Data from the world\u2019s first herbivore reserve suggest protection works to keep algae overgrowth in check.
\nScientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego predict that protection of seaweed-eating fish and invertebrates will help maintain the health of a Hawaiian coral reef by leveling the competition between fast-growing seaweed and slow-growing coral.
\nIn a paper published recently in the journal Ecosphere, the Scripps team used data from Hawaii\u2019s Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area, the world\u2019s first herbivore reserve, to evaluate the benefit of a new management policy that specifically protects parrotfish (Uhu, in Hawaiian), surgeonfish (Api), and other herbivores. Such marine organisms keep in check the spread of seaweed that would otherwise overtake and damage or destroy coral reefs.
\nAccording to the study\u2019s lead author Emily Kelly, a marine ecologist at Scripps and former Scripps graduate student, their results are very promising.
\nKelly and her team, which included researchers from NOAA\u2019s Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center, University of Hawaii, and Hawaii\u2019s Division of Aquatic Resources, gathered data from Kahekili on herbivore grazing rates and algal growth rates from 2009 (the first year of the herbivore protection) to 2014, to track the amount of seaweed eaten each year. The team\u2019s results showed that throughout the first five years of herbivore protection, seaweed growth consistently exceeded grazing by herbivorous fishes, but by a shrinking margin since 2010. In that year, the amount eaten was 20.8 percent of the amount that grew. By the end of the study in 2014, consumption was 67.0 percent of production.
\nThen they used the data collected from Kahekili and predicted how the grazing deficit would change if the area, which had been protected for only five years, had the same quantity of grazers as the neighboring Molokini Shoal Marine Life Conservation District, which has been protected for more than 40 years.
\n“We\u2019re trying to provide a window into what Kahekili could look like in the future,” Kelly said of the comparison. “I\u2019m excited to see that the grazing deficit \u2013 the difference between the rate of algal growth, and the rate at which herbivores eat the algae \u2013 is getting smaller through time.”
\n“I am very surprised with the speed that this reef ecosystem has responded to the management action,” said Russell Sparks, a coauthor of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported paper and an aquatic biologist in Hawaii\u2019s Department of Land and Natural Resources, Aquatic Resources Division. “As a result of the successes we have measured in Kahekili, I suspect herbivore management will become a much more commonly utilized tool throughout Hawaii and the world.”
\nBy making projections for the reserve using a neighboring reef, “we\u2019re not trying to hold this reef to a standard of some reef far away from humans, but rather we\u2019re looking at an example of a reef in the main Hawaiian Islands,” Kelly said. “We\u2019re trying to use a realistic reef future scenario to show that there could be enough herbivore biomass in the future that herbivores will in fact be grazing down the seaweed.”
\nKelly says these results can hopefully support herbivore management as a conservation strategy, which is advantageous for policymakers because herbivore protection allows mixed use of a reef area.
\n“Herbivore management can be a great option because it allows for fishing of other types of fishes. Fishing is really important in Hawaii, it has a lot of cultural importance and of course is important for people getting fish for food, for both day-to-day meals and for celebration,” Kelly said. “Hopefully herbivore management can be a balance of allowing fish to graze down the reef and keep it health, but also allow people to fish and use the reef in ways that they have for many generations.”
\nKelly added that healthy coral reefs with plenty of fish provide many benefits in addition to supporting food supplies. They also protect shorelines from storms and are a big tourist draw, providing a boon for local economies.
\nFunding for the research was provided by the Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative, the Mia Tegner Fellowship, the Women Divers Hall of Fame, the Explorers Club Exploration Fund, the Sussman Fellowship, and the Oceanids Memorial Fellowship.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Data from the world\u2019s first herbivore reserve suggest protection works to keep algae overgrowth in check. Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego predict that protection of seaweed-eating fish and invertebrates will help maintain the health of a Hawaiian coral reef by leveling the competition between fast-growing seaweed and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":269012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Scripps study aims to protect herbivores, preserve coral reefs","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}