miller

Relevance to ManagersRelevance to Managers

Sites can be rapidly and repeatedly surveyed over a large spatial scale to capture the immediate + any delayed effects of a given mortality event. Results can be compared to mortality levels occurring during “routine” environmental conditions.

For example: during a severe bleaching event, mortality from bleaching is scored as new mortality.

Several months later, when this initial mortality has shifted into the transitional mortality category, any on-going, post-bleaching mortality is scored as new mortality.

What else can you see here?What else can you see here?

© L. Benvenuti© L. Benvenuti

Stressed Colpophyllia natans

.

black-band diseaseblack-band disease

old mortalityold mortality

transitional mortalitytransitional mortality

new mortalitynew mortality

bleached tissuesbleached tissues

Standing Dead (SD)Standing Dead (SD)Entire coral has died but can still be identified to species, to species complex, or to genus.

Standing dead Acropora palmata© E. Muller

transitional mortalitytransitional mortality

old old mortalitymortality

PersonnelPersonnel• 1-2 experienced divers (must know common coral species).

Field EquipmentField Equipment• Clipboard or slate with BLAGRRA Basic or Detailed Belt UW-V2 datasheet & pencils.

• 10-m long lead-core rope marked in 1-m increments, with tie-off loops at each end.

• 50-cm and/or 100-cm PVC measuring pole marked in 10-cm increments + a 15-cm or 30-cm metric ruler.

• 25 cm x 25 cm PVC quadrat around which to wrap the line.

• Dive thermometer or other temperature recording device.\

See BLAGRRA Surveys & Gear-V2.pdf for Equipment details at: www.agrra.org/BLAGRRA

SurveysSurveys• Stratify reefs by zone and habitat.

• Randomly sample sites (at least 5/habitat, total number to vary with spatial extent of the habitat) for a representative assessment of reef condition in the area affected by the perturbation, and/or

• Strategically choose any sites of special interest for survey(e.g., within and outside an MPA).

• Survey before (if possible), during, and at intervals after, the mortality event until conditions return to “normal.”

See BLAGRRA Surveys & Gear-V2.pdf for Survey details at: www.agrra.org/BLAGRRA

Method-1Method-1• Before diving: choose between basic- and

detailed-level of surveys (see Method-5 slides); take relevant datasheet.

• At dive site: try to record bottom temperature.• Haphazardly set line, avoiding other transects,reef

edges, unusual features, etc. (unless instructed otherwise); note start & end depths.

• Swim a 0.5-m wide belt transect along one side of the transect line, and examine each stony coral except Millepora alcicornis that is ≥ 4 cm in max. length and for which any part, no matter how small is located inside the belt. Include all corals that underline the transect line.

See BLAGRRA Belts UW Datasheets-V2 for UW Datasheets & Methods details at: www.agrra.org/BLAGRRA

Method-2Method-2

• Identify each coral by its CARICOMP-based code:1st letter of genus + 1st 3 letters of species

e.g., Diploria strigosa = DSTR; or 1st 4 letters of the genus if unsure of the species

e.g., Montastraea annularis complex = MONT.

Include standing dead corals if they can still be identified at least to genus and are still mostly intact.

See Coral ID-1.pps to Coral ID-4.pps for images of common AGRRA corals, and CORAL Codes-V5.4.pdf for a list of coral names and codes to take underwater at:

www.agrra.org/method/trainingid.html

© C. Rogers

© C. Rogers

© C. Rogers

Colony: has distinct margins and represents one genetic individual, even if the soft tissues naturally subdivide into separate units.

Colonies Colonies versusversus Clumps Clumps

Clump: a large group of closely crowded, conspecific corals for which colony borders cannot be distinguished by visual inspection underwater.

© R. Steneck© R. Steneck© R. Steneck © A. Bruckner

Method-3Method-3• For each ≥ 4 cm colony or solitary coral, note the

# of patches of soft tissue caused by pertubations.Ignore isolates that form naturally in some corals, e.g.,

Montastraea annularis, Porites porites, Mussa angulosa.Put 1 if no such disruptions and 0 if standing dead.If > 10, round to the nearest 5 (e.g.,15, 20…).

• Write CLUMP for any clumps, and put FRAG for any broken or detached, and easily moved, corals.

12 3

© K. Marks © P. Humann

1

Colony BordersColony BordersColony margins can be difficult to recognize when parts of a coral have died and are overgrown by other organisms–especially other corals of the same species.When uncertain, look for connections between the live tissues or basal skeleton, and for similarities in the size and colour of the separated live tissues.

Palythoa (zoanthid) is covering part of a Diploria strigosa;number of isolates = 2.

© E. Chornesky

DSTRDSTR

DSTRDSTRPalythoaPalythoa

Method-4Method-4• For each colony, solitary coral or clump (ignore

fragments), record its max. length, max. width and max. height.

maximum heightmaximum heightsomewhere heresomewhere here

maximum maximum

widthwidth

maximum maximum

lengthlength

© J. Lang© J. Lang

Try to measure to the nearest 1 cm up to 10 cm, to the nearest 5 cm up to 50 cm, and to the nearest 10 cm if > 50 cm.

