Sampling frequency in relation to dynamic change in coral reefs: results from high school field surveys How frequent must a sampling be implemented to track changes in coral reef communities ? Evidence from a “natural experiment" and a high-school-based sampling program for coral reefs. By JRE Harger Senior Assistant Secretary UNESCO/IOC Paris, France. 27.05.96 Introduction The problem of determining a suitable sampling frequency over time to enable detection of meaningful changes in the biological structure of coral reefs is a vexing one, Intervals between sampling that are relatively short, say one month, impose a heavy cost in terms of human and technical resources. Long intervals, say 5 years between surveys, leave too much margin for significant change with the result that the underlying dynamics of observed differences from time to time can only be crudely estimated Long-term high school field studies The approach used to determine the maximum interval required and outlined herein, has been used to guide acquisition of field data concerning the health and structure of coral reefs in the region outside Jakarta Bay, Indonesia, using a marine- module by high school students in the Jakarta International School (JIS) for 11 years between 1984 and 1995. The field-activity grew from 30 advanced students in 1983 to cover 4 classes involving over 120 students in 1994. During this time approximately 10 teachers have been trained by the author in this one school and these teachers in turn are now engaged in transmitting the methodologies to colleges working in the International School System. Micro-computer analysis and organisation of the data is a must for this approach to work. In the case of well-to-do schools such as JIS, the students take Macintosh computers to the study-site (a tourist-resort hotel) and analyse their data with "Excel". The approach has also been taught at two teacher training field courses in the Pacific (Dravuni Island, University of the South Pacific) on two occasions involving 12 Pacific Island high school teachers. Six of these teachers were exposed to two sessions and some of these now act as teacher-trainers. One from Papua New Guinea take part in a "teachers of teachers" activities. The most important consideration in establishing such a program lies in the training of the teachers. Most teachers associated with science programs have not beenexposed to the implementation of field studies and the wide array of factors that present themselves for examination is often overwhelming. Teachers for the most part need to be shown how to conduct field studies, take environmental measurements and interpret the resulting data. Without a firm grasp of the principals involved on the part of the teacher there is simply no way that the required discipline in data acquisition can be passed to the students. The only way to ensure such training is to take teachers and teachers of teachers out into the field for intensive study exposure. The time required to convert a competent science teacher to a field-study and data acquisition instructor is around two weeks at initiation. This will cover the fundamental questions relating to field technique etc. A further two week exposure at a much later date is required to promote the instructor up the next step to competent field analyst. At this point the graduate can teach other teachers and can also take part in the definition of data acquisition policy and advanced analysis. Both these skills are required to verify and moderate the acceptably high standards required for the acquisition of environmental data that can be used over the long term. The best way into existing curricula is to take the advice of science teachers who show interest in the concept of environmental or global change studies. Such advice will indicate the potential entry-points into currently used curricula but the required Jong-term changes must then be engineered. This kind of change is best managed by the teachers themselves Approach and Sampling methods In general, field assessment of ecological communities is undertaken in order to gain a quantitative basis for associating ecological responses with the influence of Physical factors both natural and human-induced. It is the intersection of a number of environmental variables at any one location that determines community structure among living organisms and this is particularly so in the case of coral reefs. In order to gain an adequate understanding of both the patterns of organisms that might be expected to occur at a given location and to assess the actual occurrences it is necessary to rely on the results of sampling programs or sampling strategies which may be thought of as providing "windows" into an otherwise complex and potentially confusing world. There are several methods that might be considered for sampling coral reef’. One