Data Management Plan (Deprecated)

Calcification accretion units, or CAUs, are used to assess the current effects of changes in seawater carbonate chemistry on calcification and accretion rates of calcareous and fleshy algae in the Hawaiian and Mariana Archipelagos, American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Island Areas as part of the Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP).

Laboratory experiments reveal calcification rates of crustose coralline algae (CCA) are strongly correlated to seawater aragonite saturation state. Predictions of reduced coral calcification rates, due to ocean acidification, suggest that coral reef communities will undergo ecological phase shifts as calcifying organisms are negatively impacted by changing seawater chemistry.

Deployed on the seafloor for a period of time, CAUs allow for recruitment and colonization of CCA and hard corals. By measuring the change in weight of the CAUs, the reef carbonate accretion rate can be calculated for that time period. Monitoring net accretion over successive deployments allows for the detection of changes in calcification rates over time.

The calcification rate data described here are from CAUs that have been deployed and retrieved at existing, long-term monitoring sites during NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) led RAMP missions around American Samoa and the Pacific Remote Island Areas in 2010 and 2012, in accordance with protocols developed by Price et al. 2012. There are typically (but not always) five CAU sites established at each location CREP visits with five units deployed at each site.

CAUs are composed of two 10 x 10 cm flat, square, gray PVC plates, stacked 1 cm apart, and are attached to the benthos using stainless steel threaded rods. Calcareous organisms, primarily crustose coralline algae and encrusting corals, recruit to these plates and accrete/calcify carbonate skeletons over 2-3 year deployments. Due to the simple, low-cost design and analysis, statistically robust numbers of calcification plates can easily be deployed, recovered, and processed to provide estimates of net calcification.

This study provides information about Pacific-wide spatial patterns of algal calcification and accretion rates and serves as a basis for detecting changes associated with changing seawater chemistry due to ocean acidification. In conjunction with benthic community composition data (separate dataset), the calcification rates will aid in determining the magnitude of how ocean acidification affects coral reefs in the natural environment. The data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

Analysis of these data will expand scientists’ capacity for assessing coral reef resilience regarding the effects of ocean acidification outside of controlled laboratory experiments. These data can also be used in comparative analyses across natural gradients, thereby assisting efforts to determine whether key reef-building taxa can acclimatize to changing oceanographic environments. These data will have immediate, direct impacts on predictions of reef resilience in a higher carbon dioxide (CO2) world and on the design of reef management strategies.

This effort is a partnership between CREP and Drs. Nichole Price of Bigelow Marine Laboratory and Jen Smith of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who have extensive knowledge of marine benthic algal community ecology.

Phoenix (Baker and Howland) and Line Islands (Jarvis, Kingman, and Palmyra), and Johnston Atoll. These six of the seven PRIA are routinely surveyed as part of the American Samoa RAMP (ASRAMP) missions (Johnston, Baker and Howland during the first leg of ASRAMP, and Jarvis, Kingman, and Palmyra during the last leg of ASRAMP).

Lineage Statement:
Assembled calcification accretion units (CAUs) are attached to the benthos using stainless steel threaded rods. There are typically five CAU sites established at each location (island) the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) visits with five CAUs deployed at each site (n=25 per location). Calcareous organisms, primarily crustose coralline algae and encrusting corals, recruit to these CAUs and accrete/calcify carbonate skeletons over 2-3 year deployments. Once recovered from the seafloor, the CAUs are processed to provide estimates of net calcification, percent cover, and vertical accretion rates. CAUs have been deployed and replaced at existing, long-term monitoring sites during Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) cruises, in accordance with protocols developed by Price et al. 2012.

