Memphis Project Annual Report:

July 2002 – July 2003

 

 

 

 

 

Submitted to:

 Broward County Department of Planning and Environmental Protection

                        218 SW First Avenue

                        Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301

 

Prepared by:

                       Richard E. Spieler, Ph.D. and

                       T. Patrick Quinn, M.S.,

                       Oceanographic Center

                       Nova Southeastern University

                       8000 North Ocean Drive

                       Davie, Florida 33004

 

 

                  Submitted by: _________________________       Date:  _________________

                                          Richard E. Spieler, Ph.D.

 


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The United States nuclear submarine MEMPHIS grounded in approximately 10 m of water on a southeastern Florida coral reef off Broward County in February 1993. This grounding caused extensive physical and biological damage to the reef substrate and to the coral community. As part of a mitigation plan, in July 2000 a three-year experimental restoration project was initiated. This is a report of the third year of that project. However, the annual reports are cumulative in text, data and analyses and therefore this report also contains information from the first two year’s work.

 

In order to gain insight into optimal methodology for restoring corals to a damage site, the project compares settlement, growth, and survival rate of corals amongst artificial reefs treated with potential attractants (iron, quarry rock, coral transplants) and no-attractant controls. Further, in order to examine appropriate structural design for restoration, the reefs are divided into four treatments of structural complexity. This allows the determination of the interactive effects of four different fish communities on coral settlement and growth. In addition, the work investigates the potential role of microbial biofilms as settlement precursors. The transplant treatments are identical replicates (same numbers of each species). This will allow the determination of species specific differential survival and growth rates of coral transplants. Finally, the four complexity treatments will yield insight into fish community restoration methodology (the hypothesis here is that multiple refuge size is required for a diverse coral reef community).

 

The experimental design consists of 160 small (1.13 m) Reef Ballsä organized into 40, 4-module reef units (quads) each in a square configuration with 3-m sides. Each quad has Reef Balls with the four attractant treatments, one Reef Ball per attractant (iron, quarry rock, coral transplants, or only concrete). Each Reef Ball has two standardized settlement plates incorporating the attractant treatment of the Reef Ball. The 40 quads are divided into four different levels of structural complexity. One set of 10 quads has the void spaces of all the Reef Balls empty. One set has the void spaces of all filled with structure offering small refuge (plastic caging). Another set of 10 has the void spaces of all filled with large refuge (concrete block). The final set of 10 quads is mixed and has one Reef Ball empty, one with large refuge, and the last two with small refuge.

 

One hundred and sixty Reef Balls, 433 settlement plates, and 1500 biofilm discs were constructed July-August 2000. The Reef Balls were deployed in November 2000. However, many Reef Balls were not deployed on designated sites and extensive delay to the research was incurred due to the time needed to adjust the positions. The final arrangement was achieved in June 2001. Settlement plates and biofilm discs were coated with concrete and attractants (iron filings, calcium carbonate sand) or concrete without attractants (controls) in July 2001 and were deployed in August 2001. Quarterly data collection was initiated in October 2001. In excess of 670 individual SCUBA dives have been made to date.

 

 

The biofilm discs were removed at 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 60 day intervals and examined microscopically for biofouling. The control discs and those incorporating the calcium carbonate did not differ in the settlement rate of bacteria or diatoms. However, the discs with iron filings had a significantly slower settling rate than both the calcium carbonate and control discs.

 

In August 2002, a study was also initiated to examine the potential for a red coralline alga (Hydrolithon boergesenii) to act as an attractant for coral settlement on restoration concrete structure. Settlement plates were formed into tent shaped modules by the addition of a concrete base and deployed at four sites, eight modules per site. One site was on a field of coral rubble with abundant H. boergesenii. A second, nearby, site on a sand field was selected as control, and cleaned of incidental algae coated rubble for a 10 m radius. The third site was adjacent to hard bottom on a rubble field with abundant H. boergesenii. Site four, the control for #3, was located on hardbottom with abundant hard corals but which lacked H. boergesenii or abundant rubble.  Our hypothesis is: if H. boergesenii provides a coral attractant, more hard coral should recruit to plates surrounded by the algae than in control areas without the presence of the algae. After 12 months no coral recruits were macroscopically visible on settlement plates.

 

Caging and concrete fill was added to the Reef Balls in May-July 2001 to acquire differential complexity. As hypothesized, after 12 months, there were already different fish assemblages associated with the differing fill. At 24 months, for total abundance of fish, the empty reef balls did not differ from those with mixed fill however both these treatments were significantly less than either small or large fill which did not differ from each other. With species richness, the empty reef balls had fewer species than those with small fill which, in turn, had fewer than either mixed or large fill treatments which did not differ from each other. An understanding of the potential interaction of these differing assemblages with coral recruitment and mortality awaits photographic analysis of the settlement plates.

 

Coral species were selected for transplantation  (Montastrea cavernosa and Meandrina meandrites) and donor colonies located. The first four transplants were drilled out of donor colonies using a hydraulic drill in March 2001.  The holes in the donor corals were filled with concrete plugs and before-and-after photographs were taken of each site.  The cores were then taken to the Reef Ball site and epoxyed into the appropriate Reef Balls. The last of the 80 transplants were completed in July 2001. After 23 months, 100% of the M. cavernosa and 27.5% of the M. meandrites transplants maintained their original tissue surface area or showed evidence of an increase in surface area.  The remaining 72.5% of the M. meandrites transplants have shown varying degrees of partial tissue mortality. The donor colonies have experienced 100% colony survival. Although there has been some growth onto the plugs, none of the core hole sites have regenerated tissue over an entire concrete plug. However, there has been little tissue die back from the plug sites and so complete regeneration remains probable. Clearly, the species-specific differences in transplant growth and mortality, noted in this study, indicate that species selection must be an important consideration in future coral reef restoration efforts.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................. 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................... 4

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 5

METHODS AND MATERIALS...................................................................... 5

Experimental Design............................................................................... 5

Reef Ball Construction and Deployment.................................................. 6

Coral Transplantation............................................................................. 7

Complexity Fill...................................................................................... 8

Coral Attractants.................................................................................... 8

Biofilm Research................................................................................... 8

Red Algae as Coral Attractant Study....................................................... 9

RESULTS................................................................................................................... 10

Coral Transplants................................................................................. 10

Biofilm................................................................................................ 12

Fish Assemblages................................................................................ 13

Settlement Plates.................................................................................. 13

Red Algae as Coral Attractant Study..................................................... 13

DISCUSSION........................................................................................................... 14

APPENDIX............................................................................................................... 15

Memphis Project Timeline.................................................................... 16

Final DGPS coordinates of the Reef Ball Quads.................................... 17

Map of Second Reef Depicting Site of Donor and Control Corals.......... 18

Memphis Restoration, 1st Quarterly Report........................................... 19

Memphis Restoration, 2nd Quarterly Report......................................... 19

Memphis Restoration, 3rd Quarterly Report.......................................... 21

Memphis Restoration, 4th Quarterly Report.......................................... 25

Memphis Restoration, 5th Quarterly Report.......................................... 30

Memphis Restoration, 6th Quarterly Report.......................................... 34

Memphis Restoration, 7th Quarterly Report.......................................... 36

Memphis Restoration, 8th Quarterly Report.......................................... 38

Memphis Restoration, 9th Quarterly Report.......................................... 41

Memphis Restoration, 10th Quarterly Report......................................... 43

Memphis Restoration, 11th Quarterly Report......................................... 44

Descriptive Statistics: Species Richness Per Treatment.......................... 46

Descriptive Statistics: Fish Abundance Per Treatment............................ 47

Analysis of the Initial Microfouling Communities................................... 48

Scientific Presentations......................................................................... 75


INTRODUCTION

The United States nuclear submarine MEMPHIS grounded in approximately 10 m of water on a southeastern Florida coral reef off Broward County in February 1993. This grounding caused extensive physical and biological damage to the reef substrate and to the coral community. As part of a mitigation plan, in July 2000 a three-year experimental restoration project was initiated. However, because of technical difficulties that delayed the initiation of data collection for almost a year, it was decided to continue the study for an additional 12 months. This is a report of the third year of the project. However, the annual reports are cumulative in text, data and analyses and therefore this report also contains information from the first two year’s work. A breakdown of the annual task accomplishment is provided in the project timeline and the quarterly reports (see Appendix).

 

In order to gain insight into optimal methodology for restoring corals to a damage site, the project compares settlement, growth, and survival rate of corals amongst artificial reefs treated with potential attractants (iron, quarry rock, transplants, and no-attractant controls). Further, in order to examine appropriate structural design for restoration, the reefs are divided into four treatments of structural complexity. This allows the determination of the interactive effects of four different fish communities on coral settlement and growth. The transplant treatments are identical replicates (same numbers of each species). This will allow the determination of species specific differential survival and growth rates of coral transplants. Finally, the four complexity treatments will yield insight into fish community restoration methodology (the hypothesis here is that multiple refuge size is required for a diverse coral reef community). In addition, two sub-studies investigate the potential role of microbial biofilms as settlement precursors and the potential of a coralline red algae (Hydrolithon boergesenii) to act as an attractant to restoration-concrete structure.

 

 

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Experimental Design

The experimental design consists of 160 small (1.13 m) Reef Ballsä organized into 40, 4-module reef units (quads) each in a square configuration with 3-m sides. Each quad has Reef Balls with the four-attractant treatments, one Reef Ball per attractant (iron, quarry rock, coral transplants, or only concrete). Each Reef Ball has two standardized settlement plates incorporating the attractant treatment of the Reef Ball. The 40 quads are divided into four different levels of structural complexity. One set of 10 quads has the void spaces of all the Reef Balls empty. One set has the void spaces of all filled with structure offering small refuge (plastic caging). Another set of 10 has the void spaces of all filled with large refuge (concrete block). The final set of 10 quads is mixed and has one Reef Ball empty, one with large refuge, and the last two with small refuge. In addition, biofilm discs were attached on Reef Balls adjacent the main study area. These discs were removed at 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 60-day intervals and examined for biofouling.

Reef Ball Construction and Deployment

 

Construction of Reef Balls began on July 31, 2000 and was completed August 18, 2000. The construction involved a total of 494 labor hours and concluded with the completion of 168 Reef Balls (suitable for deployment), 433 settlement plates and 1500 biofilm discs. The settlement plates and biofilm discs were constructed at this time to ensure the concrete mixture was the same for Reef Balls and attractant structures.  Approximately 40 additional Reef Balls were constructed that were rejected due to flaws. The Reef Balls and settlement plates were stored at Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center (NSUOC) until deployment.

 

On September 12, 2000 NSUOC personnel surveyed the deployment site to map the reef edge and search for hard bottom between the reefs.  Deployment of the Reef Balls took place on November 17, 2000. The first quad (group of four Reef Balls) was deployed at approximately 0700 hrs and the 40th quad was deployed at approximately 1420 hrs.

 

NSUOC personnel attempted to map the grid of quads from November 27, 2000 to January 4, 2001 using SCUBA divers with slates. After six dives, the Reef Balls did not appear to be in a recognizable pattern and eight quads could not be found. To obtain a more detailed map and find the missing quads, NSUOC personnel chose a day (January 6, 2001) with very good surface-to-bottom visibility and live-boated over the grid area.  DGPS coordinates were recorded each time the boat passed over a quad. The coordinates were then entered into a program written specifically for the purpose of charting the grid.  Divers then swam the grid with a laminated hard-copy of the chart and signaled the boat each time they were at a quad. The signal was to submerge the dive flag and then hold the flag directly over the quad. The boat came up to the flag, paused and the DGPS coordinate was recorded. This was accomplished on January 11-12, 2001 and the missing eight quads were found. The coordinates were reentered into the charting program to acquire an accurate map of the grid area.  It was determined that approximately 16 quads would need to be repositioned to approach the desired 30-meter separation. In addition, a number of individual Reef Balls within quads were not spaced correctly. NSUOC personnel started repositioning the Reef Balls on February 21, 2001. This involved 2-3 divers and 4-5 100 lb. lift bags for each Reef Ball.  The bags were attached to a Reef Ball, inflated and the divers maneuvered the Reef Ball to obtain the correct spacing. This work was completed on February 21, 2001; however an additional two Reef Balls were later found that required correct spacing (Figure 1). Broward County DPEP and NSUOC personnel started moving quads for the desired 30 meter separation distance on March 3, 2001 and completed the task on June 5, 2001. Approximately 29 dives were made to move 80 Reef Balls.  There were two sets of quads that still did not have the full 30-meter separation distance but it was decided to take this into account, if necessary, in statistical evaluations and proceed with the study.  Each quad is labeled with a 3x5 inch plastic laminated tag containing the quad’s specific number. The DGPS coordinates and label numbers are listed in the appendix. 