procedure will be covered here and it can give a good representation of the distribution and structure of coral reefs if carefully applied. This method is the line transect using simplified "growth-forms" Line transect A line transect consists simply of a measuring tape or nylon line laid across the surface of the reef in a particular orientation. In the case of small coral islands, this orientation is usually at right angles to the body of the island or in parallel with the shore-line. In the first case, the structure of the reef from shallow to deep regions may be assessed and in the second, the reef structure at a particular depth may be examined. The purpose of the line is to lend orientation to the investigator and to control the area or extent of reef under investigation. The line itself may be viewed as either onedimensional (length only) or two dimensional (length and width). The latter is more properly called a belt transect wherein all organisms are potentially assessed In the case of a line transect, it may be convenient to assess only organisms at particular points (say every meter) and this mode of evaluation is termed a "point intercept" line transect . The system recommended herein is the "line intercept method" wherein every organism intercepted by the line is potentially scored successively throughout the length. The data collected take the form of the identity of the organisms concerned, the position on the line, and the extent of the line which is intercepted by each successive individual, colony or target-group The line transect method dealt with here makes use of the fact that different types of coral colony formations may be seen as adaptive responses to environmental conditions, There are around 400 species of corals world-wide and the differences between individual genetic forms are sometimes difficult to detect in field situations. The development of sufficient expertise in coral taxonomy to detect the many individual species inhabiting any locale in an area containing the broad representation shown in Southeast Asia requires considerable training, Although it may be desirable to conduct detailed assessments at the species level, it is never the less clear that a considerable amount of ecological information can be collected if only growth-forms are studied. Thus, it may be demonstrated on the one hand that in the "Pulau Seribu Island Chain", conditions of exposure to the open sea and in positions facing directly to the east and south (east monsoon, strong) or to the west (west monsoon, less strong), there is often considerable development of reefs dominated by large boulder-like coral colonies of which the genus "Porites" is the most prominent. Reefs developing in sheltered locations such as areas protected from direct wave action by adjacent islands within a few hundred meters offshore, on the other hand, are characterized by high concentrations of delicate forms such as fine-branched stag-horns ("Acropora") and foliose corals such as some species of Montipera. The Environment for the Pulau Seribu System The coral reef crest and outer slope The outer aspect of coral reef margins often differs according to specific locations. The type of reef cross-section found in most south east Asian coral islands is characterised by a gentle slope from the exposed outer reef-margin (often characterised by the formation of ramparts) down to a depth of 30-40 meters or so in the more shallow seas such as the Java Sea. In Indonesia there are several locations such as those near Manado (north Sulawesi), adjacent to deep seas or trenches where the outer reef face simply drops away vertically to depths of several hundreds of meters. A particularly noteworthy feature associated with the reef crest is to be found in the "ramparts" which represent ridges of coral fragments that have been broken off in storms and are prominently developed away from the windward face. These formations are often exposed at low water and sometimes even protrude above thesurface at high water. In many cases they serve to protect the inner lagoon from “normal" inclement weather so that the inner reaches of the reef may be quite sheltered. Domination of the reefs close to the mainland by massive corals is a marked feature of the Pulau Seribu system and inshore reefs along the north coast of Java. On the outer Pulau Seribu reefs, massive corals up to 5 m in diameter dominate the windward exposed reefs. Many sections of the exposed barrier reef on Dravuni Island, Fiji, in the Pacific are also dominated by enormous massive corals (Porites) some of which are 20 m or more in diameter. As previously mentioned, sheltered reef’ in the Pulau Seribu system are dominated by fragile branching and foliose forms. In addition to difference in exposure experienced by coral communities on a small island other factors such as the amount of