Process Steps:

• 2015-08-01 00:00:00 - CALCIFICATION ACCRETION UNIT (CAU) ASSEMBLY, DEPLOYMENT and RECOVERY CAUs are composed of two 10 x 10 centimeter (cm) flat, square, gray PVC plates, stacked 1 cm apart. Five CAU units are deployed per site on individual stainless steel stakes driven into the substrate. The units are deployed in a clustered group with the spacing between each unit being 0.5 to 5 meters. CAU sites are situated at an average depth of 15 meters. Units are placed so the CAU plates are ~10 cm above the surface substrate and the top of the CAU plate is parallel to the surface of the water. CAU units are recovered from the seafloor 2 to 3 years after deployment. Refer to the data files for the individual CAU site to determine the exact deployment time of a specific unit. Refer to the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) Calcification Accretion Unit (CAU) Assembly, Deployment, and Recovery Standard Operating Procedure (2015) for a detailed description of the protocols. (Citation: NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) Calcification Accretion Unit (CAU) Assembly, Deployment, and Recovery Standard Operating Procedure (2015))
• 2015-09-01 00:00:00 - CALCIFICATION ACCRETION UNIT (CAU) LABORATORY ANALYSIS Once CAU units are recovered they are disassembled and each plate is rinsed with saltwater to remove loose sediment, sand and mobile fauna. The plates are photographed and individual images are captured of the Upper Plate, Top Side; Upper Plate, Bottom Side; Lower Plate, Top Side; Lower Plate, Bottom Side. These images are later analyzed to determine benthic composition on each plate surface. If pieces of calcified material fall off during the photographing process, the pieces are retained with the plate for the dissolution process. After the plates have been photographed they are rinsed with fresh water and placed on a pre-weighed drying plate along with any dislodged pieces, and left to begin drying at room temperature for 24 hours and TO allow excess water to be removed. The drying plate assembly is then placed in the oven to dry at 60 degrees Celsius. If the difference in weights is less than 0.2 grams, the plates are considered dry and no further drying/weighing is required. If the difference in weights is greater than 0.2 grams the drying/reweighing process is repeated for as many 24-hour cycles as needed to obtain a difference of less than 0.2 grams. It should be noted that since the initial sample processing in 2012, the standard weighing protocol has since been improved such that the acceptable weight difference is 0.1 grams. Once the plates are dry, each plate is placed in 5% Hydrocholoric Acid (HCl) solution to dissolve the calcium carbonate materials. The plate is scraped to remove all materials and rinsed with the 5% HCl solution. The plate is then placed in the oven at 60 degrees Celsius to dry for 24 hours before the dry plate is obtained. Through the entire dissolution process all 5% HCl rinse solution is preserved for later filtering. The 5% HCl rinse process is repeated on all materials removed from the plate until the dissolution process has stopped and all calcium carbonate material has been removed. The fleshy material and used 5% HCl rinse materials are then separated using a vacuum filtration pump by pouring the solution into a Buchner funnel, mesh layer and pre-weighed filter paper. The filter paper and fleshy material are then dried and weighed to determine the weight of fleshy algae present on each plate. The weight of calcified materials on each plate is determined by difference, where the initial weight of the dried plate (prior to the dissolution process) minus the fleshy material weight equals the weight of carbonate material dissolved. The resulting calcification rates are reported in units of grams/area/time. Refer to the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) Calcification Accretion Unit (CAU) Laboratory Analysis Standard Operating Procedure (2015) for a detailed description of the protocols. (Citation: NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) Calcification Accretion Unit (CAU) Laboratory Analysis Standard Operating Procedure (2015))

Prior to processing a batch from each region/jurisdiction, laboratory analysts inventory the recovered Calcification Accretion Units (CAUs) to ensure all units are accounted for and all serial numbers assigned to each unit match field data records. The Data Manager additionally performs quality control checks on the site deployment data and the recovery data for further accuracy. Once all CAUs from the jurisdiction have been processed, the dataset is checked by the analysts to ensure: 1) all CAU plates have been processed, 2) there are no missing cell values, and 3) calculations for net weight of calcified materials are correct. The dataset is then turned over to the Data Manager for further quality control procedures and data ingestion into the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program's master database.

Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive.

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