Ecosystem-level impacts of community-based coral reef rehabilitation by Puerto Rico Sea Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY FORM (90-2)

UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO SEA GRANT COLLEGE PROGRAM

Title: Ecosystem-level impacts of community-based coral reef health rehabilitation in light of rapidly evolving ecological paradigms

Project Number:

Grant Number:

Revision Date:

Initiation Date: February 1, 2014

Sub Program: Completion Date: January 31, 2016

Principal Investigator: Samuel E. Suleimán-Ramos, M.A.

Affiliation: Sociedad Ambiente Marino, San Juan, P.R.

Associated Investigator: Edwin A. Hernández-Delgado, Ph.D.

Affiliation: Univ Puerto Rico, Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, San Juan, P.R.

Proposed Federal Funds: $59,988

Current Federal Funds: $0

Total Federal Funds to Date: $0

Current Pass-Through Funds: $0

Related Projects: $0

Proposed Match Funds: $61,984

Current Match Funds: $0

Total Match Funds to Date: $0

Parent Projects: $0

Sea Grant Classification: Healthy Ecosystems and Habitats (HEH)

Keywords: Acropora cervicornis, Community-based coral reef restoration, Ecosystem functions rehabilitation, Fish and benthic community enhancement, Resilience management

Objectives: This project is aimed at addressing two critical management-oriented questions: 1) What is the impact of coral reef rehabilitation on the ecosystem-level functions and resilience?; and 2) What are the impacts of LBSP on the ecosystem level outcomes of coral reef restoration?

Methodology: We will address this through long-term monitoring of four separate cohorts (0, 1, 2, 4 year-old) of transplanted Acropora cervicornis colonies, addressing temporal changes in several environmental parameters directly or potentially impacted by land-based source pollution and climate change, and addressing impacts of ecological restoration on fish community structure, fish recruitment rates, fish and macro-invertebrate herbivore guilds, benthic community structure, and coral recruitment rates within the no-take Canal Luis Peña Natural Reserve, Culebra Island, PR.

Rationale: We propose to address the ecosystem-level impacts of a reduction in open areas for algal colonization (after increasing coral densities by outplanting harvested Acropora cervicornis colonies from existing coral farms), fostering increasing abundance and biomass of herbivore fish functional groups and Diadema antillarum. This will trigger a positive feedback mechanism where increased coral cover would lead to increased benthic structural complexity and positive feedbacks due to increased fish recruitment and to the surplus in grazing intensity. This will in turn reduce macroalgal cover, foster increased crustose coralline algal cover and increased coral recruitment. We propose to integrate a suite of ecosystem-level parameters to address the impacts of coral reef restoration efforts on fostering positive feedback mechanisms and addressing key priority resilience indicators that will target critical emerging ecological paradigms and challenges for reef managers in face of current and forecasted climate change trends.

SEA GRANT BUDGET FORM 90-4

GRANTEE: Sociedad Ambienta Marino

Control No. 0648-0362 Expiration Date 9/30/2004

GRANT/PROJECT NO.:

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Samuel E. Suleimán-Ramos DURATION (months) : 24 months Yr. 1

SALARIES AND WAGES: man-months

1. Senior Personnel

a. Principal Investigator: 1

2. Other Personnel

a. Professionals:

b. Research Associates: 5

c. Res. Asst./Grad. Students:

d. Prof. School Students:

e. Pre-Bachelor Student(s):

f. Secretarial-Clerical:

g. Technicians:

h. Other:

GRANTEE: Sociedad Ambienta Marino

GRANT/PROJECT NO.:

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Samuel E. Suleimán-Ramos DURATION (months) : 24 months Yr. 2

SALARIES AND WAGES: man-months

1. Senior Personnel People of Effort Funds

a. Principal Investigator: 1

b. Associates (Faculty or Staff): 1

2. Other Personnel

a. Professionals:

b. Research Associates: 5

c. Res. Asst./Grad. Students:

d. Prof. School Students:

e. Pre-Bachelor Student(s):

f. Secretarial-Clerical:

g. Technicians:

h. Other: Total Salaries and Wages:

E. TRAVEL:

F. PUBLICATION AND DOCUMENTATION COSTS:

COST (On campus % of ):

COST (Off campus 10% of ):

Indirect Cost:

GRANTEE: Sociedad Ambienta Marino

GRANT/PROJECT NO.:

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Samuel E. Suleimán-Ramos DURATION (months) : 24 months Cummulative

SALARIES AND WAGES: man-months No.

1. Senior Personnel People of Effort Funds Funds

a. Principal Investigator: 1

b. Associates (Faculty or Staff): 1

2. Other Personnel

a. Professionals:

b. Research Associates: 5

c. Res. Asst./Grad. Students:

d. Prof. School Students:

e. Pre-Bachelor Student(s):

f. Secretarial-Clerical:

g. Technicians:

h. Other: Total Salaries and Wages:

E. TRAVEL:

F. PUBLICATION AND DOCUMENTATION COSTS:

COST (On campus % of ):

COST (Off campus 10% of ):

Indirect Cost:

No permanent equipment will be obtained.

Ecosystem-level impacts of community-based coral reef rehabilitation in light of rapidly evolving ecological paradigms

Samuel E. Suleimán-Ramos, M.A.

Sociedad Ambiente Marino, PO Box 22158, San Juan, PR 00931-2158 samuelsuleiman@gmail.com

Edwin A. Hernández-Delgado, Ph.D.

University of Puerto Rico, Department of Biology, Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, Coral Reef Research Group, PO Box 23360, San Juan, P.R. 00931-3360 coral_giac@yahoo.com

BACKGROUND AND PROJECT RELEVANCE

The long-term combined impacts of local human-driven factors, such as land-based source pollution (LBSP), water quality decline and overfishing, as well as large-scale climate changerelated factors, such as massive coral bleaching and mass coral mortalities, have resulted in a large-scale alteration of coral reef community dynamics and in the large-scale demise of coral assemblages1-4. These have often resulted in a net coral reef decline and in often irreversible benthic community phase shifts5-7, with critical impacts on a sort of coral and fish functional groups 8, which might impair significant coral reef ecosystem functions. The 2005 unprecedented sea surface warming episode and massive coral reef bleaching event caused an unprecedented coral mortality event across the northeastern Caribbean region, including P.R., that mostly impacted large reef-building taxa9-12 . Eight years later there is still no net recovery reef communities have followed a significantly different trajectory largely dominated by macroalgal growth13,14. Modeling evidence further suggests that, under current climate change trends, critical Atlantic reef-building taxa might be at the peril of extinction in the near future14 and that coral reef communities across global scales will undergo further dramatic episodes of decline over the course of the 21st century15-17, with major irreversible socio-economic consequences18 Unequivocally, these trends point out at the need to vigorously implement integrated management strategies that support reef resilience, complemented by strong policy decisions19 , to reduce the rate of impacts associated to a suite of local human-driven factors and climate

change. But such integration requires also strong, management-oriented, novel scientific supporting research with a strong community-based integrative and participatory approach.