sediment in the water can have a marked effect on the development of coral reefs lowering diversity and cover as the influence of such factors increases. Similar trends can be expected whenever the physical variables important to reef maintenance shift from the relatively restricted zones of tolerance. From this point of view pollutants act by changing the physical components of the environment in relation to the organisms concerned, in a "negative fashion". Coral distribution and abundance also varies with depth and one important aspect acting in association with this environmental variable is light intensity. Corals grow well at comparatively high light intensities because of the photosynthetic requirements of their comensual partners, the zooxanthallae. Zooxanthellae are microscopic dinoflagelates or "internal plant-cells" which are carried within the coral tissues. The nutrients released by the zooxanthallae appear to assist both in coral growth (perhaps as much as 95% of nutritional requirements) and in the process of skeletal calcification carried on by the host. Corals will eject their zooxanthallae (coral blanching" or "bleaching" is then said to take place, the colonies look very pale and whitish coloured) when faced with physical stress such as that induced by increased ‘temperatures. Unless conditions become more favourable the colonies will soon die. Coral communities, like terrestrial forests, change their structure in response to the effects of varying light intensities which can be induced by depth of water, suspended silt ete, Ina field study the factor of depth may be controlled by laying the transect parallel to the shore-line or reef face and a systematic investigation can demonstrate the community changes involved. For snorkelling, depths of 1 m and 3 meters are appropriate as testing regimes to examine such changes or variations. For SCUBA gear (not normally associated with unspecialised groups or high-school classes), 10 meters or more may also be considered. To control for variability from one place to another it is desirable to score no less than 3 transects per depth per station. If the transect is laid out at right angles to the shore-line or reef-face, a depth profile will also be required, preferably at 1 meter intervals. The last major factor to take into consideration is the estimation of exposure. For the Pulau Seribu system, this can usefully be done by considering the direction which the reef faces at the sampling station in association with the distance to the nextvisible island. Reefs facing to the south or east (the “strong” east monsoon) with no islands intervening out to the horizon are usually the most exposed (exposure index = 4). Islands on the horizon reduce the index to 3, and islands close by (up to 1.0 km) reduce it to 2. Reefs facing north with several islands immediately in front to about 100 meters or less are the most protected (exposure index = 0). Islands beyond 1.0 km increase the index to 1 and islands on the horizon to 2. Reefs facing clear water to the horizon would score 3 or perhaps 3.5 but not usually 4 Percent living cover and percent cover by scleractinia are the two main parameters that are estimated by the life forms method together with relative abundance of massive forms as opposed to foliose and branching. The resulting information can then be related to specific aspects of the reef such as the degree of exposure, the amount of disturbance, distance from the mainland, water transparency and so forth. The stations selected should be assessed with snorkeling teams of at least 3 students each and not more than 5 by utilising three 20 m line intercept transects, parallel to the shoreline at each of the two depths mentioned previously (1 m and 3 m). Results can be recorded on wet-slates. These can be made from white sand-scoured Formica affixed to a wooden base or from roughened white PVC plastic sheeting White PVC wide-bore water-pipe can be used by cutting into lengths of 20-30 cm long, slitting down one side and flattening with the aid of the steam from a kettle. For ease of recording, the life-form categories should be shortened into an easily recognised code. Thus coral-branching would be CB, coral-submassive CS and so forth. High School Coral Reef Surveys The Jakarta International School senior class has carried out coral-reef assessment on three islands in Jakarta Bay since 1984. The islands are: Pulau Tikus (1984-1987), Pulau Kotok Besar (1988-1991) and Pulau Pantara (1992-1995, ongoing). The method of assessment used is a simplified form of that proposed by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). This involves subdividing coral assemblages according to categories, based on criteria relating to the life-form of the corals. Thus categories such as coral-massive, coral branching, algae etc. are used. The array of hard-coral forms