 

Text Box:  

Figure 1. Example of Reef Balls that needed to be repositioned (Quad 19). Transplant coral cores are visible in front right Reef Ball.

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Coral Transplantation

From January 26 to February 8, 2001, 89 concrete plugs were made to fill the holes in donor corals that would be formed by removing the drilled transplant coral cores. On April 5, 2001 the plugs were shortened to better fit the donor corals. The coral transplantation work began on September 12, 2000 with a dive on the second reef, near the Memphis grounding site, to assess the area for suitable species and numbers of donor corals. Montastrea cavernosa and Meandrina meandrites were selected as transplant species due to availability and colony size. The first four colonies were drilled using a Stanley Hydraulic drill on March 14, 2001.  The holes in the donor corals were filled with concrete plugs and before-and-after photographs were taken.  The cores were then taken to the Reef Ball site and epoxyed into the appropriate Reef Balls (Figure 2).              

Text Box:  

Figure 2. Meandrina meandrites core transplanted into a Reef Ball.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corals for donors and controls (non-drilled colonies) were mapped (see Appendix), tagged and photographed from April 2, 2001 through June 11, 2001.  Requirements for controls were specimens of the appropriate size for both donors and transplants. The trigger mechanism on the drill malfunctioned in April and the drill was taken in for service. Technical problems continued with the drill finally resulting in a new drill being sent to NSUOC on June 5, 2001.  Drilling of donor corals resumed on June 15, 2001 and was completed on July 6, 2001.  Coral cores were placed in the appropriate Reef Balls the day each core was drilled. The cores were photographed and secured into the Reef Balls with epoxy from June 19 to June 24, 2001. Donor corals were photographed and plugged from June 24 to July 10, 2001. Approximately 61 dives were made to setup the coral transplantation and monitoring aspects of the project.

 

Photographs, taken at quarterly intervals, are being used to determine coral growth over the course of the study. The first complete monitoring session for 2001 was June-July.  Monitoring consisted of a photographic (slide) image of each study coral.  Photographic images of the transplants, the core hole sites (in the donor corals), and the small controls are recorded using a Nikonos V camera with a 28 mm lens and close up kit.  Photographic images of the entire donor colonies and the large control colonies are recorded using a Nikonos V camera and a 20 mm lens with a 0.75 m2 PVC framer marked in 10 cm increments. The resulting slide images are scanned using a Hewlett Packard Photosmart S20 slide scanner.  SigmaScan Pro4 image analysis software (Jandel Scientific Corporation) is being used for the analysis of the slide data.  Individual slides were digitized then calibrated using a ruler, included in the image, and measured in order to determine tissue growth or retreat over time. This photographic technique has allowed growth to be measured continually using an accurate and non-invasive methodology.  This technique is one of the few monitoring methods in which the coral colony is not sacrificed and in which changes in planar growth in two dimensions can be accurately assessed.   

Complexity Fill

Plastic cage material and cinder block were used for the small fill and large fill respectively. Approximately 50 m of plastic cage material (2 cm grid) were cut into triangular shapes, rolled into cones and tie-wrapped into the Reef Balls by divers. The cinder blocks were dropped overboard at the location of each quad assigned to have large fill.  Divers then collected the block and placed them inside the Reef Balls. This work began on May 7, 2001 and was completed on July 6, 2001.

Coral Attractants

Approximately 320 settlement plates were coated with the appropriate attractants (iron granules, quarry rock, or plain concrete) and cemented onto the Reef Balls in August 2001.

Biofilm Research

Approximately 1500 biofilm discs were made during the Reef Ball’s construction of the same concrete mix. The discs were coated with the appropriate attractants (iron granules, quarry rock, or plain concrete) and stored at NSUOC.  The discs were attached in an array on extra Reef Balls deployed outside, but adjacent to, the main study area in August 2001. A preliminary technique study of biofilm attachment to the discs was accomplished in November 2001 and the results were presented at American Society Limnology and Oceanography Conference 2001 in Albuquerque, NM (Appendix). The biofilm discs were collected over a two-month period and analyzed. Data analysis was completed July 2002. A full discussion of the biofilm methods is included in an attached report (Appendix).

 

Red Algae as Coral Attractant Study

A study was initiated to examine the potential for using a red coralline alga (Hydrolithon boergesenii) to enhance recruitment to restoration structure. Settlement plates, made in July-August 2000 with the other settlement plates used on the Reef Balls, were formed into tent shaped modules by the addition of a concrete base (Fig. 3) and deployed July 18 and 19, 2002. The modules were placed offshore Broward County at four sites, eight modules per site. One site was on a field of coral rubble with abundant H. boergesenii. A second nearby site on a sand field was selected as control, and cleaned of incidental algae coated rubble for a 10 m radius. The third site was on a rubble field adjacent to hard bottom. It also had abundant H. boergesenii, although on this site the algae appeared to be predominately restricted to the underside of rubble pieces.  Site four, the control for #3, was located on the hardbottom with abundant hard corals, but which lacked H. boergesenii or abundant rubble.  Our hypothesis is: if H. boergesenii provides a coral attractant, more hard coral should recruit to plates surrounded by the algae than in control areas without the presence of the algae. The settlement plates are examined periodically for recruitment.

 

 

                          

 

                          Figure 3. Example of settlement module.

 

 

RESULTS

Coral Transplants

 
After nine months, there was a highly significant difference (p<0.01, G-test) between the two species of transplants in growth/mortality; 100% of the M. cavernosa (Fig. 4, 5) and 71% of the M. meandrites transplants maintained their original tissue surface area or showed evidence of an increase in surface area.  The remaining 29% of the M. meandrites transplants had shown varying degrees of partial tissue mortality.

Figure 4. Transplant 4, March 2001.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 6. Transplant 4 on March 2003.

 
 


After nine months, the donor colonies have experienced 100% colony survival. Although the core hole sites had not regenerated tissue over the concrete plugs, there had been little tissue die back from the plug sites, and a little growth (about 1%) in some cases. These data were presented at the International Society for Reef Studies in September (Appendix).

 

After 23 months, 100% of the M. cavernosa and 27.5% of the M. meandrites transplants maintained their original tissue surface area or showed evidence of an increase in surface area (Fig. 6).  The remaining 72.5% of the M. meandrites transplants have shown varying degrees of partial tissue mortality (Fig. 7, 8, 9); 35% have died back completely (Fig. 10) and the mortality remains ongoing (Fig.11, 12). The donor colonies continued to experience 100% colony survival. Although there has been some measurable growth (about 4%) onto some plugs, none of the core hole sites have regenerated tissue over an entire concrete plug. However, there has been little tissue die back from the plug sites and so complete regeneration remains probable.

 

 
 


Figure 9. Transplant 57, June 2003.

 

 

 

Figure 8. Transplant 57, June 2002.

 

 

Figure 7. Transplant 57, July 2001.

 

Text Box:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 10. Example of dead M. meandrites one year post transplant.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Biofilm

The biofilm study was completed in 2002. The control discs and those incorporating the calcium carbonate did not differ in the settlement rate of bacteria or diatoms. However, the discs with iron filings had a significantly slower settling rate than both the calcium carbonate and control discs (see Appendix for full report and complete results).

 

Fish Assemblages

As hypothesized there are different fish assemblages associated with the differing fill. For total abundance of fish the empty reef balls did not differ from those with mixed fill however both these treatments were significantly less than either small or large fill (p<0.05, ANOVA, SNK) which did not differ from each other (p>0.05, SNK). With species richness, the empty reef balls had fewer species than those with small fill which, in turn, had fewer than either mixed or large fill treatments (p<0.05, ANOVA, SNK) which did not differ from each other (p>0.05, SNK) (see Appendix). 

 

Settlement Plates

Several corals have recruited to and grown on the Reef Ball attached settlement plates sufficient to allow ready recognition as scleractinian corals (Fig. 13). However, additional growth is required for more specific identification and additional recruitment is required to provide adequate numbers for rigorous statistical evaluation among settlement treatments. In the coming year, we intend to photograph and analyze growth with the same methodology used with the transplanted corals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Red Algae as Coral Attractant Study

Photos were taken of the settlement plates six months after placement followed by a cursory macroscopic reexamination after one year.  No noticeable coral recruits were recorded.

 

 

DISCUSSION

The similarity of the microbial fouling of concrete and calcium carbonate coated biofilm discs is interesting. Concrete leaching affecting the results can still not be entirely discounted, as the thin layer of calcium carbonate sand may not have been sufficient to reduce any leachate from the biofilm disc. The significant decrease in the rate of fouling of the iron-coated discs is unexpected; possibly the filings were oxidizing and sloughing off too rapidly for the biofilm to be maintained.  Until additional results provide a clear indication of coral settlement preferences, or lack thereof, the results of the biofilm study are difficult to evaluate relative to their potential role in coral recruitment.

 

The difference in fish assemblages associated with the differing Reef Ball fill treatments was anticipated. An understanding of the potential interaction of these differing assemblages with coral recruitment and mortality awaits the photographic analysis of the settlement plates. Likewise, the study on the potential of H. boergesenii to attract coral to restoration structure has only been underway for a year and results of this study also await future photographic analysis of settlement plates. For both the Reef Ball and H. boergesenii studies there has been insufficient coral recruitment to date to allow for rigorous analysis. For this reason, we have extended the study duration for another 12 months. A final study report will be provided to DPEP July 2004. 

 

However, the data on coral transplant does already provide some definitive results on species-specific mortality. The cause(s) of the mortality difference of the transplants is not clear.  M. meandrites donor corals were apparently as resistant as M. cavernosa to the stress of coring. In addition, when entire colonies of  M. meandrites are transplanted either locally (Vernacchio and Gilliam, unpublished data) or elsewhere (geology.uprm.edu/Morelock/GEOLOCN_/myzfinalRPT.htm), there is a low rate of mortality.  Presumably the difference is due to differential responses to some other aspect of the coring methodology or perhaps a species-specific requirement for minimum transplant size. It has been hypothesized (Kevin Helmle, NSUOC, personal communication) that the mortality difference between the species may be due to differences in internal structure. M. cavernosa colonies consist of discrete (plocoid) monostomodaeal  polyps. In contrast M. meandrites colonies are highly integrated (meandroid) and polystomodaeal. Thus, M. cavernosa may simply lose individual polyps to a gross injury, such as coring, whereas a much larger portion of the M. meandrites colony may be affected and a small portion of the colony, such as a core, may not be able to repair itself. If this is the case, similar differences in transplant mortality might extend to other monostomodaeal (e.g., M. annularis complex) and polystomodaeal (e.g. Diploria spp.) species. Obviously, more research is needed for a causal determination. Nonetheless, the dramatic difference in survival and growth between M. cavernosa and M. meandrites transplants clearly indicates that species selection and potential species-specific responses to transplant methodology (e.g. coring) must be critical considerations in future coral reef restoration efforts.