A suite of conservation- and restoration-oriented tools have been implemented to mitigate or restore such impacts. In the particular case of P.R., this has included: 1) The identification of management priority areas, which includes Culebra Island, the top-ranked coral reef management priority site in P.R. (CPR and NOAA/CRCP (2010); 2) The identification and ranking of management priority actions through the Local Action Strategies for coral reef conservation 2011-2015 (DNER and NOAA, 2011); 3) The designation and management of notake marine protected areas (MPAs) such as Canal Luis Peña Natural Reserve (CLPNR), Culebra, first no-take MPA in P.R.20,21; and 4) The successful implementation since 2003 of lowtech community-based coral aquaculture efforts and coral reef restoration in Culebra through the Community-Based Coral Aquaculture and Reef Rehabilitation Program led by Sociedad Ambiente Marino (SAM) and the Coral Reef Research Group (CRRG) of the University of Puerto Rico, which are also the main partners of this project. The Program has successfully propagated and reintroduced over 12,000 threatened Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) colonies around Culebra. Though impacts at the coral population level have been thoroughly documented suggesting the potential of restoration to stimulate recovery in systems of intermediate health, its long-term impacts on aspects such as ecosystem dynamics, resilience, ecological functions and services have not been adequately addressed yet.

The dynamics of coral reefs is characterized by a combination of positive and negative feedback mechanisms. A reef might follow a positive or negative feedback mechanism depending on whether herbivory intensity is sufficiently high (top-down mechanism)22-24 or whether LBSP and eutrophication are properly controlled (bottom-up mechanism)25 that macroalgal blooms are prevented from occurring. Grazing rates could also be influenced by algal species composition26. Depending on the interactions of top-down and bottom-up feedback mechanisms, as well as on algal species composition, reef communities might follow different trajectories27. Therefore, macroalgal blooms often occur in systems characterized by rapid algal growth (i.e., from LBSP, low- grazing rates, or a combination of both) and by abundant open areas available for macroalgal settlement, such as reefs where recent large-scale coral mortality has occurred24,28. Any factor that could potentially lead to coral death or could reduce levels of herbivory will leave more substrate open for macroalgal colonization or make the effects of even low-level nutrient enrichment more severe29. This suggests that a key target to manage coral reef resilience should be reducing open substrate areas prone to macroalgal colonization by either increasing percent coral cover, increasing herbivore guilds, increasing herbivory rates, reducing LBSP, or a combination of any of the above.

Long-term trends documented in Culebra Island and elsewhere around P.R. have shown that macroalgae have become the dominant component of many coral reefs13,14. If macroalgae dominates open available substrates, they might permanently inhibit coral recruitment, and in the long run affect natural coral recovery ability from disturbance30. Evidence from northeastern Caribbean reefs already shows very low coral recruitment rates, particularly of large reefbuilding coral species31,32. These types of reefs often require the highest level of grazing intensity to prevent further macroalgal blooms from taking place. Thus, in support of existing fishing management within CLPNR we have an ongoing coral reef rehabilitation program. Evidence from preliminary studies already points out at increasing fish abundance and biodiversity within restored sites in comparison to control sites33. Ideally, reefs should be managed to ensure a surplus in grazing capacity28 that even in areas with abundant algal settlement substrate (which dilutes grazing intensity), there would be sufficiently high herbivore fish biomass to overwhelm the ability of macroalgae to bloom34. The proposed project precisely has the goal of addressing the ecosystem-level impacts of a reduction in open areas for algal colonization (after increasing coral densities by outplanting harvested colonies from existing coral farms), fostering increasing abundance and biomass of herbivore fish functional groups and of the Long-spine sea urchin

(Diadema antillarum) within restored sites in comparison to control areas. This approach will trigger a positive feedback mechanism where increased coral cover would lead to increased benthic structural complexity and positive feedbacks due to increased fish recruitment and to the surplus in grazing intensity28. This will in turn reduce macroalgal cover, foster increased crustose coralline algal (CCA) cover and increased coral recruitment. We propose to expand our current long-term monitoring efforts of the Community-Based Coral Aquaculture and Reef Rehabilitation Program to integrate a suite of ecosystem-level parameters to address the impacts of our coral reef restoration efforts on fostering positive feedback mechanisms. This project will address key priority resilience indicators that will target critical emerging ecological paradigms and difficult challenges for reef managers in face of current and forecasted climate change trends35-38

This project will conduct applied research that will directly contribute to improved management, will include prompt mechanisms to disseminate information to resource managers in addition to peer-reviewed publications, and will be in compliance with listed jurisdictional coral reef management priorities (see support letter provided by PRDNER). This project will specifically address all four specific issue areas identified through the P.R. LAS for Coral Reef Conservation 2011-2015, including:

Issue Area A: Improve water quality and related reef systems by reducing pollutant inputs from terrestrial sources. Goal 2 (A2): Control and reduce pollutant transport to the marine environment. Objective 3 (A2.4): Establish water quality monitoring stations in coral reef ecosystem areas and add water quality monitoring components to established coral monitoring sites around P.R. Establish standards in terms of what to monitor for and how to ensure comparability of data across locations. Use data regarding areas where water quality is an issue to enhance agency decision-making related to issuance of permits. – This project will integrate monitoring of water quality parameters with the long-term ecological monitoring of the fate of transplanted colonies of threatened Acropora cervicornis, fish communities, fish recruitment, Diadema antillarum, benthic community structure, and coral recruitment. Impacts of a suite of water quality parameters on biological parameters addressed in this study will be tested using a combination of multivariate statistical approaches. Results will provide baseline information to develop conceptual models of impacts, as well as important management-oriented information regarding LBSP impacts on coral reef communities and on ecological rehabilitation success. This information will be useful for managers and decision-makers to establish specific guidelines and/or rules useful to enhance agency decision-making related to issuance of permits.

Issue Area B: Apply immediate protection to commercial, recreational and artisanal coral reef fisheries and related coral ecosystems by employing available and known management tools to protect and conserve. Goal 4 (Goal B2+B3): Enhance enforcement, management and education programs to encourage public compliance with fishing regulations and reduce impacts of fishing to coral reef ecosystems. Objective 2 (B1.3): Search for and identify management tools that could be applied to fisheries and related ecosystem protection and management in Puerto Rico. – This project will expand the existing implementation of novel low-tech coral farming and reef rehabilitation tools to conserve and restore coral reef fisheries. It will also address the emergent management needs to integrate adaptive, ecosystem-based management approaches into the challenging ecological paradigms of managing coral reef fisheries under the increasing threats imposed by sea surface warming trends and ocean acidification, while integrating community-based participation. Results and models developed from this project will provide emergent tools to reef managers to improve the effectiveness of

reef-based fisheries management and integrate management of fisheries, coral reef restoration and mitigation of climate change impacts into a conceptual model of impacts and management implications. This will help managers and decision-makers guide future management decisions.

