26529
Prevalence, consequences, and mitigation of fireworm predation on endangered staghorn coral
Fireworm effects on staghorn coral
Document
Published / External
22438
CRCP-Surveillance of wild and outplanted A.cervicornis NCEI accession/0159175
Data Set
Completed
2014-12-03
In the current era of reduced coral populations, the effects of predation are likely to compromise the growing investment in restocking of imperiled coral populations and may be a strong, chronic deterrent of natural population recovery. A 2 yr surveillance study documented highly variable prevalence of predation by the fireworm Hermodice carunculata on both wild (0 to 51%) and restocked (0 to 53%) populations of the Caribbean staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis, but significantly higher prevalence overall in 2012 than 2011. In addition, individual predation scars (branch tips) were tagged to determine the costs of predation both in terms of healing time (i.e. to recover positive rates of branch growth) and in terms of likelihood of progressive diseaselike tissue loss on preyed branch tips. The risk of preyed branches showing progressive tissue loss at the subsequent survey was 10 times higher than for non-preyed branches. A survival analysis indicated an estimated mean time to healing for preyed branch tips of 110 ± 6 d (95% confidence). Finally, an experiment conducted in 2013 tested whether removing the dead skeleton from preyed branch tips could accelerate recovery. Indeed, this intervention shortened the mean time to formationof a new apical tip to 46 d (range: 22 to 92 d). Thus, fireworm predation imposes significant costs on both remnant wild and restocked staghorn colonies, but removing dead tips, rather than leaving them to bioerode, is a useful strategy to accelerate recovery from predation.
Miller MW, Marmet C, Cameron CM, Williams DE. (2014) Prevalence, consequences, and mitigation of fireworm predation on endangered staghorn coral. Mar Ecol Prog Ser. 516: 187–194. doi: 10.3354/meps10996
10.3354/meps10996
Theme
World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)
Acropora cervicornis
Theme
Corallivory
Theme
Hermodice carunculata
Theme
Restoration
Theme
fireworm predation
Theme
staghorn coral
Temporal
2011-2012
Spatial
Florida Keys
Journal article
Acrobat Portable Document Format
Published
Author
2014
2017-04
Person
Miller, Margaret W
m.miller.@secore.org
Co-Author
2014
Person
Williams, Dana E
dana.williams@noaa.gov
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
Unites States
305-767-3262
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dana_Williams3
Research Gate Personal Page
Online Resource
Co-Author
2014
Person
Cameron, Caitlin
caitlin.cameron@noaa.gov
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
USA
Ground Condition
-80.47016666667
-80.29733333333
25.12416666667
24.94633333333
Reef sites in the upper Keys ranging from Conch reef to Key Largo Dry Rocks; specifically
Reef Names
Molasses
Aquarius
Conch Shallow
KL Dry Rocks
Tav Patch A
Tav Patch B
Little Conch
CRF Nursery
Range
2011
2013
Unclassified
Open to everyone
download from provided links
None
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10996
Landing Page of article
Online Resource
gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:26529
Margaret Miller
2015-08-19T13:26:05
Lee Weinberger
2023-01-19T17:44:58
2022-04-27
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
SEFSC
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
USA
(305)361-5761
www.sefsc.noaa.gov
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST
1001
Public
No
2022-04-27
1 Year
2023-04-27