 

 


APPENDIX

Memphis Project Timeline.................................................................... 16

Final DGPS coordinates of the Reef Ball Quads.................................... 17

Map of Second Reef Depicting Site of Donor and Control Corals.......... 18

Memphis Restoration, 1st Quarterly Report........................................... 19

Memphis Restoration, 2nd Quarterly Report......................................... 19

Memphis Restoration, 3rd Quarterly Report.......................................... 21

Memphis Restoration, 4th Quarterly Report.......................................... 25

Memphis Restoration, 5th Quarterly Report.......................................... 30

Memphis Restoration, 6th Quarterly Report.......................................... 34

Memphis Restoration, 7th Quarterly Report.......................................... 36

Memphis Restoration, 8th Quarterly Report.......................................... 38

Memphis Restoration, 9th Quarterly Report.......................................... 41

Memphis Restoration, 10th Quarterly Report......................................... 43

Memphis Restoration, 11th Quarterly Report......................................... 44

Descriptive Statistics: Species Richness Per Treatment.......................... 46

Descriptive Statistics: Fish Abundance Per Treatment............................ 47

Analysis of the Initial Microfouling Communities................................... 48

Scientific Presentations......................................................................... 75
Memphis Project Timeline

Task

Scheduled Completion

Actual Completion

Reef Ball Construction

N/A

Aug. 2000

1st Quarterly Report

Oct. 2000

Oct. 2000

Reef Ball Deployment

N/A

Nov. 2000

2nd Quarterly Report

Jan. 2001

Jan. 2001

3rd Quarterly Report

Apr. 2001

Apr. 2001

Final Reef Ball Positioning

N/A

June 2001

Coral Attachment and Assessment

N/A

June 2001

Reef Ball Complexity Fill

N/A

July 2001

4th Quarterly Report

July 2001

July. 2001

1st Yearly Report

July 2001

July 2001

Biofilm Disc Attachment

N/A

Aug. 2001

Biofilm Disc Retrieval

N/A

Sept. 2001

Coral Assessment

Sept. 2001

Sept. 2001

Fish Census

Oct. 2001

Oct. 2001

Final Plate Attachment

N/A

Oct. 2001

5th Quarterly Report

Oct. 2001

Oct. 2001

Coral Assessment

Dec. 2002

Jan. 2002

Fish Census

Jan. 2002

Jan. 2002

6th Quarterly Report

Jan. 2002

Jan. 2002

Coral Assessment

Mar. 2002

Mar. 2002

Fish Census

Apr. 2002

Apr. 2002

Biofilm Labwork Complete

Apr. 2002

April 2002

7th Quarterly Report

Apr. 2002

April 2002

Coral Assessment

June 2002

June 2002

Fish Census

July 2002

July 2002

Algal Attractant Plates Complete

July 2002

July 2002

8th Quarterly Report

July 2002

July 2002

2nd Yearly Report

July 2002

July 2002

Algal Plate Deployment

Aug. 2002

July 2002

Coral Assessment

Sept. 2002

Sept. 2002

Fish Census

Oct. 2002

Oct. 2002

9th Quarterly Report

Oct. 2002

Oct. 2002

Coral Assessment

Dec. 2002

Rescheduled 2004

Fish Census

Jan. 2003

Jan. 2003

10th Quarterly Report

Jan. 2003

Jan. 2003

Coral Assessment

Mar. 2003

March-June 2003

Fish Census

Apr. 2003

Apr. 2003

11th Quarterly Report

Apr. 2003

Apr. 2003

Coral Assessment

June 2003

Rescheduled 2004

Algal Plate Retrieval

June. 2003

Rescheduled 2004

Fish Census

July 2003

July 2003

Contract Completion Report

July 2003

July 2003

Final DGPS coordinates of the Reef Ball Quads 

Latitude      Longitude    Quad Label

 

26 03.369    80 05.798      1

26 03.342    80 05.797      2

26 03.324    80 05.798      3

26 03.305    80 05.804      4

26 03.285    80 05.804      5

26 03.261    80 05.800      6

26 03.241    80 05.804      7

26 03.226    80 05.799      8

26 03.205    80 05.798      9

26 03.190    80 05.799      10

26 03.375    80 05.770      11

26 03.360    80 05.779      12

26 03.288    80 05.744      13

26 03.273    80 05.782      14

26 03.170    80 05.801      15

26 03.177    80 05.784      16

26 03.161    80 05.777      17

26 03.142    80 05.759      18

26 03.143    80 05.778      19

26 03.161    80 05.756      20

26 03.183    80 05.760      21

26 03.202    80 05.764      22

26 03.219    80 05.748      23

26 03.226    80 05.756      24

26 03.250    80 05.754      25

26 03.267    80 05.762      26

26 03.272    80 05.744      27

26 03.286    80 05.758      28

26 03.312    80 05.758      29

26 03.326    80 05.760      30

26 03.344    80 05.767      31

26 03.357    80 05.750      32

26 03.190    80 05.777      33

26 03.207    80 05.779      34

26 03.224    80 05.780      35

26 03.242    80 05.777      36

26 03.257    80 05.782      37

26 03.291    80 05.782      38

26 03.320    80 05.780      40

26 03.307    80 05.778      39

26 03.373    80 05.749      Extra RBs (3 Reef Ball ‘quad’ w/ a broken RB)

26 03.382    80 05.746      Extra RBs

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Map of Second Reef Depicting Site of Donor (D) and Control (C) Corals

(note area of USS Memphis grounding trench and DPEP damage control pins: CP1, 2, & 3).


Memphis Restoration, 1st Quarterly Report

(19 August – 18 October 2000)

 

The first quarter was a downtime for the project awaiting deployment.

 

 

Memphis Restoration, 2nd Quarterly Report

(19 October – 19 January 2000)

 

11/14-16/00

The contractors for Reefball deployment arrived and loaded the balls on a barged moored at the Navy's dock. Pat Quinn acted as a liaison between the contractors and NSU.

 

11/15/00

A meeting was held at NSUOC at 0900 hrs with OC and Broward County personnel to discuss the logistics of the deployment scheduled for 11/17/00. In attendance were Ken Banks, Pamela Fletcher, Joe Ligas, and Lou Fisher from Broward County and Richard Spieler, Dave Gilliam, Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Brian Walker, Paul Arena, Lance Jordan, and Lance Robinson from OC.

 

11/17/00

The reef balls were deployed. The Broward County boat Monitor was used to set buoys for the barge to use as marks for setting quads (four reef balls). Above-mentioned OC personnel were on board the Panacea. NCRI's boat Researcher was used to ferry news media to the site and back. The first quad was deployed at approximately 0720 hrs and the last at approximately 1410 hrs.

 

11/27/00

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn dove on the site from R/V Researcher and started searching for the ends of the quad lines, labeling the quads and mapping the grid.  Ten quads were labeled. Lance Robinson and Dan Fahy crewed the boat.

 

11/27/00 – 12/13/00

Multiple dive cancellations were required due to weather.

 

12/14/00

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn dove the site from the R/V Researcher to continue searching for the ends, mapping and labeling. Twelve more quads were labeled. Lance Robinson and Judy Robinson crewed the boat.

 

 

 

 

12/15/00

Richard Spieler and Ken Banks decided, due to forecast weather and holiday scheduling, to postpone any redeployment until the first of the year and that OCN personnel would accomplish a full site map by early January. 

 

01/04/01

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn dove the deployment site trying to map the southern part of the "middle row". One dive was made and the rest were cancelled due to high winds and building seas. Brian Walker and Dan Fahy crewed Panacea.

 

01/06/01

Pat Quinn, Judy Robinson, and Brian Walker on Panacea surveyed the deployment site visually finding Reefballs from the surface and recording GPS coordinates.

 

01/07/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met to discuss the apparent disarray of the grid.

 

1/08/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the arrangement of the grid with other members of the lab and scheduled additional diving to confirm the grid and obtain more detailed information on placement and distances.

 

01/11/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Judy Robinson made four dives on the deployment site measuring distances, retagging quads, and marking the quads for GPS coordinates. Thirty-five quads were mapped. Brian Walker piloted Panacea.

 

01/12/01

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn dove the deployment site to continue the work from 01/11/01 and finished mapping the last 5 quads. Paul Arena and Dan Fahy crewed Panacea.

 

01/12/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met to discuss the revised map of the grid.

 

01/15/01

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn and the rest of the members of the lab met to discuss the arrangement of the quads and potential work schedule for moving the quads.

 

01/18/01

Meeting at DPEP.

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn, and Elizabeth Glynn met with Ken Banks, Pamela Fletcher, Joe Ligas, Lou Fisher, and Dave Stout to discuss the number and logistics of moving quads.

 

 

Memphis Restoration, 3rd Quarterly Report

(20 January 2001 – 27 April  2001)

 

01/24/01

Pat Quinn and Joe Ligas discussed proposed cable lengths and techniques for moving the reef balls using balls located on the NSUOC property.

 

01/25/01

Richard Spieler, Richard Dodge, Andrew Rogerson, Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn and Judy Robinson met with Dr. Aileen Morse to discuss the CCA extract and how it could be incorporated into the experimental design.

 

01/26/01

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn dove on the second reef near the Memphis grounding site and found abundant colonies of Montastrea cavernosa that should be suitable for coring and control monitoring.  Dan Fahy piloted Panacea and Rob Baron crewed.

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn started making concrete plugs for the corals that will be cored.

 

01/29/01

Richard Spieler met with his lab personnel to discuss the upcoming deployment.

 

01/30/01

Broward County personnel met at NSUOC for testing of underwater communication masks to be used during the deployment. Joe Ligas gave Pat Quinn a brief lesson.

 

01/31/01

Email communication between Richard Spieler, Ken Banks, Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn to set tentative dates to start moving the reef balls. Cables should arrive 02/05/01 and could start moving reef balls 02/06/01.

 

02/01/01

Joe Ligas, Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn discussed updated procedures for moving the reef balls.  Pat Quinn supplied coordinates and labeling scheme to Ken Banks via email.

 

02/05/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn finished making plugs for the donor corals. They also made a ‘separator bar’ for moving of the reef balls.

 

02/06/01

Ken Banks communicated with Elizabeth Glynn via email that he will schedule Thursday the 8th to start moving reef balls.

Richard Spieler and Elizabeth Glynn agreed to start coring the donor corals and this information was passed along to Pat Quinn via phone.

 

02/12/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.

 

02/14/01

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn and Ken Banks discussed, via phone, starting to move the reef balls Sunday Feb. 18 weather permitting. Also discussed was movement of the quads to ensure all of the quads, direction and distance were considered.

 

02/19/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.

 

02/21/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, and Rob Baron worked on positioning Reef Balls within quads using four 100 lb. lift bags. Five dives were made using Panacea and 7 quads were positioned.

 

2/22/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, and Rob Baron dove the 2nd reef north of Port Everglades looking for colonies of Diploria clivosa for coring. Two dives were made using Panacea.

 

02/28/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Paul Arena, Rob Baron, Brian Walker, Brian Buskirk, Dan Fahy and Fleur Harttung worked on positioning Reef Balls within quads using five 100 lb. lift bags. Three dives were made using Panacea and 8 quads were positioned.

 

03/03/01

Elizabeth Glynn and Lance Jordan assisted Ken Banks, Joe Ligas and Lou Fisher in trying out the methods discussed in the meeting of 01/18/01. Two Reef Balls were moved and the trip was terminated due to building seas.

 

03/09/01

Pat Quinn, and Elizabeth Glynn assisted Ken Banks, Joe Ligas, Pam Fletcher, and Lou Fisher in moving 2.5 quads (10 Reef Balls) to the correct locations. Two Reef Balls were moved at a time using two lift bags, two cum-a-longs, one 2x4 spreader bar and various cables. Quinn, Glynn, Banks and Ligas were divers while Fletcher and Fisher crewed the Monitor.

 

03/12/01

Richard Spieler, Richard Dodge, Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn and Dave Gilliam met at NSUOC to discuss the use of the boats, photography equipment, methods, and personal schedules in relation to the Memphis project.

 

03/14/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dr. Dave Gilliam, Susan Thornton and Brian Ettinger started drilling coral transplants from the 2nd reef (west of the Reef Ball deployment site). Glynn and Gilliam drilled, Thornton and Ettinger photographed and plugged corals and Quinn crewed Researcher with Capt. Lance Robinson. Eight cores were taken and placed in the Reef Balls to be attached later. Eight dives were made.

 

03/16/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Paul Arena, Brian Ettinger and Brian Walker epoxied the 8 coral transplants onto the Reef Balls. Two dives were made using Panacea.

 

03/19/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.  Spieler and Quinn also tried various techniques for creating small fill in the Reef Balls

 

03/23/01

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn assisted Ken Banks, Joe Ligas and Lou Fisher in moving three quads to the correct locations. Two Reef Balls were moved at a time using two lift bags, two come-a-longs, one 2x4 spreader bars and various cables. Quinn, Banks and Ligas were divers while Glynn and Fisher crewed the Monitor. Five dives were made.