Issue Area C: Reduce those human impacts that are most critical to corals’ protection and health. Goal 6 (C2): Enable and promote sustainable development practices in the coastal zone and upland areas of Puerto Rico that are associated with priority coral reef areas. Objective 3 (C2.3): Support the effective management of existing protected areas (such as natural reserves, state forests, and national parks and wildlife refuges) within or adjacent to coastal areas, including the development and implementation of management plans – This project will support existing efforts by PRDNER and NOAA to manage CLPNR, and will help advance the implementation of its management plan. By addressing the ecosystem-level impacts of coral reef rehabilitation, we will contribute important management-oriented data to guide future efforts to promote sustainable development practices for managing coral reef resources, as well as a suite of guidelines for sustainable development practices for Culebra Island, with potential applications to other small islands across the wider Caribbean region.

Issue Area D: Manage for climate change and diseases emanating from increase in storm frequency and impact, water temperature and air pollution and promote recovery of reefs from previous events. Goal 8 (D1 modified): Promote recovery of reefs from natural stressors, atmospheric phenomena and invasive species. Objective 1 (DI.1): Identify areas of high diversity and live coral coverage for additional protection and expand existing protected areas to include these areas Objective 2 (DI.2): Support more research on coral diseases and on the relationship of bleaching to disease; support more research on coral resistance to bleaching/disease and resilience following global, regional and local stressors and on possible effects of climate change on coral reefs and other ecosystems.. Objective 3 (DI.4): Strengthen response capability when natural disasters occur. – This project will also contribute important information with potential modeling applications to help developing management guidelines for climate change and coral diseases. Further, it will foster addressing the ecosystem-level recovery rates of reefs from natural stressors and will target restored reef areas where preliminary data have already shown increasing fish abundance and biodiversity on areas where restoration has increased coral density and percent cover on selected areas. In addition, this study will expand on the current efforts to document the impacts of coral diseases, the relationship of bleaching to disease, and the effect of coral resistance to bleaching/disease and resilience of transplanted A. cervicornis colonies.

This project will have a paramount and novel significance to the conservation and rehabilitation of U.S. coral reef ecosystems by addressing a suite of emergent ecological paradigms in coral reef conservation- and restoration-oriented management: 1) It will address the emergent challenge of a need for a suite of adaptive management strategies to address new coral reef ecological paradigms by simultaneously addressing issues regarding coral farming, reef restoration, reef-based fisheries management, ecosystem-based coral reef management, LBSP, climate change-related impacts, community-based integration, and the development of conceptual models to address future multi-disciplinary management challenges; 2) It will provide guidance to reef managers and decision-makers regarding the ecosystem-level benefits of coral farming and reef restoration efforts. This should further allow the delineation of specific guidelines to implement future reef restoration efforts across the Caribbean region to promote cost-effective ecosystem-scale recovery; 3) It will quantify the long-term ecosystem-level impacts of reef rehabilitation across multiple organizational and functional scales (i.e., from the restored coral population dynamics level, to the benthic community assemblage, and to coral recruitment rates, as well as from fish community structure, to herbivore guilds, fish recruitment, Diadema antillarum densities, and herbivory activity); 4) It will integrate for the first time ecosystem-level quantitative impacts of reef restoration with water quality data (to address potential impacts from LBSP, storms or climate change) in an approach that will provide

important multi-disciplinary information to shape future Acroporid coral recovery plans, as well as future coral reef restoration plans; 5) This project will also provide critical baseline information to parameterize coral population models to guide future Acroporid corals restoration in the future. It will also provide baseline data to parameterize models to address ecosystem-level responses under variable environmental (water quality) scenarios and under variable fishing impact scenarios; 6) Modeling products will provide the basis to guide largescale management of future coral reef rehabilitation efforts, as well a theoretical guidance for testing future rehabilitation efforts across other Caribbean reefs; 7) This project will provide novel low-tech management tools to shape future efforts to recover fish communities, herbivore fish guilds, long-spine sea urchin densities, reduce macroalgal cover, and recover coral densities and percent living cover to foster enhanced ecosystem resilience under increasing threats by local human-driven factors and climate change; 8) It will also provide a natural management-oriented experimental tool to train and educate managers on the implementation of novel management tools to with emerging management challenges under present and future climate change scenarios; 9) This project will provide multiple lesson-learning experiences useful for managers to adaptively modify management actions, review and amend existing management plans, and to develop a set of minimum guidelines to drive future managementoriented decision-making processes, including reef restoration efforts to maximize their ecosystem-level impacts, while at the same time address emerging threats and integrate challenging multi-disciplinary ecological paradigms into day to day management actions; and 10) It will strengthen community-based participatory roles into coral reef management, by maintaining its continuously successful formula of integrating community volunteers with SAM members, academic researchers, and reef managers following a transformative, hands-on educational model that can be used as model to other Caribbean Islands.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

Low-tech coral farming has become one of the most successful management tools to help replenish depleted coral populations across the wider Caribbean. The Canal Luis Peña Natural Reserve (CLPNR), Culebra Island, PR, was designated as the first no-take MPA in P.R. in 1999 and supports since 2003 the Community-Based Coral Aquaculture and Reef Rehabilitation Program lead by our research team. Though impacts at the coral population level have been thoroughly documented suggesting the high potential of low-tech restoration to stimulate recovery in systems of intermediate health, its impacts on reef ecosystem dynamics, resilience, ecological functions and services have not been adequately addressed yet. The goals of this project will be addressing two critical management-oriented questions: 1) What is the impact of coral reef rehabilitation on the ecosystem-level functions and resilience?; and 2) What are the impacts of LBSP on the ecosystem level outcomes of coral reef restoration? We will address this through long-term monitoring of four separate cohorts (0, 1, 2, 4 year-old) of transplanted Acropora cervicornis colonies, addressing temporal changes in several environmental parameters directly or potentially impacted by land-based source pollution and climate change, and addressing impacts of ecological restoration on fish community structure, fish recruitment rates, fish and macro-invertebrate herbivore guilds, benthic community structure, and coral recruitment rates within the no-take CLPNR. This will provide managers and decision-makers enhanced tools to improve management preparedness and response to guide future efforts aimed at the recovery of fishing impacts and reef decline, managing emerging local needs, at the

implementation of adaptive approaches to manage climate change impacts, and elucidate current and emerging management-oriented ecological paradigms.

Project objectives will be: 1) Address the ecological fate of four separate cohorts of harvested and transplanted A. cervicornis colonies; 2) Address the impact of ecological restoration on several ecosystem-wide ecological indicator parameters under contrasting restoration impacts following a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design; 2) Test the impacts of coral reef restoration on benthic rugosity on local scales, and how does increasing benthic rugosity impact ecosystem-wide ecological indicator parameters; and 3) Address the impact of the temporal variation of environmental parameters on ecological restoration. Several null hypotheses will be tested: H0-1: Cohort age (=size) will have no significant impact in fish community structure, herbivore guild density and biomass, fish recruitment, Diadema antillarum density, and benthic community structure. H0-2: Coral outplanting treatment will have no impact on any of the above parameters in comparison to control (no transplanting) sites (Spatial patterns – control vs. impact). H0-3: Coral outplanting treatment (impact-after) will have no impact on any of the above parameters in comparison to impact-before (Temporal patterns – before vs. after). H0-4: Increasing benthic rugosity will have no impact on any of the above parameters. H0-5: Water quality parameters will show no significant temporal variation.

