Conservation science in NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries: description and recent accomplishments

This report describes cases relating to the management of national marine sanctuaries in which certain scientific information was required so managers could make decisions that effectively protected trust resources. The cases presented represent only a fraction of difficult issues that marine sanctuary managers deal with daily. They include, among others, problems related to wildlife disturbance, vessel routing, marine reserve placement, watershed management, oil spill response, and habitat restoration. Scientific approaches to address these problems vary significantly, and include literature surveys, data mining, field studies (monitoring, mapping, observations, and measurement), geospatial and biogeographic analysis, and modeling. In most cases there is also an element of expert consultation and collaboration among multiple partners, agencies with resource protection responsibilities, and other users and stakeholders. The resulting management responses may involve direct intervention (e.g., for spill response or habitat restoration issues), proposal of boundary alternatives for marine sanctuaries or reserves, changes in agency policy or regulations, making recommendations to other agencies with resource protection responsibilities, proposing changes to international or domestic shipping rules, or development of new education or outreach programs. (PDF contains 37 pages.

Notes on Barnacles (Cirripedia: Thoracica) from the Gulf of Mexico

Examination of several collections of barnacles from the northern and western Gulf of Mexico made over the last 30 years has improved our knowledge of the distributions of several taxa previously considered to be absent or rare in those regions. Conchoderma auritum (Linnaeus) and Heteralepas sp. aff. cornuta (Darwin) are recorded for the first time from the Gulf of Mexico. Conchoderma auritum, Conchoderma virgatum (Spengler), Heteralepas cornuta (Darwin), Balanus trigonus (Darwin), Balanus venustus Darwin, and Balanus amphitrite amphitrite Darwin have broad distributions outside the Gulf of Mexico. Tetraclita stalactifera stalactifera (Lamarck) is abundant in the intertidal zones of the southwestern Gulf, but rare elsewhere in the Gulf of Mexico outside the Florida Keys. Spatial segregation of Octolasmis hoeki (Stebbing) and Octolasmis lowei (Darwin) on a host crab is discussed

Notes on Barnacles (Cirripedia: Thoracica) from the Gulf of Mexico

Examination of several collections of barnacles from the northern and western Gulf of Mexico made over the last 30 years has improved our knowledge of the distributions of several taxa previously considered to be absent or rare in those regions. Conchoderma auritum (Linnaeus) and Heteralepas sp. aff. cornuta (Darwin) are recorded for the first time from the Gulf of Mexico. Conchoderma auritum, Conchoderma virgatum (Spengler), Heteralepas cornuta (Darwin), Balanus trigonus (Darwin), Balanus venustus Darwin, and Balanus amphitrite amphitrite Darwin have broad distributions outside the Gulf of Mexico. Tetraclita stalactifera stalactifera (Lamarck) is abundant in the intertidal zones of the southwestern Gulf, but rare elsewhere in the Gulf of Mexico outside the Florida Keys. Spatial segregation of Octolasmis hoeki (Stebbing) and Octolasmis lowei (Darwin) on a host crab is discussed

Reef Community Stability on the Flower Garden Banks, Northwest Gulf of Mexico

Benthic cover and coral growth studies conducted on the coral reefs at the Flower Garden Banks since the early 1970s, as well as investigations on other aspects of biotic assemblages associated with the reefs, suggest fairly high community stability. Changes that have been observed indicate the community\u27s resilience in response to periodic episodes of stress, which are caused primarily by natural factors (e.g., anomalously high temperatures, disease epidemics). There has been no indication of long-term environmental degradation following such events. On the whole, the reef communities appear to have remained unaltered by human activities, despite numerous isolated insults to the reefs, caused mostly by anchoring, lost or discarded debris, illegal fishing gear, and tow cables. Early recognition of the sensitivity of the reef communities on the banks led to implementation of protective measures related to hydrocarbon development by the Minerals Management Service. Regulations promulgated later by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration addressed threats posed by other potentially destructive activities. Long-term research and monitoring programs have been instrumental in, and remain vital to, enabling resource managers to make science-based decisions concerning environmental protection at the Flower Gardens

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary: A rapid assessment of coral, fish, and algae using the AGRRA Protocol