 

04/01/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, and Dan Fahy assisted Ken Banks and Joe Ligas in moving three quads to the correct locations. An entire quad was moved at a time using three lift bags, four come-a-longs, three 2x4 spreader bars and various cables. Quinn, Fahy and Banks were divers while Glynn and Ligas crewed the Monitor. Three dives were made.

 

04/02/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Brian Buskirk, Fleur Harttung and Ryan Moyer dove the 2nd reef mapping donor corals for coring. Three dives were made using Panacea.

 

04/04/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Rob Baron surveyed the reef near the Memphis grounding looking for donor corals to core. One dive was made by Glynn and Baron using OSC’s vessel Lucy Forman. Fahy crewed the Lucy.

 

04/09/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab. 

 

04/10/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn and Dave Gilliam assisted Ken Banks and Joe Ligas in moving one quad to the correct location.  Site location problems prevented more quads from being moved.  Quinn, Gilliam and Ligas were divers while Banks and Glynn crewed the Monitor. Multiple dives were made.

 

04/16/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab. 

 

04/17/01

Pat Quinn, and Elizabeth Glynn assisted Ken Banks, Joe Ligas and Dave Stout in moving four quads to the correct locations. Quinn, Glynn, Banks, and Stout were divers while Ligas crewed the Monitor. Four dives were made.

 

04/23/01

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.  Spieler, Quinn and Glynn met again to discuss various techniques for attaching settlement plates and attractants to the reef balls.  Method trials will be made for plate attachment using other Reef Balls from previous projects.

 

04/25/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dave Gilliam, Dan Fahy, Jamie Vernacchio, Brian Ettinger and Rob Baron dove the 2nd reef near the Memphis grounding site mapping  and tagging corals for coring or controls. Capt. Lance Robinson and Susan Thornton crewed the Researcher. Four dives were made.

 

04/27/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn made a cone using ¾” plastic cage material to function as small fill in a Reef Ball.  Spieler authorized the purchase of cage material for 60 cones.

 

 

 

 


Memphis Restoration, 4th Quarterly Report

(01 May 2001 – 19 July 2001)

 

05/01/01

Dr. Richard Spieler authorized purchase of 220 blocks for large fill and 65 ft. of ¾” plastic cage material for small fill in the RBs.

 

Dr. Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed various types of iron product to be added to the settlement plates as an attractant. Dr. Spieler ordered two different types of iron products for testing.

 

05/04/01

Dr. Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn received the block and cage material.

 

05/07/01

Dr. Richard Spieler met with his lab personnel to coordinate the making of small fill using the cage material cut into cones. The cones were completed that week. 

Dr. Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn met to discuss the logistics of adding fill, drilling coral cores, and attaching settlement plates.

 

05/09/01

Dr. Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn and personnel from Industrial Divers discussed various mixtures of concrete that could be used to attach the settlement plates to the RBs while underwater.

 

05/11//01

Dr. Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn coated a settlement plate with cement and embedded calcium carbonate and iron. The plate was submerged in the marine environment as a methods test.

 

05/23/01

Pat Quinn and Rob Baron dove the Memphis RBs to practice attaching settlement plates and small fill. Sixteen block for large fill was dropped near a quad. One dive was made and the remainder of the work was cancelled due to thunderstorms. Paul Arena captained Panacea and Elizabeth Glynn crewed.

 

05/25/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Brian Buskirk dropped 32 blocks for large fill in 2 quads. Five dives were then made at the grounding site to map corals for donors to be drilled and controls from Panacea.

 

05/27/01

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy dove the grounding site to map donor corals from drilling. Two dives were made from the Lucy Forman.

 

05/30/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Brian Buskirk dropped 64 blocks for large fill in 4 quads. Quinn and Buskirk filled two quads with 16 blocks each. Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy then dove the grounding site to map and tag donor corals. Four dives were made from Panacea.

 

05/31/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Brian Buskirk dropped blocks near the quads for large fill. Quinn and Buskirk filled four quads with 16 blocks each and measured the distance between specific quads.

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy then dove the grounding site to map and tag donor corals.

Five dives were made from Panacea.

 

06/01/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Ken Banks, Joe Ligas and Lance Jordan moved RBs using Monitor. Quinn, Banks and Jordan made three dives moving quads 5 and 27. Ligas captained Monitor and Glynn crewed.

 

06/03/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Dave Gilliam, and Susan Thornton dove the grounding site to photograph donor and control corals. Two dives were made from Researcher. Lance Robinson captained.

 

06/04/01

Dr. Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dave Gilliam and Brian Ettinger dove the grounding site on the Lucy Forman to drill the donor corals. The drill did was not working properly and the day was aborted to troubleshoot the problem.

 

06/05/01

Pat Quinn, Ken Banks, Joe Ligas and Amy Hall moved RBs using Monitor. Quad 1 was moved and quads 5, 27 and 36 had individual balls repositioned. Four dives were made.

Elizabeth Glynn, Susan Thornton, Dave Gilliam and Brian Ettinger dove the grounding site to drill donor corals. Three dives were made from the Lucy Forman.  The drill was not working properly and the day was aborted.

A replacement drill was obtained the next day.

 

06/06/01

Pat Quinn, Paul Arena, and Rob Baron made two trips on Panacea to drop 72 blocks for large fill on 12 quads.

 

06/08/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Brian Ettinger dove the grounding site to drill corals and place the cores in RBs. Five dives were made from the Lucy Forman.

 

06/11/01

Dr. Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.

Elizabeth Glynn, Dave Gilliam, Susan Thornton and Brian Ettinger dove the grounding site to finish photographing donor corals prior to drilling. Three dives were made from Researcher. Lance Robinson captained.

 

06/12/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Brian Ettinger and Kevin Helmle dove the grounding site to drill corals and place the cores in RBs.  Four dives were made from the Lucy Forman.

 

06/13/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy dove the grounding site to drill donor corals and place the cores in RBs. Quinn and Glynn made three dives were made from the Lucy Forman and Fahy captained.

 

06/15/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dave Gilliam, Brian Ettinger and Kevin Helmle dove the grounding site to drill donor corals and place the cores in the RBs. Five dives were made from the Lucy Forman. Due to lack of air and time, 6 cores were left inside a RB of quad 23 to be moved later. This completed drilling of corals to be used as attactants.

 

06/16/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Dave Gilliam and Brian Ettinger dove quad 23 to recover the cores left from the previous day. These cores were placed in their correct quads. This completed the distribution of corals to the RBs to be used as attractants. The corals will still need to be permanently attached and photographed. Glynn and Gilliam made one dive from the Lucy Forman and Ettinger captained.

 

06/18/01

Dr. Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.

 

06/19/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Mike Hoke dove the RBs to epoxy cores into the RBs and photograph. Four dives were made from the Lucy Forman.

 

06/20/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Judy Robinson, and Ryan Moyer dove the RBs to epoxy cores into the RBs, photograph the cores and place small fill in quads 5 and 14. Four dives were made from the Lucy Forman.

 

 

 

 

 

06/21/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Amy Hall and Ryan Moyer dove the RBs. Quinn and Hall made two dives to add fill to quads 6, 8 and 36. Glynn and Moyer made two dives to epoxy cores into the RBs and take photographs.  Four dives were made from Panacea

 

06/22/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Brian Ettinger and Jamie Vernacchio dove the RBs to epoxy and photograph the cores in quads 9, 10, 15, 17, 23 and 24.  Two dives were made from Panacea and additional work was aborted due to thunderstorms.

 

06/24/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Ryan Moyer and Heather Halter dove the RBs to epoxy and photograph the remaining cores. This completed the addition of corals to the RBs as attractants.

The personnel then moved to the grounding site to epoxy plugs into the donor corals and take photographs.

A total of four dives were made from the Lucy Forman.

 

06/25/01

Dr. Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the Memphis project and projected work for the week with the other members of the lab.

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Rob Baron, Fleur Hartung, and Amy Hall dove the Memphis RBs adding small and large fill to quads. Four dives were made from Panacea and additional work was aborted due to thunderstorms.

 

06/26/01

Dr. Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn and personnel from the Rinker Materials Corp. discussed the cement mix used to make the RBs as this same mix will be used to attach the coral attractants to the settlement plates.

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, and Amy Hall dove the 2nd reef near the Memphis grounding site to epoxy plugs into the donor corals and photograph donors and controls. Two dives were made at this location.

Pat Quinn and Rob Baron dove the Memphis RBs adding small and large fill to the quads. One dive was made at this location.

Panacea was used the entire day.

 

07/02/01

Dr. Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn coated a settlement plate with a cement mixture covered with calcium carbonate. When dry, the plate was placed in the marine environment as a methods test.

 

07/06/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Paul Arena and Fleur Hartung dove the RBs to add small and large fill to the quads. This completed filling the quads for the complexity aspect. The personnel then moved to the grounding site to epoxy plugs into the donor corals and take photographs. Five dives were made from Panacea.

 

07/09/01

Pat Quinn and Judy Robinson discussed the substrate coatings to be used on the biofouling plates.  It was determined to follow the same coating methods as used on the larger settlement plates. Dr. Andrew Rogerson agreed with this procedure.

 

07/19/01

Judy Robinson and NSUOC personnel constructed the biofouling plate arrays with just concrete, concrete and quarry rock, concrete and iron, and glass slides. Seventy-two biofouling plates with the appropriate substrate types and 24 glass slides make up the four arrays.


Memphis Restoration, 5th Quarterly Report

(20 July 2001 – 11 October 2001)

 

07/29/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed personnel assignments and logistics of deploying the 320 settlement plates on the quads. It was decided to put all 320 plates in the water before attaching the plates to the Reef Balls.

 

07/30/01

Pat Quinn, Brian Walker, Judy Robinson and Lance Robinson placed 96 settlement plates on Quads 1-10, 15 and 33. The plates were stood upright on the substrate and against the Reef Balls to which they will be later cemented. J. Robinson lowered the plates to Quinn and Walker who made 2 dives.  L. Robinson captained Researcher.

After the plates were deployed, Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met at NSUOC to discuss personnel and logistics for the following day.

 

07/31/01

Pat Quinn, Brian Walker, Judy Robinson, Lance Robinson and Amy Hall placed 104 settlement plates on Quads 16-27 and Q 13. Walker and J. Robinson lowered the plates to Quinn and Hall during one dive. Plates for the 13 quads were deployed on one dive. Twenty-four plates remained on board for three more quads so it was decided to return to NSUOC and load the remaining 96 plates. At the dock, Paul Arena replaced Amy Hall.

Arena and J. Robinson lowered the plates to Quinn and Walker on two dives that completed the plate deployment.  L. Robinson captained Researcher.

Andrew Rogerson and Judy Robinson met to discuss the deployment site of biofilm discs and a collection schedule.

 

08/06/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, and Amy Hall started cementing settlement plates onto the Reef Balls. Two dives were made from the Lucy Forman.  The first dive was on Quad 1 and the second dive on Quad 12.

 

08/08/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn and Brian Walker cemented settlement plates onto Reef Balls. Two dives were made from the Lucy Forman. The first dive was on Quad 31 and the second dive on Quad 11.

 

08/09/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn and Amy Hall cemented settlement plates onto Reef Balls. Two dives were made from the Lucy Forman. The first dive was on Quad 32 and the second dive on Quad 30.

 

 

 

 

08/10/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the upcoming coral spawning and decided to have divers orient the plates in the correct position for settlement per the experimental design then, starting with the top plates, cement them onto the Reef Balls.

 

08/11/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Brian Buskirk positioned the remaining settlement plates on the Reef Balls in preparation of the upcoming spawning.  Plates were laid flat on top of the Reef Balls and placed upright against the sides. In addition, top plates near the coral transplants were cemented on Quads 7-10, 14, 15, 28, 29 and 37. Three dives were made from Panacea.

 

08/12/01

Pat Quinn, Dave Gilliam, Brian Walker and Rob Baron cemented top plates onto Reef Balls. Four dives were made from Panacea attaching plates to Quads 2-10, 28, 29 and 39.