METHODOLOGY

Study site – The proposed project will be conducted at Arrecife El Banderote, Bahía Tamarindo, within the no-take CLPNR Culebra Island, PR (18°18.889’N, 65°19.103W). Coral transplanting areas are located at depths ranging from 2.5 to 5 m on open reef substrates.

Task #1: Coral transplant monitoring – We propose test the null hypotheses that the ecological fate of transplanted Staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis) will not be affected by cohort age (=size). This will be tested by implementing a long-term monitoring approach to address the ecological fate of four separate cohorts of transplanted A. cervicornis colonies (0, 1, 2, 4 year-old) along a 24-month period of time by quantifying coral population metrics in the context of variable time scales and of temporal changes in water quality. Briefly, each existing transplant patch consists of roughly 80-100 colonies in approximate areas of 20-25 m2 of reef bottom. There are areas with older (=larger) transplanted colonies which have lower coral densities, but larger sizes compensate in area coverage. Each plot supports a density ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 colonies/m2 . For this project the 0 year-old cohort will actually be a cohort projected for transplanting during January 2014 from an ongoing project by SAM. All other cohorts were already transplanted in 2010, 2012, and 2013. Therefore, baseline information for this project for all of the four cohorts will be obtained at time 0 (January, 2014). Fragment survival, skeletal extension, branch production, branchiness index (# harvestable branches >6 cm), % living tissue cover, % recent and old mortality, % disease prevalence, bleaching index, % bleaching frequency, causes of mortality, and predator density (snails, fireworm, damselfish) will be monitored at randomly selected and permanently marked fragments within each cohort at increasing time intervals. A total of four replicate plots per cohort will be sampled and 20 coral colonies/plot will be randomly selected, tagged, geo-referenced and permanently monitored. Data will be tested using a two-way multivariate permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) model39 with Time (0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months), and Cohort (0, 1, 2, 4 year-old) as main variables. This approach will provide important metrics to managers to determine success of Staghorn coral restoration efforts and will provide baseline information useful to parameterize in the future size-staged matrix population models (to be performed in a separate future project) to identify the critical stages in coral transplanting success under different environmental conditions.

Task #2: Fish community structure – We propose to test two null hypotheses regarding the ecological impacts of reef rehabilitation on coral reef fish communities: 1) There will be no significant difference in reef rehabilitation impacts on fish community structure among the four different outplanted coral cohort treatments; and 2) There will be no significant difference in fish community structure between restored and control unaltered sites. Fish counts will be conducted following a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design at each one of the four replicate control plots and the four replicate impact plots for each of the four coral outplant cohorts four times before* (*fish community “before” data are being collected through other project for control and impacts during 2012 and 2013) and eight times after at 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 month intervals after outplanting. Data will be collected through 5 min periods of time/count within 100 m 2 stationary circular transects on fixed stations per site, following a modification of Bohnsack and Bannerot40. Fish abundance and estimated fork lengths will be determined and used to estimate biomass at the lowest taxa possible. Data will include abundance and biomass of individual species, fishery target species, fish functional groups and families, and species diversity index (H’n)41 and evenness (J’n)42,43. BACI data will be analyzed by means of a multivariate two-way PERMANOVA test using time (before, after outplant) and treatment (control, impact-4 cohorts) as main variables. Also, we will use the multivariate routines DIVERSE and TAXDTEST to test taxonomic diversity and distinctness over variable treatment levels and temporal scales44. The BEST and LINKTREE routines44 will also be used to link potential environmental drivers (water quality data described below) to observed fish assemblage patterns. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) will be used to test hypotheses regarding fish community structure indicator species44 . Also fish community characterizations will be made at the level of individual fish species, selected fishery-targeted species, and trophic or functional groups. This approach will allow testing multiple hypotheses regarding impacts of reef rehabilitation on fish communities in the context of fishing management efforts and in the context of water quality impacts which will provide crucial information for managers.

Task #3: Herbivore fish guilds –Two null hypotheses regarding the ecological impacts of reef rehabilitation on herbivore fish guilds will be tested: 1) There will be no significant difference in reef rehabilitation impacts on herbivore fish guilds among the four different outplanted coral cohort treatments; and 2) There will be no significant difference in herbivore fish guilds between restored and control unaltered sites. Herbivore-specific data will be extracted from fish counts described above. A similar BACI approach will be used for sampling and statistical analysis design. This approach will also allow testing multiple hypotheses regarding impacts of reef rehabilitation on herbivore fish guilds in the context of fishing management efforts and in the context of water quality impacts which will also provide valuable information for managers.

Task #4: Fish recruit densities – Two null hypotheses regarding the ecological impacts of reef rehabilitation on fish recruit densities will be tested: 1) There will be no significant difference in reef rehabilitation impacts on fish recruit densities among the four different outplanted coral cohort treatments; and 2) There will be no significant difference in fish recruit densities between restored and control unaltered sites. Fish recruit-specific data will be extracted from fish counts described above. A similar BACI approach will be used for sampling and statistical analysis design. This approach will also allow testing multiple hypotheses regarding impacts of reef rehabilitation on fish recruit densities in the context of fishing management efforts and in the context of water quality impacts which will also provide important information for managers.

Task #5: Long-spine sea urchin densities – We will test two null hypotheses regarding the ecological impacts of reef rehabilitation on Long-spine sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) densities: 1) There will be no significant difference in reef rehabilitation impacts on D. antillarum densities among the four different outplanted coral cohort treatments; and 2) There will be no significant difference in D. antillarum densities between restored and control unaltered sites. Sea urchin densities will be quantified within each impact and control 25 m2 plot following a BACI design as described above. Sea urchin test size will be documented with calipers during each count to address size class distribution. Statistical analysis will follow a nearly similar design to that of fish counts. This approach will allow testing multiple hypotheses regarding impacts of reef rehabilitation on D. antillarum densities in the context of fishing management efforts and in the context of water quality impacts which will also provide vital information for managers.