The Flower Garden Banks are topographic features on the edge of the continental shelf in the northwest Gulf of Mexico. These banks are approximately 175 km southeast of Galveston, Texas at 28° north latitude and support the northernmost coral reefs on the North American continental shelf. The East and West Flower Garden Banks (EFG and WFG) and Stetson Bank, a smaller sandstone bank approximately 110 km offshore, are managed and protected as the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). As part of a region-wide initiative to assess coral reef condition, the benthic and fish communities of the EFG and WFG were assessed using the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) protocol. The AGRRA survey was conducted during a week-long cruise in August 1999 that was jointly sponsored by the FGBNMS and the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). A total of 25 coral transects, 132 algal quadrats, 24 fish transects, and 26 Roving Diver (REEF) surveys were conducted. These surveys revealed reefs with high coral cover, dominated by large, healthy corals, little macroalgae, and healthy fish populations. The percent live coral cover was 53.9 and 48.8 at the WFG and EFG, respectively, and the average colony diameter was 93 and 81 cm. Fish diversity was lower than most Caribbean reefs, but large abundances and size of many species reflected the low fishing pressure on the banks. The benthic and fish assemblages at the EFG and WFG were similar. Due to its near pristine conditions, the FGB data will prove to be a valuable component in the AGRRA database and its resulting scale of reef condition for the region. (PDF contains 22 pages.

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary: Introduction

The history of exploration, research, and environmental protection at the Flower Gardens is a model of accomplishment through partnerships—a demonstration of how a spirit of mutual support leads to the achievement of shared goals

Fertilization in Broadcast-Spawning Corals of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Broadcast spawning is considered to be the dominant reproductive strategy for reef corals, but little is known about two critical postspawning processes, fertilization and early larval development. Instead, most efforts have focused on dispersal and recruitment. Since 1993, we have examined coral fertilization and development at the Flower Garden Banks, which contain two isolated reefs with predictable and dramatic annual mass spawning events in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Observations of in vitro fertilization indicate that the hermaphroditic scleractinian species Colpophyllia natans, Diploria strigosa, Monfastraea faveolata, and M. franksi all have high fertilization potentials when outcrossing. However, although D. strigosa can self-fertilize readily, self-fertilization levels within C. natans and the Montastraea species are low. In addition, interspecific crossing attempts among the hermaphroditic species of Montastraea (M. franksi, M. faveolata, and M. annularis) yielded low levels of fertilization. The differences observed in the timing of spawning and the low hybridization success between the Montastraea siblings lend additional support to their recent reclassification as separate species. Spawned egg samples collected immediately upon release from female colonies of the gonochoric species M. cavernosa and Stephanocoenia intersepta produced an unexpected observation—very high levels of fertilization. This suggests internal fertilization prior to egg release, a process that has not heretofore been observed in a broadcast-spawning scleractinian

Timing, Species Participation, and Environmental Factors Influencing Annual Mass Spawning at the Flower Garden Banks (Northwest Gulf of Mexico)

Since 1990, highly predictable and intense annual mass spawning events have been witnessed at the Flower Garden Banks (northwestern Gulf of Mexico), and more recently at several other western Atlantic coral reefs as well. The annual reproductive period at the Flower Gardens coincided with the summer seawater temperature maximum and occurred between the seventh and 10th evenings following a full moon in August or September. Species-specific peaks of activity were centered on the eighth and 10th evenings. Coral spawning at the Flower Gardens began within 1 hr of sunset and continued for roughly 4 hr. On the eighth evening, coral species observed spawning during the first 2.5 hr were Diploria strigosa, Montastraea cavernosa, and M. franksi. Other reef-dwelling invertebrate species were also consistently seen spawning during this time. Montastraea annularis, M. faveolata, and Stephanocoenia intersepta spawned about 1 hr later, following a brief transition period during which little spawning activity was observed. The 10th evening was characterized by the successive spawning of Colpophyllia natans (early evening) and S. intersepta (late evening). Male colonies of the gonochoric species M. cavernosa and S. intersepta typically began spawning up to 30 min before females, although several individuals of M. cavernosa have been observed spawning more than 3 hr before females