Method-5-Basic LevelMethod-5-Basic LevelExamine the entire surface of every colony, solitary coral or clump (but no fragments). Note any:

• Disease–as X, or identify by disease code if so instructed by team leader.

• Bleaching–as P (pale), PB (partly bleached) or BL (all soft tissues are fully bleached).

• Mortality–as NM (new mortality), TM (transitional mortality), OM (old mortality), or SD (standing dead).

• Comments–note if coral is loose or wedged or any other relevant observations.

See Basic Belt Instructions in the BLAGRRA Basic Belts UW Datasheet-V2 at: www.agrra.org/BLAGRRA

Method-5-Detailed LevelMethod-5-Detailed Level11For every colony or solitary coral, record the percent of the entire outward-facing surface with:

• Bleaching–as % P (pale) and/or % BL (fully bleached).

• Mortality–as % NM (new mortality), % TM (transitional mortality), and/or % OM (old

mortality).Round estimates to the nearest 5%; unless very small or large, in which case try to round to the nearest whole number

(e.g., 3%, 99%).

TMTM

BLBL

© E. Weil© E. Weil

BLBL

BLBL

Method-5-Detailed LevelMethod-5-Detailed Level22For every clump, use the 50-cm or 1-m pole to point count its condition at 10-cm intervals across the maximum length as:L = live, normal coloration NM = new mortalityP = live, pale TM = transitional mortality

BL = live, fully bleached OM = old mortalityXX = another organism or substratum not part of the clump

OMOM

LL© R. Steneck

LLLL

OMOM

LLOMOM

LLXXXX

Method-5-Detailed LevelMethod-5-Detailed Level33Examine the entire surface of every colony, solitary coral or clump (but no fragments). Note presence of any:• Disease–identify any unambiguous disease by its

code; put UK (unknown) when unsure.

+ Only if not recorded already on the outer surface:• Bleaching–as P (pale) and/or BL (fully bleached). • Mortality–as NM (new mortality), TM (transitional

mortality), OM (old mortality), or SD (entire coral is standing dead).

• Comments–note if coral is loose or wedged or any other relevant observations.

See Detailed Belt Instructions in the BLAGRRA Detailed Belts UW Datasheet-V2 at: www.agrra.org/BLAGRRA

• note how many meters have been surveyed;• tally (e.g., llll lll = 8) and record the numbers of each

species remaining in the belt (as corals, clumps or fragments, and note how many meters were

tallied.

Method-6Method-6Periodically check your bottom time and air supply. After finishing the belt on one side of the transect line, survey all the ≥ 4 cm corals that are at least partially within a .5-m wide belt on the 2nd side of the line.

Be careful not to resurvey corals beneath the line that would have been recorded during the 1st belt transect.

If time or air are limited, or the number of corals is very large, and the 10 m x 1 m transect cannot be completed within one long dive:

Method-7Method-7If any other kind of benthic organism is conspicuously perturbed by bleaching, disease, or some other perturbation, note:• its name or species code;• its approximate abundance by % cover or number;• the approximate % or number affected by the

perturbation. Diseased:

© J. Bruno

Aplysina(sponge)

Gorgonia(octocoral)

© J. Garzón© J. Garzón

Part of a BLAGRRA Basic Belt UW-V2.0 Datasheet

Part of a BLAGRRA Detailed Belt UW-V2.0 Datasheet

• Every day, enter all data for each dive in a separate copy of the

BLAGRRA Basic Belt Data Entry-V2.0 spreadsheet.

• Check for accuracy.

• Store UW datasheets and data entry files in secure locations.

• Send data entry files to data@agrra.org for processing,

archiving, and possible posting online at www.agrra.org.

Part of a BLAGRRA Basic Belt Data Entry-V2.0 Spreadsheet

• Every day, enter all data for each dive in a separate copy of the

BLAGRRA Detailed Belt Data Entry-V2.0 spreadsheet.

• Check for accuracy.

• Store UW datasheets and data entry files in secure locations.

• Send data entry files to data@agrra.org for processing,

archiving, and possible posting online at www.agrra.org.

Part of a BLAGRRA Detailed Belt Data Entry-V2.0 Spreadsheet

Also recommendedAlso recommended

Tag, repeatedly observe, and photograph if possible from the same angle, some corals in habitats most affected by the perturbation, to determine local timing of the shifts from:• stress to new mortality or recovery (either initial or

permanent); • new mortality to transitional mortality (or recovery);• transitional mortality to old mortality.

© R. Goodridge

BleachedOctober 2005

© R. Goodridge© R. Goodridge

DeadJune 2006

BLBL TM TM

OMOM

OMOM

BLAGRRA Belt TransectsBLAGRRA Belt Transects

During an ecological emergency, go directly to: www.agrra.org/BLAGRRA

To rapidly assess stony coral mortality at the ecosystem-level during ecological

emergencies, see BLAGRRA Belt Transects at: www.agrra.org/BLAGRRA

For more about the AGRRA Project, see:www.agrra.org

Prepared for the AGRRA Project by: Judith C. Lang, September 2010