Task #6: Benthic community structure – Two null hypotheses regarding the ecological impacts of reef rehabilitation on coral reef benthic community structure will be tested: 1) There will be no significant difference in reef rehabilitation impacts on benthic community structure among the four different transplanted coral cohort treatments; and 2) There will be no significant difference in benthic community structure between restored and control unaltered sites. Benthic data will be collected from each impact and control 25 m2 plot following a BACI design as described above. Briefly, data will be collected from a roughly 25 m2 using a permanently-fixed 4.5 m2 phoquadrat grid (subdivided in twelve 0.75 x 0.50 m subquadrats) per plot. Each highdefinition image will be used to address data such as coral species richness, coral colony abundance, as well as percentage cover of all major epibenthic components (i.e., corals, algal functional groups, sponges, other macroinvertebrates and other benthic categories), and the coral species diversity index, H’n41, and species evenness, J’n42. Data will be collected and analyzed following a BACI design at each one of the four replicate control plots and the four replicate impact sites for each of four coral transplant cohorts four times before* (*benthic community “before” has been collected during 2013 before the beginning of the project) and eight times after at 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 month intervals after outplanting. BACI data will be analyzed by means of a multivariate two-way PERMANOVA test using time (before, after transplant) and treatment (control, impact-4 cohorts) as main variables. Also, we will use the multivariate routines DIVERSE and TAXDTEST to test taxonomic diversity and distinctness over variable spatio-temporal scales44. The BEST and LINKTREE routines44 will also be used to link potential environmental drivers (water quality data described below) to observed benthic assemblage patterns. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) will be used to test hypotheses regarding benthic community structure indicator species44 This approach will allow testing multiple hypotheses regarding impacts of reef rehabilitation on benthic community structure in the context of fishing management efforts and in the context of water quality impacts which will provide crucial information for managers.

Task #7: Coral recruit densities – We propose to test two null hypotheses regarding the ecological impacts of reef rehabilitation on coral recruit densities: 1) There will be no significant difference in reef rehabilitation impacts on coral recruit densities among the four different transplanted coral cohort treatments; and 2) There will be no significant difference in coral recruit densities between restored and control unaltered sites. Coral recruit densities will be quantified within each impact and control 25 m2 plot following a BACI design as described above. Statistical analysis will follow a nearly similar design to that of benthic community structure. This approach will allow testing multiple hypotheses regarding impacts of reef rehabilitation on coral recruit densities in the context of fishing management efforts and in the context of water quality impacts which will also provide vital information for managers.

Task #8: Spatio-temporal changes in water quality parameters – The null hypothesis of no spatio-temporal changes in water quality parameters will be tested by monthly monitoring of parameters directly or potentially impacted by LBSP and by climate change-related phenomena.

Sampling will be conducted across a distance gradient across five sites (Tamarindo Beach, halfway between beach and Arrecife El Banderote, and north, west and south of the reef). Each parameter will be sampled in triplicates during each effort. Horizontal water transparency will be measured using a 51-cm oceanographic Secchi disk. Turbidity will be determined with a LaMotte portable turbidimeter. Dissolved nutrients (NO3, NO2, NH4, and PO4) and pH will be determined using a LaMotte Smart2 portable spectrophotometer. Chlorophyll-a and Optical Brighteners (OABs) concentration will be determined using a Turner Designs portable fluorometer. Irradiance will be simultaneously determined using a Hobo Pendant temperature/irradiance data logger for 5 min intervals at 3 m depth of each sampling site

Temperature, salinity and conductivity will be continuously recorded using Hobo U24-002 data loggers. Dissolved oxygen concentration will be continuously recorded using Hobo U26-001 data loggers.

Sedimentation rates will be measured on monthly basis following a slight modification from Rogers et al.45. Briefly, sediment traps will be made using 20 x 5 cm pvc pipes with a permanent cap on the bottom. Five replicate traps will be deployed for 2-3 week-long periods on each site during each month. Traps will be capped, removed and placed on ice until analyzed. Sediment samples will be filtered through 45 μm pre-weighted polycarbonate filters, dried at 60˚C/24 hr and weighted again. Differences in weight will represent sediment deposition (mg/cm2/day).

Suspended solid material in the water column will be determined in triplicates on monthly basis. Briefly, 1 L samples will be collected in clean Nalgene plastic bottles and kept on ice until analyzed. Samples will be filtered through 45 μm pre-weighted polycarbonate filters, dried at 60˚C/24 hr and weighted again. Differences in weight will represent suspended solid material concentration (mg/L). Daily rainfall and pulse event rainfall data for Culebra will be collected through the project (as a proxy for potential runoff pulses) using a Hobo S-RGA-M002 sensor.

Environmental data will be tested following a two-way multivariate PERMANOVA design with Time (mean monthly values) and Sampling site (MPA, non-MPA) as main variables. A similar two-way PERMANOVA test will be made with Season (winter 2014, spring 2014, summer 2014, fall 2014, winter 2015, spring 2015, summer 2015, fall 2015), and Sampling site (MPA, non-MPA) as main variables. Water quality parameters will also be tested using mean daily rainfall, monthly rainfall, seasonal rainfall, and pulse events following the multivariate BEST procedure in PRIMER-e Statistical Package44 to link potential rainfall drivers to an observed water quality parameter assemblage pattern across different temporal scales, via the matching of multivariate structures. A similar process will also be followed for linking potential environmental drivers to observed assemblage patterns of coral data, fish community data, and benthic community data. Multivariate classification and regression linkage trees (LINKTREE) will be used to explain biological community assemblage patterns by environmental variables44 . Resemblance matrices of environmental and biological data will be correlated following the multivariate routine RELATE44. Outcomes of these analyses will provide important data for managers and decision-makers to address potential LBSP in Culebra and determine if there are any significant association between rainfall patterns and spatio-temporal patterns in water quality parameters that can provide insights on the need to establish specific runoff controls.

FACILITIES

The main facility that will be used during this project if the Culebra Island Field Station operated in Culebra Island by SAM. This is a small wooden house located in Dewey, Culebra. It

has two rooms and one bathroom, and can accommodate about 8 people. It has also storage facilities for maintaining SCUBA tanks, diving gears, and all materials necessary to carry out the project. This facility also has a laptop computer for quick data processing. Additional equipment such as two fully-equipped laptop computers and high-resolution digital cameras (2) necessary for data collection and analysis will be provided by the P.I.s.

ANTICIPATED BENEFITS

The proposed methodological approaches will provide a suite of management-oriented benefits that will help elucidate feedback mechanisms involved in coral reef conservation and restoration efforts, and that will allow implementation of basic conceptual and mathematical models to address such impacts on larger spatial and temporal scales. This approach will further provide a set of new or enhanced tools implemented to improve management preparedness and response to guide future efforts aimed at the recovery of fishing impacts, managing emerging local needs, and at the implementation of adaptive approaches to manage climate change impacts, and elucidate current and emerging ecological paradigms. This project will further address several emergent issues important for managers and decision-makers at NOAA and PRDNER regarding reef restoration, reef-based fisheries management, LBSP, climate change, community-based integration, and the development of conceptual models to address future multidisciplinary management challenges. It will also provide guidance regarding the ecosystem-level benefits of coral farming and reef restoration efforts, which will further allow the delineation of specific guidelines to implement future reef restoration efforts across the Caribbean region to promote cost-effective ecosystem-scale recovery. It will also quantify the long-term ecosystemlevel impacts of reef rehabilitation across multiple organizational and functional scales, and will integrate environmental parameters data in an approach to provide important multi-disciplinary information to shape future Acroporid coral recovery plans and coral reef restoration plans.