 

08/13/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with other lab personnel to discuss actual procedures of mixing cement underwater and application of the settlement plates onto the Reef Balls.

Andrew Rogerson and Judy Robinson met to discuss methodology for preparation of biofilm discs to be used in counting. It was agreed to use previous designed methods from the preliminary study.

 

08/14/01

Pat Quinn, Robin Sherman, Dan Fahy and Amy Hall cemented top plates onto Reef Balls. Four dives were made from Panacea attaching plates to Quads 13, 15, 17, 19 and 25-27.  Paul Arena captained Panacea and Rob Baron lowered bags of cement to divers as needed.

Judy Robinson and Lance Robinson attached four arrays of 24 discs coated with different attractants to the Reefballs. One dive was made from the Researcher with Brian Ettinger as captain.

 

08/15/01

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn, Dan Fahy, Amy Hall and Brian Buskirk cemented plates onto Reef Balls. Four dives were made during which the remaining top plates were attached and work began on cementing side plates.  Paul Arena captained Panacea and Rob Baron lowered bags of cement to divers as needed.

Judy Robinson and Lance Robinson collected 12 discs from the Reef Balls. One dive was made from the Researcher with Brian Ettinger as captain.

 

08/17/01

Judy Robinson and Lance Robinson collected 12 discs from the Reef Balls. One dive was made from the Researcher with Brian Ettinger as captain.

 

 

 

08/19/01

Pat Quinn, Dave Gilliam, Dan Fahy and Brian Buskirk cemented plates onto Reef Balls. Four dives were made attaching plates to Quads 2-7, 14, 34, 35 and 37-40. Richard Spieler captained Panacea and Rob Baron lowered bags of cement to divers as needed.

 

08/20/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Amy Hall and Brian Buskirk cemented plates onto Reef Balls. Five dives were made attaching plates to Quads 8-10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 21-28, 31 and 33. Richard Spieler captained Panacea and Paul Arena lowered bags of cement to divers as needed.

 

08/24/01

Judy Robinson and Lance Robinson collected 12 discs from the Reef Balls. One dive was made from the Researcher with Brian Ettinger as captain.

 

08/28/01

Pat Quinn, Dan Fahy and Fleur Harttung surveyed the quads to ensure all plates were still attached and had been correctly placed.  Of the 320 settlement plates attached to the Reef Balls, only 2 had come loose, one each on Quads 6 and 32. Both were side plates. Two dives were made from Panacea and Elizabeth Glynn crewed.

 

08/30/01

Judy Robinson and Lance Robinson collected 12 discs from the Reef Balls. One dive was made from the Researcher with Brian Ettinger as captain.

 

09/04/01

Dave Gilliam and Lance Robinson collected 12 discs from the Reef Balls. One dive was made from the Researcher with Brian Ettinger as captain.

 

09/12/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed preliminary methodology for conducting the fish community surveys.

 

09/20/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Susan Thornton photographed donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site. One dive was made from Researcher with Brian Ettinger as captain and Dave Gilliam as crew.

 

09/25/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Fleur Harttung photographed donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site. Two dives were made from Panacea with Pat Quinn as captain.

 

09/28/01

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy photographed donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site. Two dives were made from the Lucy Forman with Pat Quinn as captain.

 

10/02/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Pat Quinn, Fleur Harttung and Brian Buskirk photographed transplant corals on the Reef Balls. Three dives were made from Panacea.

 

10/03/01

Elizabeth Glynn and Amy Hall photographed transplant corals on the Reef Balls. Two dives were made from the Lucy Forman with Pat Quinn as captain.

 

10/05/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to discuss methodology and dive schedule of the fish monitoring.

 

10/06/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed final details of methodology and personnel for the fish monitoring.

 

10/07/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Robin Sherman conducted the first fish community monitoring on the quads. Four dives were made from Panacea and data were collected from Quads11-13, 16-34.

 


Memphis Restoration, 6th Quarterly Report

(15 October 2001 – 11 January 2002)

 

10/12/01

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to review methodology and dive scheduling for the fish monitoring.

 

10/15/01

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy and Brian Buskirk finished the first fish community monitoring on the quads. Five dives were made from Panacea and data were collected from Quads1-10, 14, 15, 35-40. Additionally, photographs were taken of the coral transplants on Quads 5-8.

 

10/16/01

Pat Quinn and Rob Baron finished cementing the settlement plates onto the Reef Balls of Quads 6 and 32. One dive was made from Panacea with D. Fahy as capt. and E. Glynn as crew.

 

12/05/01

Richard Spieler, Elizabeth Glynn and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to review methodology and dive scheduling for the corol monitoring.

 

12/12/01

Elizabeth Glynn and Heather Halter photographed donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site (CP2). Two dives were made from Panacea with P. Quinn as capt. and D. Fahy as crew.

 

12/14/01

Elizabeth Glynn, Brian Buskirk and Fleur Harttung photographed coral transplants on Quads 2-10, 14-17, 19, 33-40. Two dives were made from Panacea with P. Quinn as capt.

Additionally, a thermograph was changed on Quad 36.

 

12/17/01

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy finished photographing the coral transplants on Quads 1, 11-13, 18, 20-32. Two dives were made from Panacea with P. Quinn as capt. and A. Hall as crew.

 

01/07/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to review methodology and dive scheduling for the second fish monitoring.

 

01/09/02

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn and Lance Robinson finalized the schedule for conducting the fish monitoring on the following day.

 

01/10/02

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Brian Buskirk, Amy Hall, Fleur Harttung and Rob Baron conducted the second fish community monitoring on the quads. Seven dives were made from Researcher and data were collected from Quads 1-20 and 22-40. Lance Robinson captained Researcher.

 

01/11/02

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy finished photographing the donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site. Pat Quinn and Fleur Harttung completed the second fish community monitoring and data were collected from Quad 21. Four dives were made from Panacea.

 


Memphis Restoration, 7th Quarterly Report

(11 January – April 11, 2002)

 

01/18/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed conducting a maintenance dive on the Reef Balls to reattach plates and quad labels.

 

01/22/02

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn, Dan Fahy and Rob Baron reattached settlement plates on Quads 3, 7, 16, 30, 32, 33 and 38. Three dives were made from Panacea.

 

01/25/02

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy dove the Memphis grounding site to complete control coral photographs. One dive was made from Panacea with F. Harttung as Captain.

 

02/26/02

Pat Quinn and Elizabeth Glynn changed a thermograph on Quad 36 and examined Quad 32 for loose settlement plates. One dive was made from Panacea with Fleur Harttung as Captain and Dan Fahy as crew.

 

03/11/02

Richard Spieler, Elizabeth Glynn and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to discuss scheduling for photographing the transplant, donor and control corals.

 

03/13/02

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Amy Hall and Fleur Harttung photographed transplant corals on the Reef Balls. Four dives were made from Panacea.

 

03/15/02

Elizabeth Glynn, Ryan Moyer and Brian Buskirk photographed donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site (CP2).  Two dives were made from Panacea with P. Quinn as Captain. Additional work was aborted to due injury, weather conditions and equipment problems.

 

03/16/02

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy photographed donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site (trench). Two dives were made from the R/V Lucy Forman.

 

03/26/02

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy dove the Memphis grounding site (CP2) to photograph corals and record GPS coordinates for large donor and control corals. One dive was made from Panacea with Paul Arena as Captain and Rob Baron as crew.

 

 

 

03/28-03/29/02

Judy Robinson scraped, filtered and made slides of the accumulated substance on the remaining collected biofilm plates (4).

 

03/29/02

Elizabeth Glynn and Heather Halter dove the Memphis grounding site (CP1) to finish photographing corals and record GPS coordinates. One dive was made from Panacea with F. Harttung as Captain.

 

04/01/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to review methodology and dive scheduling for the fish monitoring. Scheduled date to conduct the monitoring is 04/08/02.

 

04/02/02

Andrew Rogerson and Judy Robinson discussed the methods in which the slides will be counted.  Four slides were examined and the bacterial cells counted.

 

04/07/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn canceled the scheduled 04/08/02 monitoring due to weather. Pat Quinn contacted lab personnel and rescheduled for 04/10/02.

 

04/09/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn canceled the scheduled 04/11/02 monitoring due to weather. Next scheduled date is TBD, weather contingent.

 


Memphis Restoration, 8th Quarterly Report

(April 2002 - July 2002)

 

04/19/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to discuss scheduling and procedures for the third fish community monitoring.

 

04/22/02

Pat Quinn, Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Brian Buskirk, Rob Baron and Paul Arena conducted the third fish community monitoring on the quads. Six dives were made from the Panacea and data were collected from all 40 quads. Tags with the appropriate quad number were replaced on each quad.

 

05/02/02

Pat Quinn and Ryan Moyer dove on Quad 15 looking for coral recruits. Another dive was made on Quad 32 to reattach a settlement plate. The plate was found,  and put in place, but was not attached due to time constraints returning to the port before Fleet Week closure. Two dives total were made from the Researcher with B. Ettinger as Captain and D. Gilliam as crew.

 

06/04/02

Pat Quinn and Dan Fahy reattached settlement plates on Quads 32 and 39. One dive was made from the Panacea with F. Harttung as Captain and R. Baron as crew.

 

06/13/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed potential designs for settlement plates to be used in the Crustose Coralline Algae (CCA) study.

 

06/17/02 

Andrew Rogerson and Judy Robinson discussed the problem with cover slip detachment on some of the iron and CaCo2 slides. Judy Robinson continued bacterial counts.

 

06/18-26/02

Pat Quinn worked on several potential design structures for settlement plates to be used in the CCA study.

 

06/19/02 

Andrew Rogerson and Judy Robinson developed methodology to prevent cover slip detachment of the iron and CaCo2 slides. Judy Robinson continued bacterial counts.

 

06/20/02 

Judy Robinson completed bacterial counts on samples with no treatment. Remaining bacterial counts continue.

 

 

06/24/02 

Judy Robinson completed bacterial counts on samples on glass slides. Remaining bacterial counts continue.

 

06/27/02 

Judy Robinson completed bacterial counts on samples with CaCo2 treatment. Remaining bacterial counts continue.

 

07/1/02   

Andrew Rogerson and Judy Robinson discussed the bacterial density calculations.  Judy Robinson completed bacterial counts with iron treatment.

 

07/2/02

Andrew Rogerson and Judy Robinson discussed the analysis and write-up for final report. 

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed finalized structure for settlement plates to be used in CCA study.

 

07/03/02

Elizabeth Glynn, Pat Quinn, Dan Fahy and Ryan Moyer photographed transplant corals on Quads 1-19 and 25-40. Three dives were made from the Panacea.  The remaining dives were cancelled due to weather.

 

07/05/02

Elizabeth Glynn, Pat Quinn, photographed the tranplant corals on Quads 20-24. One dive was made from the Panacea with D. Fahy as Captain and R. Moyer as crew. The remaining dives were cancelled due to equipment failure.

 

07/05-15/02

Pat Quinn made 32 settlement plate modules to be used in the CCA study.

 

07/07/02

Elizabeth Glynn, Pat Quinn and Dan Fahy photographed donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site. Three dives were made from the Thompson. An additional dive was made by Pat Quinn and Dan Fahy to photograph a coral recuit located on Quad 15.

 

07/10/02

Elizabeth Glynn, Pat Quinn and Dan Fahy finished photographing donor and control corals at the Memphis grounding site. Three dives were made from the Thompson.

 

07/17/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed potential deployment sites for the CCA settlement plate modules and logistics for the actual deployment.

 

07/18/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn surveyed two potential study areas for deployment of the CCA modules. Eight modules were placed in the Site 1 Control area and 8 were placed in the Site 1 Study area. Two dives were made from Panacea with F. Harttung as Captain and P. Arena and D. Fahy as crew.

 

07/19/02

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn and Robin Sherman dove Site 2 Control and Study areas to place sixteen CCA modules. Spieler, Quinn, Sherman and Dan Fahy then dove Site 1 Control to remove any rubble around the CCA control modules. Two dives were made from Panacea with F. Harttung as Captain and P. Arena as crew.

 

07/21/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed the logistics for conducting the fourth fish community monitoring on the quads. 

