Late Quaternary uplift and subsidence of the west coast of Tanna, south Vanuatu, southwest Pacific: U-Th ages of raised coral reefs in the Median Sedimentary Basin

Twelve Late Quaternary TIMS U-Th ages are reported here from 10 coral samples collected in situ from five transgressive coral/algal raised reefs (height: max. 113 m, min. 8 m) and two raised lagoonal deposits (height: max. 18 m, min. 8 m) along and near the west coast of Tanna, which lies in the Median Sedimentary Basin of South Vanuatu, southwest Pacific. These reefs and raised lagoonal deposits represent several age groups: (i) 215 ka (marine oxygen-isotope stage 7) penultimate interglacial (highest elevation and oldest); (ii) one lagoonal deposit of ca 127 ka (marine oxygen-isotope stage 5e); (iii) three last interglacial reefs with ages 102, 89 and 81 ka (representing marine oxygen-isotope stages 5c, 5b and 5a, respectively, of the latter part of the last interglacial); (iv) a lagoonal deposit with a 92 ka age (5b); and (v) a Holocene reef (age >5.7-5.0 ka) (lowest elevation and youngest). A ca 4.9 ka regressive reef (at elevation of 1.5 m above sea-level) is consistent with an island-wide 6.5 m uplift (probably largely coseismic), and a probable further island-wide uplift occurred in the late Holocene. The U-series ages taken together with the heights of transgressive reefs show that uplift since 215 ka was, on average, at similar to0.52 mm/y; although since 5 ka the uplift rate was, on average, similar to1.6 mm/y (the assumption being that a 1.5 m above sea-level reef has a coseismic origin). Elevation of transgressive reefs 5a, 5b and 5c and their ages indicates an island-wide subsidence during the period ?124-89 ka (i.e. Late Quaternary uplift/subsidence was jerky). Late Quaternary uplift/subsidence on the northwest coast of Tanna is considered to be due to irregular thicknesses of crust being subducted beneath Tanna.

Climate change, human impacts, and the resilience of coral reefs

The diversity, frequency, and scale of human impacts on coral reefs are increasing to the extent that reefs are threatened globally. Projected increases in carbon dioxide and temperature over the next 50 years exceed the conditions under which coral reefs have flourished over the past half-million years. However, reefs will change rather than disappear entirely, with some species already showing far greater tolerance to climate change and coral bleaching than others. International integration of management strategies that support reef resilience need to be vigorously implemented, and complemented by strong policy decisions to reduce the rate of global warming.

Coral reefs in a century of rapid environmental change

Coral reefs are the most diverse marine ecosystem and embrace possibly millions of plant, animal and protist species. Mutualistic symbioses are a fundamental feature of coral reefs that have been used to explain their structure, biodiversity and existence. Complex inter-relationships between hosts, habitats and symbionts belie closely coupled nutrient and community dynamics that create the circumstances for something from nothing (or the oasis in a nutrient desert). The flip side of these dynamics is a close dependency between species, which results in a series of non-linear relationships as conditions change. These responses are being highlighted as anthropogenic influences increase across the world's tropical and subtropical coastlines. Caribbean as well as Indo-Pacific coral populations are now in a serious decline in many parts of the world. This has resulted in a significant reorganization of how coral reef ecosystems function. Among the spectra of changes brought about by humans is rapid climate change. Mass coral bleaching - the loss of the dinoflagellate symbionts from reef-building corals - and mortality has affected the world's coral reefs with increasing frequency and intensity since the late 1970s. Mass bleaching events, which often cover thousands of square kilometres of coral reefs, are triggered by small increases (+1-3degreesC) in water temperature. These increases in sea temperature are often seen during warm phase weather conditions (e.g. ENSO) and are increasing in size and magnitude. The loss of living coral cover (e.g. 16% globally in 1998, an exceptionally warm year) is resulting in an as yet unspecified reduction in the abundance of a myriad of other species. Projections from general circulation models (GCM) used to project changes in global temperature indicate that conditions even under the mildest greenhouse gas emission scenarios may exceed the thermal tolerances of most reef-building coral communities. Research must now explore key issues such as the extent to which the thermal tolerances of corals and their symbionts are dynamic if bleaching and disease are linked; how the loss of high densities of reef-building coral will affect other dependent species; and, how the loss of coral populations will affect the millions of people globally who depend on coral reefs for their daily survival.

Wave-generated flow on coral reefs - an analysis for two-dimensional horizontal reef-tops with steep faces

Waves breaking on the seaward rim of a coral reef generate a flow of water from the exposed side of the reef to the sheltered side and/or to either channels through the reef-rim or lower sections of the latter. This wave-generated flow is driven by the water surface gradient resulting from the wave set-up created by the breaking waves. This paper reviews previous approaches to modelling wave-generated flows across coral reefs and discusses the influence of reef morphology and roughness upon these flows. Laboratory measurements upon a two-dimensional horizontal reef platform with a steep reef face provide the basis for extending a previous theoretical analysis for wave set-up on a reef in the absence of a flow [Gourlay, M.R., 1996b. Wave set-up on coral reefs. 2. Set-up on reefs with various profiles. Coastal Engineering 28, 1755] to include the interaction between a unidirectional flow and the wave set-up. The laboratory model results are then used to demonstrate that there are two basic reef-top flow regimes-reef-top control and reef-rim control. Using open channel flow theory, analytical relationships are derived for the reef-top current velocity in terms of the offreef wave conditions, the reef-top water depth and the physical characteristics of the reef-top topography. The wave set-up and wave-generated flow relationships are found to predict experimental values with reasonable accuracy in most cases. The analytical relationships are used to investigate wave-generated flows into a boat harbour channel on Heron Reef in the southern Great Barrier Reef. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Near-bottom depletion of zooplankton over coral reefs: III: vertical gradient of predation pressure

Many diurnal planktivorous fish in coral reefs efficiently consume zooplankton drifting in the overlying water column. Our survey, carried out at two coral reefs in the Red Sea, showed that most of the diurnal planktivorous fish foraged near the bottom, close to the shelters from piscivores. The planktivorous fish were order of magnitude more abundant near (

Are US coral reefs on the slippery slope to slime?