The project will have direct measurable impact now through several outreach/educational activities (described in the Data sharing section below), and in the future through several peerreviewed publications. Project’s outcomes, products and lessons learned will be mainly used by DNER and NOAA managers and decision makers. But information will also be available to a wide array of scientists, managers, NGOs, interested stakeholders and the general public through multiple dissemination efforts and media. As an example, one of the key users (DNER) provided us a strong support to this project (see support letter attached).

PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND PERSONNEL

The implementing organization for the project will be the Sociedad Ambiente Marino, Inc. (SAM). SAM was registered 12 years ago in the Commonwealth Department of State as a nonprofit, non-governmental organization. Also, it later got registered as a Federal exempt 501(c)3 organization. SAM has already previous experience administering grants from Federal agencies such as the NOAA-Coral Restoration Center/The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program, and from several other private sources. It has also a wellstructured board of directors with a President, Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer, and several vocals. SAM has also an Accountant to assist the President and Treasurer in keeping all accounting records, bills, logbooks and reports. Specific tasks of Co-P.I.s and project collaborators are listed below:

Samuel E. Suleimán-Ramos, M.A. – (P.I. 939-642-7264) Science Educator, SCUBA diving instructor, President Sociedad Ambiente Marino. He will be the Project Administrator, and coordinator of all project’s personnel and volunteer research assistants. He will address all logistics of field work and will assist in data collection and processing. He will coordinate all aspects of grant administration and reporting to Sea Grant.

Edwin A. Hernández-Delgado, Ph.D. – (Co-P.I. 787-449-0566)

Marine Ecologist. He will be the project Chief Scientist, and will be in charge of coordinating all of the scientific data collection, analysis and interpretation of the project. He will also coordinate technical training and supervision of research assistants, and will coordinate technical aspects of progress and final reports.

Research assistants. – Several graduate and undergraduate volunteer research assistants will participate in benthic data collection and in the outplaned coral monitoring efforts of the project. Some will participate in all aspects of fish data collection, processing, analysis and interpretation. Some others will participate in coral recruit and water quality data collection, processing, analysis and interpretation. Different volunteer student members of the Students Chapter of Sociedad Ambiente Marino (CESAM) will also collaborate in logistics of the project.

DATA SHARING PLAN

The proposed data sharing plan will be in compliance with NOAA Data Sharing Policy for Grants and Cooperative Agreements – Procedural Directive, Version 2.0. Briefly, our plan will be subdivided in three aspects: 1) Outreach/education; 2) Scientific presentations; 3) Peerreviewed publication of results and lessons learned; and 4) Data sharing with users.

Outreach/education – Two annual educational participatory activities including a beach/underwater clean up, educational excursions to coral farms and seminars will be conducted to interested stakeholders and base communities. This activity will be combined with an educational seminar open to the general public at the local Eco-School aimed at disseminating project’s outcomes and lessons learned to the Culebra Island base communities and visitors. Similarly, at least one similar annual seminar will be presented at any of the regular meetings of CESAM at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. Other outreach/educational seminars will be scheduled during the project duration to inform the general public about the project’s outcome, including at least an annual Sea Grant meeting. In addition, we plan to have at least an annual meeting with the DNER key management and decision-making personnel to share project’s outcomes, lessons learned, and management-oriented recommendations.

Scientific presentations – Data will also be shared with the local, national and international scientific communities through technical presentations in scientific meetings to discuss results and lessons learned with peers.

Peer-reviewed publications – Data will be widely disseminated with the global scientific community through peer-reviewed publications. Several manuscripts will be produced from this project, preliminary subdivided by the different topics addressed.

Data sharing with users – All data will be accompanied with metadata files and deposited at the UPR’s Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation (CATEC) data bank (currently under development). This will be a web-based deposit of data for CATEC’s research fellows to maintain their data banks. Data will be accessed after manuscripts have been published through agreements with the project’s P.I.’s. However, through the project, both SAM’s web page (currently under reconstruction) and CATEC’s web page will exhibit general information about the project, including general information for the general public with a pdf flier, frequently asked questions, project pictures, etc. In order to comply with the Information Quality Act, data made available to the public by the grantee will be accompanied by the following statement: “These environmental data have not been formally disseminated by NOAA, and do not represent and should not be construed to represent any agency determination, view, or policy” .

Sea Grant Funds

Personnel: During the first year of the project, the P.I. will receive a $3,800 compensation estimated at $350/day for four full days of benthic monitoring field work and 8 full days of water quality sampling and analysis. P.I. will be partially in charge of coordinating field work, and supervising volunteers. The Co-P.I. will receive a $6,300 compensation estimated at $350/day for 4 days each of benthic and fish monitoring work, and at $250/day for 14 days of data processing, statistical analyses and report drafting. He will also co-supervise project personnel and coordinate scientific activities and data processing and analysis. In addition, a total compensation of $5,000 is being requested for 4 research associates at $250/day for 4 days each of benthic monitoring, and for another one at $250/day for 4 days of fish monitoring. Also, funds are being requested for 1 additional person at $250/day for 8 days for water quality sampling. This is the minimum support necessary for organizing and participating in time-consuming field work. This will totalize $15,100.

Fringe benefits: None.

Permanent equipment: None

Expendable supplies and equipment: A total of $200 will be used for SCUBA tank air fills ($5/tank x 40 tanks). Also, $1,000 will be used in expendable supplies (i.e., underwater paper, underwater slates, coral tags, computer supplies, masonry nails, and other miscellaneous materials. These materials and services will be fundamental to complete the project. This will totalize $1,200.

Travel: This project involves extensive field work at Culebra Island. A total of $4,367 of travel funds was requested, and will be divided as follows: $1,600 for per diem expenses ($40/day x 40 person/days) for project’s personnel during field work; $126 for Fajardo-CulebraFajardo ferry transportation ($4.50/roundtrip x 28 person/trips); $342 for parking expenses at Fajardo pier for project’s personnel vehicles (at $5.35/day); $1,099 for mileage expenses for project’s personnel vehicles (at standard NOAA/TNC rate of $0.555/mile); $1,040 for vehicle rental in Culebra Island (at $65/day x maximum 16 days); and $160 for fuel expenses of rental vehicles (at $10/rental day). All of these expenses will be absolutely critical to carry out the project. Per diem expenses will be used to provide food supplies to project’s personnel during field work, ferry transportation is the only reasonable option to arrive to Culebra, parking and mileage expenses will be necessary to compensate standard transportation expenses by project’s personnel during field work, and the rental car and rental car fuel expenses will be necessary to transport project’s personnel, equipment and supplies to project’s site.

Other costs: A total of $6,600 was budgeted to cover house rental in Culebra Island at $550/month for a total of 12 months. The Department of Biology of the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras maintained between 2001 and 2009 a rental house in Culebra Island. The facilities have been operated since then by Sociedad Ambiente Marino (SAM). This has allowed personnel from the Coral Reef Research Group of the Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation (CATEC) and SAM to develop a successful coral reef research and reef restoration program there. The requested amount will be paramount to maintain rental of the house during the period of the proposed project. The grantee will not have further funds to rent that house after 2013. This project will involve extensive and frequent underwater field work in Culebra and maintaining the house will be crucial to accomplish project’s objectives. It will further benefit other projects carried out by the P.I., co-P.I., and other UPR researchers in Culebra Island.