 

07/22/02

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn, Robin Sherman, Fleur Harttung, Dan Fahy, Paul Arena, Brian Buskirk and Kristy Foster conducted the fourth fish community monitoring on the quads. Six dives were made from the Panacea and data were collected from all 40 quads.


Memphis Restoration, 9th Quarterly Report

(July 2002 - Oct 2002)

 

09/15/02

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy dove the Memphis grounding site photographing donor and control corals. Two dives were made from the Lucy Forman.

 

09/16/02

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy dove the Memphis grounding site photographing donor and control corals. One dive was made from Researcher with Lance Robinson as Captain and Dave Gilliam as crew.

 

09/17/02

Elizabeth Glynn and Dan Fahy dove the Memphis grounding site photographing donor and control corals. Two dives were made from the Lucy Forman.

 

09/20/02

Pat Quinn and Lance Robinson discussed the construction of a photographic framer to be used in coral settlement assessment.

 

09/23/02

Lance Robinson delivered the framer.

 

09/21/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn dicussed additional photography equipment needed for the coral settlement aspect of the Memphis project. Richard Spieler ordered the equipment.

 

09/28/02

Elizabeth Glynn, Dan Fahy, Paul Arena and Fleur Harttung dove the Memphis Reef Balls photographing transplant corals. Three dives were made from Panacea.

 

10/1/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to discuss scheduling and procedures for the fourth fish community monitoring.

 

10/04/02

Pat Quinn and Lance Robinson discussed modification of the framer to accept the additional photographic equipment.

 

10/07/02

Lance Robinson completed the needed modifications to the framer.

 

 

 

10/10/02

Pat Quinn cancelled the scheduled fish community monitoring due to personnel shortage and equipment failure.

 

10/15/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn scheduled the fish community monitoring to take place on 10/15/02, weather permitting.

 

10/16/02

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn cancelled the scheduled fish community monitoring due to a Small Craft Advisory.  Personnel will be scheduled daily to complete the monitoring when the advisory is cancelled.

 

10/22/02

Pat Quinn, Paul Arena, Brian Buskirk and Arlo Hemphill conducted the fourth fish community monitoring on the quads. Four dives were made from Panacea and data were collected from all 40 quads.

 


Memphis Restoration, 10th Quarterly Report

(Nov 2002 – Jan 2003)

 

12/00/03

Due to personnel changes/availability and weather, coral transplant assessments were not completed.  Photographs will be taken as soon as possible.

 

01/06/03

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to discuss scheduling and procedures for the fifth fish community monitoring.

 

01/08/03

Pat Quinn, Paul Arena, Brian Buskirk, Arlo Hemphill, and Fleur Harttung conducted the fifth fish community monitoring on the quads. Five dives were made from Panacea and data were collected from all 40 quads.

 

01/15/03

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met to discuss techniques and scheduling for photographing of coral settlement plates.

 

01/16/03

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn and Arlo Hemphill dove CCA Sites 1 and 2 to monitor the sites, place tags on the reefs and take photographs of the settlement plates. Photographs were completed on Site 1 and the Control reefs of Site 2, however, wave surge prevented photographs from being taken on the Control reefs of Site 2. Two dives were made from Panacea.

 

01/21/03

Pat Quinn, Amy Hall and Arlo Hemphill dove the Memphis Reef Balls to photograph settlement plates. Photographs were taken on Quads 2-10, 15, 17-19.  Two dives were made from Panacea with F. Harttung as Captain.

 

01/30/03

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn dove North Site to photograph CCA plates at the Control and Study areas. One dive was made at this site.

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn then made a dive on the Reef Balls to photograph settlement plates. Photographs were taken on Quads 16 and 33-36. One dive was made with Arlo Hemphill as Captain on Panacea for both dives. 

 


Memphis Restoration, 11th Quarterly Report

(Feb 2003 – Apr 2003)

 

02/04/03

Pat Quinn, Paul Arena and David Bryan dove the Memphis Reef Balls to photograph settlement plates.  Photographs were taken on Quads 1-3, 11, 12, 14, 29, 30, 31, 36, 37, 39, 40.  Two dives were made from Panacea with F. Harttung as Captain.

 

02/05/03

Pat Quinn, Brian Buskirk, and David Bryan dove the Memphis Reef Balls to photograph settlement plates. Photographs were taken on Quads 13, 20-28, 32, 38.  Three dives were made from Panacea with F. Harttung as Captain.

 

02/26/03

Pat Quinn, David Bryan and Arlo Hemphill dove the Memphis Reef Balls to photograph settlement plates. Photographs were taken on Quads 4-10, 15-19, 33-35.  Three dives were made from Panacea with P. Arena as Captain.

 

03/03/03

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to discuss the logistics of photographing the coral transplants.

 

03/05/03

Pat Quinn and David Bryan dove the Memphis Reef Balls to photograph coral transplants. Photographs were taken on Quads 1-10, 14-16, 33-39. Two dives were made from Panacea with P. Arena as Captain.

 

03/06/03

Transplant, donor, and control photographs were developed and reviewed.  Results showed problems with equipment or techniques.

 

03/07/03

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn, Dave Gilliam and Elizabeth Glynn met to discuss equipment problems experienced during the current transplant photography and techniques to correct the problems.

 

03/06/03

Pat Quinn, Fleur Harttung, and Brian Buskirk dove the Memphis Reef Balls to photograph settlement plates. Photographs were taken on Quads 11-13, 18-32. Two dives were made from Panacea with Arlo Hemphill as boat hand.

 

03/14/03

Pat Quinn, David Bryan and Paul Arena dove the Memphis Reef Balls to retake photographs on the settlement plates and transplants due to exposure and equipment problems on previous dives resulting in unusable data. Settlement plate photographs were taken on Quads 16, 18, 33-36 and transplant photographs were taken on Quads 1-10, 12, 15.  Three dives were made from Panacea with Meaghan Darcy as boat hand.

 

03/17/03

Richard Spieler, Pat Quinn, Dave Gilliam and Elizabeth Glynn met again to discuss equipment problems experienced during the transplant photography and other techniques to try and correct the problems.

 

04/14/03

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn met with lab personnel to discuss the logistics for conducting the sixth fish community monitoring.

Richard Spieler and Pat Quinn discussed coral recruitment and statistical analysis and decided an additional 12 months of research was required to adequately address the research guidelines.

 

04/17/03

Pat Quinn, Brian Buskirk, David Bryan and Jeremy Barnes conducted the sixth fish community monitoring on the quads. Four dives were made from Panacea and data were collected from all 40 quads.  P. Arena was Captain and F. Harttung was boat hand.

 

04/23/03

Pat Quinn, David Bryan and Brian Buskirk dove the Memphis Reef Balls to photograph coral transplants. Photographs were taken on Quads 1-17, 21, 23-40.  Three dives were made from the R/V Thompson.

 

04/23/03

Pat Quinn and Dave Gilliam met to review camera equipment used for the coral transplants. Equipment changes were made in an attempt to correct continuing equipment problems.

 

04/24/03

Pat Quinn, David Bryan and Elizabeth Glynn dove the Memphis grounding site to photograph donor and control corals. Photographs were taken of donor coral transplant plugs and small controls.  Three dives were made from the R/V Thompson.

 

04/25/03

Transplant, donor, and control photographs were developed and reviewed. Results show the current camera equipment problems have been resolved. Completion of the coral photographs and growth assessment will be as soon as possible.

 


Descriptive Statistics: Species Richness Per Treatment      

                                                                   

Empty                                                      Small                          

                                                                                                      

Mean                            12.71428571     Mean                            14.42857143

Standard Error            0.362383904     Standard Error            0.382630878

Median                        13                        Median                        14

Mode                           10                        Mode                           14

Standard Deviation    3.031921269     Standard Deviation    3.201319604

Sample Variance       9.192546584     Sample Variance       10.2484472

Kurtosis                       -0.247150572   Kurtosis                       -0.088612297

Skewness                   0.229801765     Skewness                   0.233415332

Range                          14                        Range                          15

Minimum                      6                          Minimum                      7

Maximum                     20                        Maximum                     22

Sum                             890                     Sum                             1010

Count                           70                        Count                           70

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Mixed                                                      Large                          

                                                                                                      

Mean                            16.01428571     Mean                            16.82857143

Standard Error            0.439033786     Standard Error            0.405434832

Median                        16                        Median                        17

Mode                           17                        Mode                           17

Standard Deviation    3.673220193     Standard Deviation    3.392111174

Sample Variance       13.49254658     Sample Variance       11.50641822

Kurtosis                       0.186350284     Kurtosis                       -0.313488844

Skewness                   -0.038801694   Skewness                   0.403894173

Range                          16                        Range                          15

Minimum                      8                          Minimum                      10

Maximum                     24                        Maximum                     25

Sum                             1121                   Sum                             1178

Count                           70                        Count                           70

 

 

Newman-Keuls test; variable log total abundance. Probabilities for Post Hoc Tests Error: Between MS = .02989, df = 252.00

 

 

Treatment

{1}

{2}

{3}

{4}

1

Empty

 

0.000010

0.312021

0.002005

2

Large

0.000010

 

0.000167

0.094946

3

Mixed

0.312021

0.000167

 

0.017216

4

Small

0.002005

0.094946

0.017216

 

Descriptive Statistics: Fish Abundance Per Treatment

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Empty                                                    Small                          

                                                                                                    

Mean                            46.88571429   Mean                            62.12857143

Standard Error            3.034483857   Standard Error            4.979125013

Median                        40                      Median                        51

Mode                           28                      Mode                           44

Standard Deviation    25.38831345   Standard Deviation    41.65834865

Sample Variance       644.5664596   Sample Variance       1735.418012

Kurtosis                       6.755817191   Kurtosis                       8.744256028

Skewness                   2.478854276   Skewness                   2.694089527

Range                          138                    Range                          227

Minimum                      16                      Minimum                      16

Maximum                     154                    Maximum                     243

Sum                             3282                  Sum                             4349

Count                           70                      Count                           70

                                                                                                    

Mixed                                                     Large                          

                                                                                                    

Mean                            52.24285714   Mean                            66.78571429

Standard Error            3.961326279   Standard Error            4.055050418

Median                        46.5                   Median                        58.5

Mode                           48                      Mode                           42

Standard Deviation    33.14283349   Standard Deviation    33.92698591

Sample Variance       1098.447412   Sample Variance       1151.040373

Kurtosis                       11.73512173   Kurtosis                       4.154559994

Skewness                   2.916658065   Skewness                   1.771172233

Range                          205                    Range                          183

Minimum                      16                      Minimum                      24

Maximum                     221                    Maximum                     207

Sum                             3657                  Sum                             4675

Count                           70                      Count                           70

 

 

 

Newman-Keuls test; variable Species Richness. Probabilities for Post Hoc

Tests Error: Between MS = 9.1321, df = 252.00

 

 

Treatment

{1}

{2}

{3}

{4}

1

Empty

 

0.000008

0.000022

0.000796

2

Large

0.000008

 

0.110918

0.000029

3

Mixed

0.000022

0.110918

 

0.001911

4

Small

0.000796

0.000029

0.001911

 


 

 

Analysis of the Initial Microfouling Communities

of a Nearshore Artificial Reef in Broward County, Florida

 

Judy Robinson and Andrew Rogerson

 

The majority of artificial reef studies have focused on the interaction between fish density and artificial physiography. Although colonization of artificial reef structures has been studied to varying degrees (Gascon and Miller 1981; Bonsack and Sutherland 1985; Haughton and Aiken 1989), relatively few studies have quantitatively described the development of  “attached” microbial or algal assemblages on artificial reef structures, i.e. Reef Balls™.

            Development of microbial and algal films is important because they directly occupy the substratum and provide secondary biotic space in the form of “lower story” habitats (Dayton 1971). The physical nature of the substratum has been shown to be an influence on substrate selection by marine organisms in the laboratory (Crisp and Ryland 1960; Leitz and Wagner 1993) and in the field (Harriot and Fisk 1987; Todd and Keough 1994; Stoner 1994). The micro-scale features of substrate surfaces can differ in surface tension, hydrophobicity, and surface texture (Mihm and Banta 1981). Moreover, the nature to the microbial films could make an unattractive substratum attractive. These films may act as a physical presence between settled larvae and the immersed surface possibly enhancing adhesion. Crisp et al. (1985) reported that cypris larvae might not permanently attach to a surface in which their adhesive does not bind strongly, suggesting that extracellular material from bacterial films may mediate greater adhesion. 