Conservation of U.S. coral reefs has been sidetracked by the partial implementation of management plans without clearly achievable goals. Historical ecology reveals global patterns of coral reef degradation that provide a framework for reversing reef decline with ecologically meaningful metrics for success. The authors of this Policy Forum urge action now to address multiple threats simultaneously, because the harmful effects of stressors like overfishing, pollution, poor land-use practices, and global warming are interdependent. Prompt implementation of proven, practical solutions would lead to both short- and long-term benefits, including the return of keystone species and the economic benefits they entail.

Allozyme electrophoresis still represents a powerful technique in the management of coral reefs

Understanding genetic variability and gene flow between populations of scleractinian corals separated by one to several hundred kilometers is crucially important as we head into a century of climate change in which an understanding of the connectivity of populations is a critically important question in management. Genetic methods that directly use molecular variance in the DNA should offer greater precision in detecting differences among individuals and populations than the more traditional allozyme electrophoresis. However, this paper highlights the point that the limited number of DNA markers that have been identified for scleractinian coral genetic studies do not necessarily offer greater precision than that offered by allozymes. In fact, at present allozyme electrophoresis yields greater information than the eight different DNA markers used in this study. Given the relative ease of use of allozymes and the wealth of comparable data sets from numerous previously published studies, allozyme electrophoresis should not be dismissed for population structure and connectivity studies on coral reefs. While continued effort should be placed into searching for new DNA markers, until a more sensitive DNA marker becomes available for scleractinian corals, allozyme electrophoresis remains a powerful and relevant technique for understanding the connectivity of coral population studies.

Ecological persistence interrupted in Caribbean coral reefs [Letter]

The recent mass mortality of Caribbean reef corals dramatically altered reef community structure and begs the question of the past stability and persistence of coral assemblages before human disturbance began. We report within habitat stability in coral community composition in the Pleistocene fossil record of Barbados for at least 95 000 years despite marked variability in global sea level and climate. Results were consistent for surveys of both common and rare taxa. Comparison of Pleistocene and modern community structure shows that Recent human impacts have changed coral community structure in ways not observed in the preceding 220 000 years.

Mass mortality following disturbance in Holocene coral reefs from Papua New Guinea

The frequency and intensity of disturbance on living coral reefs have been accelerating for the past few decades, resulting in a changed seascape. What is unclear but vital for management is whether this acceleration is natural or coincident only with recent human impact. We surveyed nine uplifted early to mid-Holocene (11,000-3700 calendar [cal] yr B.P.) fringing and barrier reefs along similar to 27 km at the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. We found evidence for several episodes of coral mass mortality, but frequency was < 1 in 1500 yr. The most striking mortality event extends > 16 km along the ancient coastline, occurred ca. 9100-9400 cal yr B.P., and is associated with a volcanic ash horizon. Recolonization of the reef surface and resumption of vertical reef accretion was rapid (< 100 yr), but the post-disturbance reef communities contrasted with their pre-disturbance counterparts. Assessing the frequency, nature, and long-term ecological consequences of mass-mortality events in fossil coral reefs may provide important insights to guide management of modern reefs in this time of environmental degradation and change.

On the modelling of wave breaking and set-up on coral reefs

An extended refraction-diffraction equation [Massel, S.R., 1993. Extended refraction-diffraction equation for surface waves. Coastal Eng. 19, 97-126] has been applied to predict wave transformation and breaking as well as wave-induced set-up on two-dimensional reef profiles of various shapes. A free empirical coefficient alpha in a formula for the average rate of energy dissipation [epsilon(b)] = (alpha rho g omega/8 pi)(root gh/C)(H-3/h) in the modified periodic bore model was found to be a function of the dimensionless parameter F-c0 = (g(1.25)H(0)(0.5)T(2.5))/h(r)(1.75), proposed by Gourlay [Gourlayl M.R., 1994. Wave transformation on a coral reef. Coastal Eng. 23, 17-42]. The applicability of the developed model has been demonstrated for reefs of various shapes subjected to various incident wave conditions. Assuming proposed relationships of the coefficient alpha and F-c0, the model provides results on wave height attenuation and set-up elevation which compare well with experimental data. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Holocene climate records in coral reefs from the South China Sea

Coral reefs, excellent climatic and environmental archives in tropical oceans, are widely distributed in the South China Sea (SCS), which is the largest enclosed marginal sea of western Pacific, covering over 20° in latitude and different climate conditions. Our recent research in the SCS focuses on coral-based high-resolution climate reconstruction and coral reef ecological responses using geochemical and U-series geochronological tools, which provide an ideal opportunity for understanding of Holocene climate processes and events. Some major research highlights are summarized below: