Improving efficacy coral restoration through substrate stabilization
With the increasing frequency and severity of acute disturbance events such as mass coral bleaching and storms together with continued ship groundings, there is growing concern over the loss of reef complexity across all US Pacific jurisdictions. The dest...
Characterizing interactions between LBSP, coral growth, and herbivory to set targets for coastal runoff
Sediment laden runoff inhibits coral growth through smothering and light reduction and is a primary cause of reef decline and shifts from coral- to algal- dominance. Surprisingly however, there are no guidelines for sediment runoff in Hawaii or globally. ...
Supporting Sustainable Coral Reef Fisheries Management Plans in Hawai’i
The Hawai?i Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) launched its Holomua Marine Initiative as a way to work with communities to effectively manage nearshore marine resources around six main Hawaiian Islands so that local resources are avai...
LBSP Reduction Projects to Compliment Coral Restoration in the Main Hawaiian Islands
The purpose of the first component of this project is to supplement existing efforts to reduce land-based inputs from the Olowalu and Ukumehame watersheds to the coral reef ecosystems of Olowalu. Olowalu is an important reef site on Maui and has a great d...
Develop and test innovative solutions for assessing reef communities and benthic processes using Structure from Motion.
The primary goal of this project is to assess how well photogrammetry (also known as Structure-from-Motion) can be used to improve our understanding of coral reef demographics and vital rates from colony to habitat-scale. This project builds out the innov...
In collaboration with the Hawai'i Coral Bleaching Collaborative, our team in NOAA’s Ecosystem Sciences Division is joining a multi-institution effort to document the extent and severity of coral bleaching in the main Hawaiian Islands. Our goal is to lay t...
The Division of Aquatic Resources' outreach and education team and PIRO HCD staff have determined that fisheries workshops are an excellent tool to engage the fishing community, introduce fishers to data collection, and incorporate local ecological knowle...
Scientific Assessment of Scope for Herbivores to Promote Persistence of US Pacific Coral Reefs
This project will provide scientific basis for advice to managers on the scope for and limitations of herbivore management to increase persistence of US Pacific coral reefs. We are ultimately concerned with maintaining functioning coral reef systems, rath...
Assessing coral reef resilience through improved vital rates measurements
The goal of this project is to operationalize repeat photomosaic surveys in order to develop robust approaches for modeling coral colony-level vital rates (growth, survival, and mortality). This involves conducting local field trials and statistical analy...
Development of stressor threshold values for protection of Pacific coral reef species
Watershed managers in Hawaii have identified the need for data that can quickly lead to management actions/results "on the ground." One of the necessary pieces of information to aid coastal managers in key decision making are stressor thresholds, i.e. amb...
Improving efficacy coral restoration through substrate stabilization