Additionally, chemosensory recognition of microbial films (Kirchman et al. 1982)

 and of some algal species (Morse et al. 1994), are thought to play a role in inducing settlement and metamorphosis of a wide variety of marine invertebrate larvae, at least in the early stages of substratum colonization or succession. Zobell and Allen (1935) first documented the importance of microbial biofilms in the development of marine invertebrate communities. Since their early work, a variety of marine organisms have been reported to display varying responses to filmed and unfilmed surfaces. Brancato & Wollacott (1982) observed that three species of bryozoans selected “filmed” in preference to “non-filmed” substrata when given a choice. Moreover, when not offered a choice, Bugula simplex and Bugula turrita preferred not to settle on a non-filmed surface, whereas Buglua stolonifera settled on filmed as well as non-filmed surfaces. However, it is worth noting that available data concerning the necessity of primary organic and micro-floral films for triggering larval settlement are highly variable. Crisp and Ryland (1960) showed that biofilms were not an essential prerequisite for larval settlement, while Kirchman et al. (1982) demonstrated that a spirobin polychaete settled in response to multi-species microbial films. Maki et al. (1988, 1992) noted age-related effects both for larva and bacterial-organic films. However, these experimental designs did not permit the assessment of the respective contribution of initial substratum surface chemistry and the influence of previously settled conspecifics on subsequent settlement.

Considerable emphasis has been placed on the importance of supply and settlement of marine larvae in relation to patterns of distribution and abundance of juveniles and adults (Underwood and Fairweather 1989; Gleason 1996; Smith 1997). The events, factors, and processes affecting larval settlement are evidently pivotal to the further development of a given assemblage. An understanding of settlement is, therefore, an essential pre-requisite to an appreciation of the overall population and assemblage dynamics. The nature of the mechanisms inducing or inhibiting settlement is of much interest, yet there are insufficient field data for a wide range of taxa. Given the biological significance of these micro-scale communities to overall reef productivity, we examined the first steps of fouling by microbial and algal biota during the initial immersion of Reef Ball substrates.

Methods

Study Area:

Biofilm Study Site

260 03.382 N

800 05.746 W

 

Memphis Project

       Study Site

 
The study site is located in Broward County 0.5km offshore of the Hollywood Beach area. This location is situated at the grounding site of the USS MEMPHIS nuclear submarine that ran aground in

30 ft of water on a coral reef off

   One

Reef Ball                   Quad

 
southeast Florida. Biofilm plate

arrays were deployed on four

Reef Balls (Quad) in the north-

east corner of the Memphis

project site (figure1).

 

              Figure 1. Map of study site.

 
Experimental Design, Collection and Preparation of Samples

            The design of the experiment involved four biofilm plate treatments (concrete only, concrete with CaCo3 surface coating, iron powder surface coating, and glass slides) placed in three arrays, each consisting of 24 biofilm plates (figure 2a, one treatment per array) and one array of 24 glass slides (figure 2b). One treatment array was attached to a Reef Ball within the Reef Ball quad. Three biofilm plates were collected from each treatment array at a given time interval (24h, 3 d, 7 d, 14 d, 21 d and 60 d).

            Biofilm plates were 15 mm in diameter and constructed of the same concrete as the Reef Balls (figure 2c). Plates were soaked in distilled water for 2 weeks prior to deployment.

For examination of the biofilm, 3.53 cm2 of the plate

surface and 9.37 cm2 of the glass slide surface were scraped to

remove

  a. Biofilm Plate Array

 
and mixed with 2 mm filtered seawater. The microbiota

were fixed in 2% glutaraldehyde and then stained with the

DNA specific flourochrome DAPI. Bacteria, algae, and other

flora and fauna were enumerated by epifluorescence

microscopy

    b. Glass Slide Array

 
using UV illumination. In all cases, 50 random

fields of view were counted per samples.

Statistical Analysis

Analysis of bacteria and diatom treatments was

    Figure 2. Biofilm plate     

                    design.

 

    c. Biofilm Plates

 
performed by one-way ANOVA with the four treatments

(3 replicates) selected from the full design. For growth rates

based on cell count data, treatment effect was judged present

if the F-statistic showed significance at α £ 0.05. If significant, then Tukey’s HSD determined which treatments differed (α < 0.05). Scatter plot and regression were fitted to pooled bacterial data summed across replicates within three substrate treatments. Nonparametric procedures (c2 approximation of Kruskal-Wallis P£ 0.05) were employed in lieu of parametric ANOVA when population variances were heterogeneous. Data analysis and graphing was completed using SPSS 11.0 â software.

 

Results

Bacteria and diatoms were usually the most abundant organisms found on the biofilm plates. Significantly greater coverage of bacteria, diatoms and other associated flora and fauna was seen on plates that did not contain the iron surface treatment.

No significant differences in bacterial densities were found between treatments in most sampling intervals except for iron (figures 3-8, Tukey’s HSD α = <0.05). Highest rates of settlement were on concrete and CaCo3 substrates at 14 and 21 days (figures 5 and 6, Tukey’s HSD α < 0.05). Bacterial densities increased through time in three treatments, concrete, CaCo3, and glass slides, with pooled mean densities reaching > 800,000 cells cm-2 and remaining somewhat stationary after 14 days (figures 9 and 10). However, bacterial densities in iron treatments did not follow the same pattern as the other treatments and bacterial colonizers remained low compared to the other substrates (means £ 16,600 cells cm-2, figures 1-8, and 11).  Settlement was poorest on iron coated concrete in all trials.

Diatom populations fluctuated (figures 12-17) throughout the study with peak density at >80,000 cells cm-2 found on the concrete substrate at 21 days (figure 16). Yet, no significant difference existed between substrate types at 60 days except for iron. At day 60, mean densities had dropped to < 40,000 cells cm-2 (figure 17) in three treatments; no diatoms were reported in any iron treatments. Other autotrophic organisms also varied in numbers (figures 18-23) but day 60 showed no difference between substrate types (figure 23, c2 α =.102).

Early secondary micro-colonizers were mainly composed of known (i.e. nematodes and flagellates) and unidentified heterotrophs. The density of these consumers differed significantly between treatments over time (c2, α = .000, .050, .011, and .012) with treatments of concrete, CaCo3, and glass slides exhibiting the greatest densities (figures 24-29), ranging from < 4000 cells cm-2 at 24 hours to >14,000 cm-2 at 60 days. The number of heterotrophic fauna remained very low on the iron substrate (figures 24-29) and after three days none were found (figures 26-29). Copepods, small molluscs, and small polychaetes comprised the remaining group of fauna associated with the majority of the biofilm plates.

 

Discussion

Microbial and algal films have been indicated as probable settlement inducers of marine benthic invertebrates, in addition, to providing secondary biotic space and shelter. Marine larvae are capable of responding to a variety of physico-chemical cues, some which may originate from organic films, during substratum exploration (Johnson et al. 1991; Anderson 1996; Johnson and Sutton 1994 and Raimondi and Morse 2000). Larvae may respond to biofilms because they may reflect the physical regime that has acted on that surface over time (Wiecsorek and Todd 1998), relaying information about surface suitability for larval settlement and post-settlement survival. Therefore, the period of immersion and subsequent biofilm formation may be of paramount importance when assessing the colonization of secondary fauna on these artificial reef structures.

            Results for three of the four treatments were not dramatically influenced by substrate type and bacterial numbers were similar. The single discrepancy in results was at day 60 where one replicate had an exceedingly high count of 2,410,847 cells cm-2. This suggests that even when organic films are developed over the same period under the same conditions, film formation can be patchy and cause important differences in colonization.  Previous preliminary results (Robinson and Rogerson 2001) also demonstrated that bacteria and diatoms colonized surfaces of Reef Ball concrete and the count per unit appeared to increase with time (densities ranging between > 50,000 cells cm-2 to < 120,000 cm-2 and > 2500 cm-2 at 28 days, respectively). The number of bacterial colonizers were comparable to film formation on three of the four substrates in this study.

Colonization was uniformly low in all trails with iron surface coating. We hypothesize that initial substrate conditions may not have been attractive to microbial or micro- colonizers, in part, due to the potential interaction with the harsh environment, which may have effected biofilm formation and attachment preferences. Because iron concentrations on the substrate surface were extremely high and choice of this substrate for settlement was low, detailed interpretation of these results should be regarded with caution.

Microbial and algal films, which are ubiquitous in the marine environment, are probably not substratum specific, although some selectivity in extreme environments is likely (i.e. heavy metals, Basalobre 1993). Substrate type may be much less important in controlling the distribution and abundance of microbial colonizers than factors or events occurring after settlement, such as predation, disease, or migration. Our results revealed that, with the exception of iron coated concrete substrate, the development of the microbial film on the concrete substrates (concrete alone, concrete with CaCo3) proceeded at a rate comparable to the control material (glass). The precise role of biofilms in larval settlement remains unknown, but it is encouraging that the material used in the Reef Ball structures does not noticeably affect film formation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F= [3,8] =6.712*

a = .014

 

    a

 

   b

 

 ab

 

 a

 

        Figure 3.

 

F= [3,8] =12.69*

a = .084

F=12.169*

 

ab

 

b

 

   a

 

  a

 

         Figure 4.

Figures 3 and 4. Settlement responses of bacteria on the four substrates.

 *Significant at P≤ 0.05, ANOVA. Lower case letters identify treatments not significantly different (Tukey’s HSD P<0.05). Error bars show mean +/- 2.0 SE.

F= [3,8] =17.083*

a =.001

F=17.083*

 

b

 

   b

 

  a

 

 a

 

        Figure 5.   

F= [3,8] =16.270*

a =.099   a

 

           a

 

  bc

 

  bc

 

  ac

 

      Figure 6.

Figures 5 and 6. Settlement responses of bacteria on the four substrates.

*Significant at P≤ 0.05, ANOVA. Lower case letters identify treatments not significantly different (Tukey’s HSD P<0.05). Error bars show mean +/- 2.0 SE.

F= [3,8]=13.524*

a =.002

=13.524*

 

   a

 

   b

 

  a

 

 a

 

        Figure 7.

F= [3,7]=30.281*

a =.067

 

 

  b

 

   a

 

  a

 

 a

 

         Figure 8.  -- Figures 7 and 8. Settlement responses of bacteria on the four substrates.

*Significant at P≤ 0.05, ANOVA. Lower case letters identify treatments not significantly different (Tukey’s HSD P<0.05). Error bars show mean +/- 2.0 SE. Replicate #3 at day 60 was excluded from the analysis.

Figure 9. Mean densities of pooled bacterial counts over time: treatments concrete, CaCo3, and glass slide. Error bars show mean +/- 2.0 SE.

      1  3     7          14         21                                                                60 

                                                    Time (days)   

 Figure 10. Relationship of pooled bacterial densities on concrete, CaCo3, and glass slides treatments from initial deployment to day 60 (n=36).

 

 

r2 = .4276

 
 

 

 

 1   3     7         14        21                                                                   60

                                            

                                                  Time (days)

 

 

r2 = .0007

 

 

 

Figure 11. Relationship of bacterial densities on iron treatment from initial deployment to day 60 (n=18).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          Figure 12.

    a

 

   a

 

   a

 

   a

 

F= [3,8] =.966

a =.443

F= .966

 

         Figure 13. 

 

Figures 12 and 13. Settlement responses of diatoms on the four substrates.

 *Significant at P≤ 0.05, ANOVA. Lower case letters identify treatments not significantly different (Tukey’s HSD P<0.05). Error bars show mean +/- 2.0 SE. No analysis was performed on 24 hour treatments.

b

 

  b

 

 b

 

a

 
 

F= [3,8] =46.135*

a =.000

F= 46.135*

 

        Figure 14.

 a

 

  a

 

  a

 

  a

 

F= [3,8] =3.415

a =.123

F= 3.415

 

         Figure 15.

