ISSUE: Wide areas of coral reefs have witnessed serious degradation and repeated large-scale bleaching and coral mortality over the last decade. This has been linked to the effects of global climate change and it is widely believed that similar strong perturbances may repeatedly affect reefs in the near future, possibly leading to severe losses. While some of the climatic and ocean environmental drivers for large-scale and local coral mortality are well known, it is unclear whether the effects of similar disturbances on reefs are the same in different regions and differing environmental settings. By investigating a number of reefs around the globe, the NCRI Monitoring Network hopes to find out whether reefs follow the same trajectory (i.e., towards general degradation or not) or whether different regions react differently, or whether each reef reacts uniquely.

PROJECT AND FINDINGS: Study sites are situated throughout the US territories and include all different reef types (i.e., fringing, barrier, atoll, patch). Individual sites are situated outside the US in order to assure wordwide coverage. In each study site, the reefs are evaluated from landscape scale (mapping by remote-sensing, application of spatial statistics and models) via a population scale (population assessment and explicit modeling) to a subcellular scale (assessment of stress biomarkers and genetic connectivity between sites). Also a biodiversity assessment of key reef organisms (i.e., corals) is undertaken. Thus, the NCRI Monitoring Network is one of the most integrated large-scale approaches to reef management presently undertaken.