Indirect costs: A total of $2,727 was requested to cover a 10% SAM’s indirect cost rate. This amount will be absolutely necessary to cover the minimum administrative costs that will be incurred by the grantee during the first year of the project. There are no other sources to cover that expense.

Match funds:

Personnel: During the first year of the project, the P.I. will provide an in kind donation of his time equivalent to $3,200 compensation estimated at $350/day. P.I. will also donate $5,800 of his time estimated at $350/day. In addition, a total compensation of $7,000 will be donated in kind by other project’s personnel at $250/day. In kind time donations will totalize $16,000

Fringe benefits: None.

Permanent equipment: None

Expendable supplies and equipment: A total of $13,992 will be donated by the grantee as an in kind use of equipment, including: $2,160 for full SCUBA diving gears use (i.e., buoyancy compensation device, regulator, console, octopus, compass, fins, mask, snorkel, weights), (estimated at standard tank rental rate in Culebra of $45/diving gear for a maximum of 48 person/dives); $432 for SCUBA tank use (estimated at standard tank rental rate in Culebra of $9/tank for 240 tanks); $5,400 for the in kind use of a portable Fluorometer (in vivo chlorophyll a, OABs), Turbidimeter (water turbidity), and Spectrophotometer (nutrient concentration analysis, dissolved oxygen, pH) (estimated at $150/day/instrument x 12 times); $4,500 for fullyequipped laptop computer for data and image processing, analysis, and report drafting (at $125/day x 36 days); and $1,500 for underwater high-resolution digital camera and housing for data collection (at $125/day x 12 days). These will be provided by the grantee in order to complete project’s objectives.

Travel: None

Other costs: A total of $1,000 will be donated in kind by the grantee during the development of two annual outreach and educational activities in Culebra Island that will include a beach clean up and educational seminars.

BUDGET JUSTIFICATION – YEAR 2

Sea Grant Funds

Fringe benefits: None.

Permanent equipment: None

Indirect costs: A total of $2,727 was requested to cover a 10% SAM’s indirect cost rate. This amount will be absolutely necessary to cover the minimum administrative costs that will be incurred by the grantee during the second year of the project. There are no other sources to cover that expense.

Match funds:

Fringe benefits: None.

Permanent equipment: None

equipped laptop computer for data and image processing, analysis, and report drafting (at $125/day x 36 days); and $1,500 for underwater high-resolution digital camera and housing for data collection (at $125/day x 12 days). These will be provided by the grantee in order to complete project’s objectives.

Travel: None

BUDGET JUSTIFICATION – CUMULATIVE*

Sea Grant Funds

Personnel: During the first year of the project, the P.I. will receive a $7,600 compensation estimated at $350/day for a total of 8 full days of benthic monitoring field work and 16 full days of water quality sampling and analysis. The Co-P.I. will receive a $12,600 compensation estimated at $350/day for a total of 8 days each of benthic and fish monitoring work, and at $250/day for a total of 28 days of data processing, statistical analyses and report drafting. In addition, a total compensation of $10,000 is being requested for 4 research associates at $250/day for a total of 8 days each of benthic monitoring, and for another one at $250/day for a total of 8 days of fish monitoring. Also, funds are being requested for 1 additional person at $250/day for a total of 16 days for water quality sampling. This is the minimum support necessary for organizing and participating in time-consuming field work. This will totalize $30,200

Fringe benefits: None.

Permanent equipment: None

Expendable supplies and equipment: A total of $400 will be used for SCUBA tank air fills ($5/tank x 80 total tanks). Also, $2,000 will be used in expendable supplies (i.e., underwater paper, underwater slates, coral tags, computer supplies, masonry nails, and other miscellaneous materials. These materials and services will be fundamental to complete the project. This will totalize $2,400

Travel: This project involves extensive field work at Culebra Island. A total of $8,734 of travel funds was requested, and will be divided as follows: $3,200 for per diem expenses ($40/day x total of 80 person/days) for project’s personnel during field work; $252 for FajardoCulebra-Fajardo ferry transportation ($4.50/roundtrip x total of 56 person/trips); $684 for total parking expenses at Fajardo pier for project’s personnel vehicles (at $5.35/day); $2,198 for total mileage expenses for project’s personnel vehicles (at standard NOAA/TNC rate of $0.555/mile); $2,080 for vehicle rental in Culebra Island (at $65/day x maximum 32 days); and $320 for fuel expenses of rental vehicles (at $10/rental day). All of these expenses will be absolutely critical to carry out the project.

Other costs: A total of $13,200 was budgeted to cover house rental in Culebra Island at $550/month for a total of 24 months. The requested amount will be paramount to maintain rental of the house during the period of the proposed project.

Indirect costs: A total of $5,454 was requested to cover a 10% SAM’s indirect cost rate. This amount will be absolutely necessary to cover the minimum administrative costs that will be

incurred by the grantee during the two years of the project. There are no other sources to cover that expense.

Match funds:

Personnel: During the first year of the project, the P.I. will provide an in kind donation of his time equivalent to $6,400 compensation estimated at $350/day. P.I. will also donate $11,600 of his time estimated at $350/day. In addition, a total compensation of $14,000 will be donated in kind by other project’s personnel at $250/day. In kind time donations will totalize $32,000.

Fringe benefits: None.

Permanent equipment: None

Expendable supplies and equipment: A total of $27,984 will be donated by the grantee as an in kind use of equipment, including: $4,320 for full SCUBA diving gears use (i.e., buoyancy compensation device, regulator, console, octopus, compass, fins, mask, snorkel, weights), (estimated at standard tank rental rate in Culebra of $45/diving gear for a total of 96 person/dives); $864 for SCUBA tank use (estimated at standard tank rental rate in Culebra of $9/tank for a total of 480 tanks); $10,800 for the in kind use of a portable Fluorometer (in vivo chlorophyll a, OABs), Turbidimeter (water turbidity), and Spectrophotometer (nutrient concentration analysis, dissolved oxygen, pH) (estimated at $150/day/instrument x a total of 24 times); $9,000 for fully-equipped laptop computer for data and image processing, analysis, and report drafting (at $125/day x a total of 72 days); and $3,000 for underwater high-resolution digital camera and housing for data collection (at $125/day x a total of 24 days). These will be provided by the grantee in order to complete project’s objectives.

Travel: None

Other costs: A total of $2,000 will be donated in kind by the grantee during the development of two annual outreach and educational activities in Culebra Island during the two year project that will include a beach clean up and educational seminars.

*Detailed calculations and justifications are provided in Years 1 and 2 budget justifications.