 

Figures 14 and 15. Settlement responses of diatoms on the four substrates.

*Significant at P≤ 0.05, ANOVA. Lower case letters identify treatments not significantly different (Tukey’s HSD P<0.05). Error bars show mean +/- 2.0 SE.

 

F= [3,8] =21.963*

a =.000

 

 

   a

 

b

 

  b

 

 b

 

         Figure 16.

 a

 

 a

 

 a

 

 a

 

F= [3,8] = 1.988

a =.194

F= 1.988

 

          Figure 17.

 

Figures 16 and 17. Settlement responses of diatoms on the four substrates.

*Significant at P≤ 0.05, ANOVA. Lower case letters identify treatments not significantly different (Tukey’s HSD P<0.05). Error bars show mean +/- 2.0 SE


 

Chi= 2.600*

a =.457

 

 

Chi = 7.973*

a =.047

 

 

        Concrete      CaCo3           Iron        Glass Slide

 

    Concrete       CaCo3          Iron         Glass Slide

 

24 Hours

 

3 Days

 

       Figure 18.                                                                                         Figure 19.

 

 

Figures 18 and 19. Settlement responses of autotrophic organisms on the four substrates. Each bar shows the mean (+/- 2.0 SE) number of settlers per given treatment. *Significant at P= 0.05.              

Chi= 8.312*

 a =.040

 

 

7 Days

 

         Concrete       CaCo3          Iron        Glass Slide

 

Chi= 5.213

 a =.157

 

 

       Concrete       CaCo3          Iron         Glass Slide

 

14 Days

 

       Figure 20.                                                                                                  Figure 21.

 

 

 

Figures 20 and 21. Settlement responses of autotrophic organisms on the four substrates. Each bar shows the mean (+/- 2.0 SE) number of settlers per given treatment. *Significant at P= 0.05.          

Chi= 6.207

a =.102

 

 

Chi= 7.984*

a =.046

 

 

       Concrete      CaCo3           Iron        Glass Slide

 

       Concrete        CaCo3          Iron        Glass Slide

 

60 Days

 

21 Days

 

      Figure 22.                                                                                         Figure 23.

 

 

 

Figures 22 and 23. Settlement responses of autotrophic organisms on the four substrates. Each bar shows the mean (+/- 2.0 SE) number of settlers per given treatment. *Significant at P= 0.05.  

 

24 Hours

 

Chi= 5.353

 a =.148

 

 

 

Chi= 1.166

a =.761

 

 

        Concrete      CaCo3         Iron          Glass Slide

 

         Concrete        CaCo3          Iron          Glass Slide

 

3 Days

 

       Figure 24.                                                                                       Figure 25.

 

 

Figures 24 and 25. Settlement responses of combined heterotrophic fauna. Each bar shows the mean (+/- 2.0 SE) numbers of settlers per given treatment. *Significant at P= 0.05.

Chi= 7.831*        a =.050

 

 

14 Days

 

Chi= 18.078*

a =.000

 

 

 

 

 

 

8

 

7 Days

 

      Figure 26.                                                                                        Figure 27.

 

 

Figures 26 and 27. Settlement responses of combined heterotrophic fauna. Each bar shows the mean (+/- 2.0 SE) numbers of settlers per given treatment. *Significant at P= 0.05.

60 Days

 

Chi= 11.099*          a =.011

 

 

21 Days

 

Chi= 10.871*      a =.012

 

 

      Figure 28.                                                                                         Figure 29.

         Concrete       CaCo3          Iron        Glass Slide

 

      Concrete        CaCo3          Iron       Glass Slide

 
 

 


Figures 28 and 29. Settlement responses of combined heterotrophic fauna. Each bar shows the mean (+/- 2.0 SE) numbers of settlers per given treatment. *Significant at P= 0.05.


References

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Balsalobre, C., Calonge, J., Jimenez, E., Lafuente, R., Mourino, M., Munoz, M., Rquelme, M., and Mas-Catella, J. 1993. Using the metabolic capacity of Rodaobacter sphaeroides to assess heavy metal toxicity. Environ. Toxicol. Water Qual. 8: 437- 450.

Brancato, M., and R. Woollacott. 1982. Effect of microbial films on settlement of

bryozoan larvae (Bugula simplex, B. stolonifera, and B. turrila). Mar. Bio. 71: 551-56.

Bonsack, J., and Sutherland, D. 1985. Artificial reef research: a review with recommendations for future priorities. Bull. Mar. Sci. 37: 11-39.

Crisp, D., and J. Ryland. 1960. Influence of filming and the surface texture on the settlement of marine organisms. Nature 185: 119.

Crisp, D., G. Walker, A. Young, and A. Yule. 1985. Adhesion and substrate choice in          mussels and barnacles. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 104: 40-50.

Gleason, M. 1996. Coral recruitment in Moorea, French Polynesia: the importance of patch type and temporal variation. J. Exp. Mar. Bio. And Eco. 207: 79-101.

Harriot, V., and D. Fisk. 1987. A comparison of settlement plate types for experiments on the recruitment of scleractinian corals. Mar. Eco. Pro. Ser. 37: 201-208.

Johnson, C., D. Muir, and A. Reysenbach. 1991. Characteristic bacteria associated with surfaces of coralline algae: a hypothesis for bacterial induction of marine invertebrate larvae. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 74: 281-294.

Johnson, C. and D. Sutton. 1994. Bacteria on the surface of crustose coralline algae induce metamorphosis of the crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci. Mar. Bio. 120: 302-310.

Keough, M., and P. Raimondi. 1995. Responses of settling invertebrate larvae to bioorganic films: effects of different types of films. J. Exp. Mar. Bio. Eco. 185: 235-253.

Kirchman, D., D. Reish, and R. Mitchell. 1982. Bacteria induced settlement and metamorphosis of Janua (Dexiospira) brasiliensis Grube (Polychaeta: Spirorbidae. J. Exp. Mar. Bio. Eco. 56: 153-163.

Leitz, T., and T. Wagner. 1993. The marine bacterium Alteromonas espejiana induces metamorphosis of the Hydractinia echinata. Mar. Bio. 115: 173-178.

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Scientific Presentations

 

 

1) Restoration Of A Southeast Florida USA Coral Reef Injured By The Grounding Of A Nuclear Submarine. Coral Reefs. Dodge R.E., R.E. Spieler, D.S. Gilliam, P. Quinn, A. Rogerson, E. Glynn, K. Banks, L. Fisher, D. Stout and W. Jap. 2000.

 

2) Preliminary Analysis of Initial Microfouling of a Nearshore Artificial Reef in Broward

            County, Florida. American Society for Limnology and Ocanorgraphy. Judy Robinson and Andrew Rogerson. 2001.

 

3) Hypothesis-based Restoration Study for Mitigation of a Damaged S.E. Florida

            Coral Reef: A Work in Progress. Artificial Reef Summit. T.P. Quinn, E.A. Glynn, R.E. Dodge, K. Banks , L. Fisher, R.E. Spieler

 

4) Growth and survivorship of stony coral Meandrina meandrites and Montastrea cavernosa transplants to an artificial reef environment. Artificial Reef Summit Glynn EA, Quinn TP, Fahy DP, Dodge RE, Spieler RE, and Gilliam DS.

 

5) Growth And Survivorship Of Scleractinian Coral Transplants And Effectiveness Of   

            Plugging Core Hole Sites.  International Society for Reef Studies. E.A. Glynn, T.P. Quinn, D.P. Fahy, and R.E. Spieler. 2002.

 


Abstract Presented:

Florida Artificial Reef Summit 2001, Ft Lauderdale, FL xxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Growth and survivorship of stony coral Meandrina meandrites and Montastrea cavernosa transplants to an artificial reef environment.

 

Glynn EA, Quinn TP, Fahy DP, Dodge RE, Spieler RE, and Gilliam DS.  National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI).  Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center.  8000 North Ocean Drive, Dania Beach, FL 33004

 

      In November of 2000, 160 Reef BallTM concrete modules (1.22m wide x 0.9m high) were deployed, at a depth of approximately 15 meters, between the Second and Third Reef tracts off Dania Beach, FL.  Eighty, four-inch diameter core plugs containing living tissue from 20 specimens of each of two species of scleractinian corals Meandrina meandrites and Montastrea cavernosa were transplanted to the Reef Balls between March and June, 2001.

The coral core plug transplants were obtained from coral colonies at approximately 10 meter depth located on the Second Reef, off Dania Beach, using a hydraulic drill fitted with a 4” diameter core barrel.  Forty of the 160 Reef Balls were designated as ‘coral transplant’ Reef Balls.  Each of these Reef Balls was constructed with two depressions, into which the two different species of transplants were attached using an underwater adhesive marine epoxy. 

The drill holes in the donor corals were filled with concrete plugs to prevent detrimental effects of bioeroders.  The core hole sites are being monitored for tissue growth surrounding the concrete plug.  The transplant corals, donor corals, and control corals of comparable size to both the large donor colonies and the small transplant corals are being monitored for growth and survivorship. 

Coral skeletal growth is defined as an increase in surface area or linear radius and is being measured quarterly using photographic techniques.  The large donor corals and comparable controls are being photographed using a Nikonos V camera with 20mm lens and a 0.75m2 PVC framer marked in 10cm increments.  The coral plug transplants and comparable controls, and the core hole sites are being photographed with a 28mm lens and close up kit.  SigmaScan Pro4 image analysis software (Jandel Scientific Corporation) is being used for the photographic analysis.  This monitoring method is suitable for continuous monitoring and causes no harm to the coral colony. 

    The preliminary results obtained during the first quarterly sample session demonstrated 100% survivorship for all coral plug transplants and donor colonies.  It was noted that most coral plug transplants, with exposed skeleton around the margins of the plug, experienced tissue advancement over the bare coral skeleton. 
Abstract Presented:

International Society for Reef Studies, Cambridge UK, Sept.  2002

 

GROWTH AND SURVIVORSHIP OF SCLERACTINIAN CORAL TRANSPLANTS AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PLUGGING CORE HOLE SITES.

 E.A. Glynn, T.P. Quinn, D.P. Fahy, and R.E. Spieler

 

National Coral Reef Institute, Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center

8000 North Ocean Drive, Dania Beach, FL USA 33004.  email: glynn@nova.edu

 

 

  Eighty core plugs containing living tissue (coral transplants) of two species of scleractinian coral Meandrina meandrites (n=40) and Montastrea cavernosa (n=40) were transplanted to forty Reef BallTM modules between March and June, 2001.  The cores were obtained from forty individual coral colonies, on an adjacent natural reef, using a hydraulic drill fitted with a four-inch core barrel.  Two cores were sampled from each of the forty donor colonies.  All donor core holes were filled with pre-fabricated, numbered concrete plugs to prevent the detrimental effects of bioeroders.  Core hole sites and transplant corals, as well as control corals of comparable size (to both the large donor colonies and the small transplant corals), were monitored for growth and survivorship.  Coral skeletal growth has been defined as an increase in surface area or linear radius and has been measured quarterly using photographic techniques.  The large donor corals and comparable controls were photographed using a Nikonos V camera with 20mm lens and a 0.75m2 PVC framer marked in 10cm increments.  The core hole sites, coral plug transplants and comparable controls were photographed with a 28mm lens and close up kit.  SigmaScan Pro4 image analysis software (Jandel Scientific Corporation) was used for the photographic analysis. This monitoring method is suitable for continuous monitoring and causes no apparent harm to the coral colony. 

 After nine months of sampling, 100% of the M. cavernosa and 71% of the M. meandrites transplants maintained their original tissue surface area or showed evidence of an increase in surface area.  The remaining 29% of the M. meandrites transplants have shown varying degrees of partial tissue mortality.

The donor colonies have experienced 100% colony survival. The core hole sites have not regenerated tissue over the concrete plugs. There has been little tissue die back from the plug sites and so regeneration remains possible. Although it is too early in the study to draw firm conclusions, the species specific differences in transplant growth and mortality may be an important consideration in future coral reef restoration efforts.

 


 

 

Figure 3: Map of second reef depicting site of donor (D) and control (C) corals (note area of USS Memphis grounding trench and DPEP damage control pins: CP1, 2, & 3).