that can be scored may be conveniently summarised as: 1) encrusting, 2) branched (see Figure 1.2b), 3) massive, 4) sub- massive, 5) tabulate (see Figure 1.2a), 6) foliose, 7) solitary (see Figure 1.2c). Other organisms include: 1) algae, 2) soft corals, 3) sponges, 4) other forms. Physical conditions include: 1) coral-sand, 2) dead coral/ rubble. Data are recorded by: 1) indicating the code of the life-form involved and 2) by specifying the position on the tape intersected by the outer margin of the category concerned. From this information set, a number of community attributes can be calculated including individual life-form coverage in absolute or proportional terms, coverage by all corals and so forth. Specific spatial information is also available for mapping analyses. If required, the technique can be adapted to species-level information or it can be focused on group information as all Acropora and so forth. The above 13 categories for the procedure are a minimum subset of the factors that might otherwise be considered. Table 1,shows a detailed list of some of the factors that might be considered when scoring a life-form transect. UNESCO Coral Reef Survey UNESCO and its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) together with P3O-LIPI (The Indonesian Institute of Sciences) completed a second stage of a long-term coral reef monitoring program involving 28 islands in the Pulau Seribu area (Java, Indonesia) in September of 1995. The first survey (1) under the program was carried out in 1985, 10 years previously, and at that time it was found that reefs in the Jakarta Bay area had been severely degraded by discharges of sewage and other pollutants into the ocean (2). On 1985 survey, it was also found that reefs beyond 20 km from Jakarta improved rapidly with distance up to a point where they supported between 40%-50% cover of hard corals. In relation to the 1985 survey, the 1995 activity showed, among other things that: 1. Cover exhibited by coral reef in Jakarta Bay remains about the same as previously noted. 2. The coral community in most outer islands declined dramatically, so that there is a near total collapse of the ecosystems involved. Thus coral cover for the outer islands changed dramatically over a period of 10 years. An important factor in evaluating the information for the second survey was the existence of field-survey data, gathered annually by high school students at the Jakarta International School as part of its biology program for the International Baccalaureate Degree. Other Changes in Coral Reef Structure In 1989 the volcano Gunung Api, in the Banda Archipelego, Banda Sea, East Indonesia erupted pouring two sets of larva around 800 meters in width into the sea and destroying the coral reef. Following this event spectacular recolonization occurred in the next 3-4 years to the extent that up to 20 species of hard corals could be recorded on a single square meter of larva. Growth has also been extremely high by normal standards so that table-form corals have diameters of over 1 meter in around 4 years or so. In Jakarta Bay for instance such growth may be a mere 2-4 cm a year. Surrounding undamaged reefs are dominated by relatively few species but the exact representation seems to change rapidly from one place to another in response to physical conditions. Over 200 species have so far been recovered from the recolonized area giving some hope that similar healing can be coaxed into play in damaged areas next to major population concentrations if the primary mortality factors can be reduced. It is not known what exact combination of conditions in the surrounding reefs leads to this "healing effect" although initial lack of predators and a complex substrate have something to do with it in terms of initial survival. It is perhaps not to be wondered at that the giant hump-head parrot fish (1.5-2.0 meters in length), is also found in these "high diversity" waters. The rapid reef-repair response noted in relation to the recolonization of the Gunung Api larva-flow of 1989 up to late 1994 when cover by hard-corals, dominated bytabulate Acropora, rated over 80%, shows that reefs in the natural state and in high- diversity areas, with no pollutant or over-fishing stress, posses very effective mechanisms for healing. Reefs under such conditions can thus move from a barren state to a condition of high cover and diversity in a relatively short time, not exceeding 3-4 years. Results from High School Field Surveys The high school classes were operated on four islands in the Pulau Seribu system over the period 1984-1985. The first, Pulau Pari will not play a part in this report as the activities there were undertaken prior to the UNESCO survey of 1985 survey and involved differing sampling techniques. Standard sampling was undertaken at Pulau Tikus, 41 km from Jakarta, in 1985 and 1986 (Figs 1 and 2), Pulau Kotok Besar, 55.5 km from Jakarta, 1987 to 1991 (Figs 3 and 4) and then at Pulau Pantara (Pulau Hantu Kecil), 67.47km from Jakarta, 1991 to 1995 (continuing), Figs 5 and 6. Where the high school and UNESCO surveys overlapped, the percentage obtained by both sampling efforts is plotted. The results are shown as the mean percentage cover based on numbers of transects (ranging between 10 and 30) for each point. The variance is shown as twice the standard deviation (untransformed data) When combined, the results of these surveys (at 1 and 3 meters depth) clearly show that coral cover on these islands if anything improved from 1985 to 1988 and then remained somewhat stable to April 1994 but by September 1995 had dropped sharply. These results, together with the recolonisation response at Gunung Api (Banda Naira) indicate that 10 years (or even 5 years) is too long a period to consider seriously as an adequate sampling interval for assessing the structure and health of coral reefs and that it would be more appropriate to conduct such surveys annually. Bibliography (1) Human Induced Damage to Coral Reefs, UNESCO, Place Fontenoy, Paris, France, 1986. UNESCO Reports in Marine Science No. 40 Edited by B. Brown. (2) Community structure as a response to natural and man- made environmental variables in the Pulau Seribu island chain, J.R.E. Harger 1986. In: Proceedings of MAB-COMAR Regional Workshop on coral reef ecosystems: their management practices and research/training needs, Bogor 4-7 March 1986. UNESCO-Jakarta and Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jakarta, Indonesia. Geographical information Reef name; site type; station id.; depth of transects orientation; ote. Meteorological info:Air temperature; wind rose; solar radiation (including UV}; ete Biological factors Life-form Acropora: branching; tabulate; encrusting; submassive Life-form non-Acropora corals: branching; massive; encrusting; submassive; foliose; solitary. Maximum number of coral species observed per station Maximum depth with continuous cover of hard corals Estimated coral cover (%) Individual species records for scleractinia Maximum number coral species found in given search-time Coral diversity (where individual species are recorded} Non coral life-form soft corals; gorgonians; sponges; other (general); Acanthaster planci; estimated cover by Diadema Algae: macro; turf; coralline; Halimeda; film; blue film; algal assemblage Fish fauna: total number fish species; number of Chaetodontidae; number of Serranids; number of Lutjanids (species and individuals). Physical factors Non-living substrate: sand; rubble; silt; dead coral; number disturbance scars per 100 m Island characteristics: distance to nearest land: distance to Tanjang Priok (Jakarta's port); population on island; circumference of island. exposure index (per station) Aquatic variables (physical): surface salinity; three meter salinity; surface temperature; three meter temperature surface oxygen; three meter oxygen (or profiles) Pollution indicators Drift-line material: all rubbish (per meter strand-line); plastic bags: polystyrene blocks; foot ware; etc. Water transparency: secci disk extinction depth or transmissometer readings. Other direct assessment: heavy metals, toxic organics, sediment loading etc. add or subtract other variables as required. NoteFig 1 Jakarta Bay Survey, hard-coral cover Pulau Tikus, 1 meter depth, exposed. $ cover 100.0. 94.50 84.00 73.50 | 63.00 | 52.50 42.00 | 1986 31.50 | 21.00 10.50 | 0.000: i965, 1990 1995 Year of survey Error = 24 8y © = UNESCO Survey * = school Fig 2 Jakarta Bay Survey, hard-coral cover Pulau Tikus, 3 meter depth, exposed. & cover 100.0 94.50 84.00 73.50 | 63.00. i : 1986 82.50 + 1 42.00 31.50 21.00 10.50 0.000 “1385 “1390 Year of survey Error = 2 x 59 © = UNESCO survey SchoolFig 3 Jakarta Bay Survey, hard-coral cover Pulau Ketek Besar, 1 meter depth, sheltered. $ cover 100.0. 1988 * 1991 94.50 | 84.00 73.50 63.00. 52.50 42.00 31.50 21.00 10.50 - 0.000 ee ao i990 1995, Year of survey Error = 2 x sy © = UNESCO Survey * = school, Fig 4 Jakarta Bay Survey, hard-coral cover Pulau Kotok Besar, 3 meter depth, sheltered. 4 cover 100.0 1991 94.50 ¢ - - e4.o0 73.50. 63.00 52.50 + 42.00 31.50 21.00 10.50. 0.000 1985 1990 1995 Year of survey Error = 2 x 5q y 0 = UNESCO Survey + = SchoolFig 5 Jakarta Bay Survey, hard-coral cover Pulau Pantara, 1 meter depth, exposed. & cover 94.5 ea. 1992 = 3.5) 1991 * * 1994 63.0 52.5 42.0 31.5 Blast Acanthaster fishing 21.0 10.5 oo . ‘ 1995 isso" Year of survey Error = 2x 5¢ UNESCO Survey School, 25 meter transects Fig 6 Jakarta Bay Survey, hard-coral cover Pulau Pantara, 3 meter depth, exposed. & cover 100. 94.5 1 : 1992 B40. 1994 73.5) ugo1 + 63.0 | Bese 42.0 : Djohani x- 31.5 | May 1994 | c= Blast I 21.0 0 fishing + 10.58: ! I “1985 i980" 1995 Year of survey Error = 2x89 UNESCO survey School