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PROJECT MILESTONE CHART

Deliverables

Month

Coral monitoring x x

WQ monitoring x

Fish counts x

Diadema counts x

Benthic monitoring x

Coral recruit counts x

Outreach/educ

Database, mgmt. recommendations, report

x Database, mgmt. recommendations, report

Database, mgmt. recommendations, report

Web page, reports, presentations, press, peer reviewed papers, seminars Specific

Month

Coral monitoring

WQ monitoring

Fish counts x

Diadema counts

Benthic monitoring x

Coral recruit counts x

Outreach/educ x

Database, mgmt. recommendations, report

x Database, mgmt. recommendations, report

Database, mgmt. recommendations, report

Web page, reports, presentations, press, peer reviewed papers, seminars

Final Report x Technical report, mgmt. recommendations

FIGURE 1. Proposed study site in Bahía Tamarindo (BTA), Culebra Island, P.R. BTA is located within the Canal Luis Peña no-take Natural Reserve.

LIST OF CURRENT OR PENDING RESEARCH SUPPORT

Effect of climate change and contrasting land use patterns on historical dynamics of reefbuilding corals in Puerto Rico (National Science Foundation; $5,000,000) – 2007-2014 To UPR/CATEC (P.I.’s Dr. Elvira Cuevas, Dr. Elvia Meléndez) – E.A. Hernández-Delgado (research fellow).

Sea surface warming as a determinant stressor of coral reef decline in the Caribbean: a multiscale, integrative approach to assess the impact of recurrent massive bleaching events (National Science Foundation-Research Supplement; $113,229) – 2011-2014 to UPR/CATEC (P.I.’s Dr. Elvira Cuevas, Dr. E.A. Hernández-Delgado).

Assessment of terrestrial sediment inputs and marine habitat conditions from Laguna Joyuda to Punta Guaniquilla, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico (NOAA/DNER; $27,500) – 2011-2013 to SAM (P.I.’s Mr. Samuel E. Suleimán, Dr. Carlos E. Ramos-Scharrón, Dr. E.A. Hernández-Delgado).

Expansion of the Puerto Rico Low-Tech Coral Aquaculture and Coral Reef Rehabilitation Project (NOAA/TNC; $181,794) – 2011-2013 to SAM (P.I.’s Mr. Samuel E. Suleimán, Dr. E.A. Hernández-Delgado).

University of Puerto Rico, Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, Coral Reef Research Group, PO Box 23360, San Juan, PR 00931-3360

http://upr.academia.edu/EdwinHernandez, http://catec.upr.edu, coral_giac@yahoo.com; edwin.hernandez13@upr.edu

Professional preparation

Position, Institution

Major/area

Undergraduate, University of Puerto Rico-Humacao Marine Biology

Graduate, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras Environmental Microbiology

Graduate, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras Coral Reef Ecology

Appointments

Research Fellow, CREST-Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation, UPR-RP, 2007-present

Lecturer, Department of Science and Technology, Universidad Metropolitana, 2013-present

Affiliate Researcher, Department of Biology, UPR-RP, 2005-present

Lecturer, Department of Biology, UPR-RP, 2004-2010

Degree, dates

B.Sc., June, 1988

M.Sc., June, 1992

Ph.D., June, 2000

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, PR-NSF-EPSCoR Program, Resource Center for Science & Engineering, UPR, 2004-05

Assistant Professor. Department of Biology, UPR-RP, 2001-2003

Contractor, U.S. Coral Reef Initiative, Dept. Natural and Environmental Resources, San Juan, PR, 2000-2003

Research Associate/Lecturer. Department of Biology, UPR-RP, 1999-2000

Lecturer, Universidad del Turabo, Department of Science and Technology, Gurabo, PR, 1997-2000

Recent publications

Williams, S.M., et al. 2013. Review of echinoderm research in Puerto Rico, with the focus on biological and ecological aspects. pp. 437-469, in, J.J. Alvarado & F.A. Solís-Marín (eds.), Echinoderm Research and Diversity in Latin America, SpringerVerlag, Berlin, Germany. ISBN 978-3-642-20050-2

Méndez Lázaro, P., et al. 2012. Técnicas de SIG aplicadas al estudio de zonas costaneras y cuencas hidrográficas en la isla de Puerto Rico. Rev. Int. Cien. Tecnol. Inf. Geog. Geo-Focus, 12:71-92.

Hernández-Delgado E.A., et al. 2012. Long-term impacts of tourism and urban development in tropical coastal habitats in a changing climate: Lessons learned from Puerto Rico. 357-398. In M. Kasimoglu (ed.), Visions from Global Tourism Industry-Creating and Sustaining Competitive Strategies. Intech Publications. ISBN 979-953-307-532-6

Ramos-Scharrón, C.E., et al. 2012. An Interdisciplinary Erosion Mitigation Approach for Coral Reef Protection – A Case Study from the Eastern Caribbean. 127-160. In, A. Cruzado (Ed.), Marine Ecosystems, ISBN: 978-953-51-0176-5, InTech, Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/an-interdisciplinary-erosion-mitigation-approach-for-coralreef-protection-a-case-study-from-the-eas

Hernández-Delgado, E.A., et al. 2011. Sediment stress, water turbidity and sewage impacts on threatened Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) stands at Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Proc. Gulf Caribb. Fish. Inst. 63:83-92.

Hernández-Delgado, E.A., y B. Sandoz-Vera. 2011. Impactos antropogénicos en los arrecifes de coral. 62-72. En, J. SeguinotBarbosa (ed.), Islas en Extinción: Impactos Ambientales en las Islas de Puerto Rico. Ediciones SM, Cataño, PR.

Hernández-Delgado, E.A., et al. 2011. Alternativas de baja tecnología para la rehabilitación de los arrecifes de coral. 178-186. En, J. Seguinot-Barbosa (ed.), Islas en Extinción: Impactos Ambientales en las Islas de Puerto Rico. Ediciones SM, Cataño, PR.

Hernández-Pacheco, R., E.A. Hernández-Delgado, & A.M. Sabat. 2011. Demographics of bleaching in the Caribbean reefbuilding coral Montastraea annularis Ecosphere 2(1):art9. 1-13. doi:10.1890/ES10-00065.1

Ruiz-Ramos, D.V., et al. 2011. Population status of the long-spine sea urchin, Diadema antillarum Phillipi, in Puerto Rico 20 years after a mass mortality event. Bull. Mar. Sci. 87(1):113-127.

Hernández-Delgado, E.A., et al. 2010. Impacts of non-point source sewage pollution in elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata (Lamarck), assemblages of the southwestern Puerto Rico shelf Proc. 11th Int. Coral Reefs Symp. 747-751.

Eakin,C.M., et al. 2010. Caribbean corals in crisis: Record thermal stress, bleaching and mortality in 2005. Plos One 5(11): e13969. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013969.

Bonkosky, M., et al. 2009. Detection of spatial fluctuations of non-point source fecal pollution in coral reef surrounding waters in southwestern Puerto Rico using PCR-based assays. Mar. Poll. Bull. 58(1):45-54.