Using NASA capabilities for biodiversity assessment and ecological forecasting in coral reef environments

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Using NASA capabilities for biodiversity
assessment and ecological forecasting in coral
reef environments
NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting
Meeting Washington DC - August 29 to 31, 2005

• Christopher Moses, Frank Müller-Karger,
• and Serge Andréfouët

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Questions

• What needs to be done for science and
  conservation of coral reefs?
• What is NASA currently doing for science and
  conservation of coral reefs?
• How could NASA advance science and conservation
  applications for coral reefs?

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Biodiversity of Coral Reefs

• Reefs fringe 15 of worlds coastlines
• High biodiversity
• gt2,000 reef fishes
• gt800 species of corals
• 7 of corals and 27 of fish are endemic
• Roberts, et al., 2002
• 58 are threatened by human activities
• Ginsburg, et al., 1994
• 14-30 reef loss by 2050 due to climate
  variability
• Kleypas, et al., 1999

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Biodiversity and Coral Research

• Biodiversity
• Inventory/cataloging of diversity
• Factors controlling diversity
• Influence of diversity on processes
• Management, biodiversity conservation
• Ecological forecasting
• Dynamics of these fields under changing climate
  and anthropogenic impacts
• Planning and management for predicted changes

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Global coral reef distribution
Island and reef geomorphology
Community
Organism (coral colony)
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NASAs Right Stuff (2000-2008)

• Millennium Coral Reef Map
• Landsat 7 systematic global coral reef
  acquisitions
• Geomorphology mapping
• On-line archive at SeaWiFS Project
• Interdisciplinary study (IDS) on coral reef
  connectivity
• Mesoamerican barrier reef
• French Polynesia
• Great Barrier Reef

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Coral Reef RS Priorities

• Reef mapping (Millennium Map)
• Geomorphology, communities, species
• Climatology of land, ocean and atmosphere around
  reefs (IDS)
• Forcing of local water masses (circulation,
  temperature, pollution, etc)
• Modeling and forecasting of the biodiversity
  dynamics (IDS)
• Connectivity, climate change, anthropogenic
  impacts

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Millennium Coral Reef Map
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Previous Coral Reef Maps
SE New Caledonia
UNEP-WCMC ReefBase
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Ishigaki, Ryukyus, Japan
35 geomorphic reef units
Sample Landsat-7 true color composite used in
Millennium Map

• Monitoring design
• Ideal sampling
• Reference for site selection
• Representative of sites

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USF Millenium
UNEP-WCMC
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Reef Area Estimations
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NASACoral Reef Connectivity Interdisciplinary
Study (IDS)
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River Plumes - SeaWiFS
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River Plumes - MODIS
MODIS/Aqua, Oct. 19, 2003
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Connectivity Modeling
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Connectivity Modeling

• Larval transport and settlement
• Spread of disease
• Metapopulation dynamics
• Range of anthropogenic influence
• Possible regions of refugia
• Trans-boundary planning of protected areas

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Conclusions

• Meeting needs for mapping, integration with
  environmental data, and connectivity modeling
• NASAs impact on the management community is
  growing
• However
• Poor (public/management/scientist) understanding
  of the possibilities and limits of the data and
  products
• Need for the creation of an application-oriented
  structure (jointly with ??) of user-friendly
  systems to consult and download in simple format

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Acknowledgements

• NASA
• Julie Robinson (NASA), Damaris Torres-Pulizza,
  Alan Spraggins, Christine Kranenburg, Chuanmin
  Hu, Gene C. Feldman, Norman Kuring, Ed Green
  (WCMC), Marco Noordeloos (WorldFish/ReefBase)