National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Calcification Rates of Crustose Coralline Algae Derived from Calcification Accretion Units (CAUs) Deployed at St. Croix from 2014 to 2019

The calcification rate data described here are from calcification accretion units (CAUs) that have been retrieved (and replaced) at existing, long-term monitoring sites during the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) led NCRMP missions around St. Croix in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019 and processed at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. CAUs are PVC settlement plates that facilitate the recruitment and colonization of crustose coralline algae, hard corals, and other reef calcifiers. Laboratory experiments show that CCA and coral calcification rates are strongly correlated with seawater chemistry, and shifts in carbonate chemistry conditions due to ocean acidification could lead to reduced calcification and accretion rates and ecological phase shifts in coral reef communities.

Coral reef calcium carbonate accretion rates can be estimated by measuring the change in weight of the CAUs between deployment and retrieval. Monitoring net accretion over successive deployments allows for the detection of changes in reef calcification rates over time. Five units were deployed on the seafloor at each CAU site for 4 years. The number of processed CAUs for a site may be less than the number deployed, either because the units were lost or damaged at sea and therefore not recovered, or in rare instances, due to errors during laboratory processing.

This study provides information about spatial and temporal patterns of reef carbonate calcification and accretion rates and serves as a basis for detecting changes associated with changing seawater chemistry due to ocean acidification. 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.

CAU data collected as part of NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) missions can be used to establish calcium carbonate accretion rate baselines and assess change in reef accretion rates due to ocean acidification and other environmental drivers.

The NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) details a long-term, ecosystem-scale approach for assessing coral reef climate, fish, benthic, and socioeconomic variables in a consistent and integrated manner. NCRMP coordinates various NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) biological, physical, and human dimensions activities into a cohesive NOAA-wide effort. Through the implementation of NCRMP, NOAA is able to clearly and concisely communicate results of national-scale monitoring to national, state, and territorial policy makers, resource managers, and the public on a periodic basis.

NCRMP provides a framework for conducting sustained observations of biological, climate, and socioeconomic indicators at 10 priority coral reefs across the U.S. and its territories. This integrated approach consolidates monitoring of coral reefs under a uniform method in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. NCRMP is funded by the CRCP and the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), and supported by NOAA Fisheries, NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), NOAA Coral Reef Watch, and many other partners.

The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) at NOAA Fisheries leads in-situ NCRMP climate monitoring in the U.S. Atlantic Regions. The climate component of NCRMP in the Atlantic provides a comprehensive view of climate change impacts on coral reef ecosystems and helps identify areas of resilience and vulnerability. The key indicators used to identify and monitor climate-driven trends include 1) thermal stress caused by changes in sea temperature, 2) ocean acidification resulting from changes in carbonate chemistry, and 3) associated ecological impacts on carbonate accretion rates, erosion, and benthic community structure. AOML scientists during Atlantic NCRMP missions deploy oceanographic (subsurface temperature recorders) and ecological (calcification accretion units [CAUs] and bioerosion monitoring units [BMUs]) instruments at fixed sites in the Atlantic Ocean and conduct CTD casts and water sampling to evaluate coral reef environments. The in-situ data and satellite-based observations are also used in modeling efforts. Innovative analysis techniques are used to develop products that provide scientists, managers, decision makers and the public a better understanding of a region's resources and how they are changing over time.

The columns provided in the dataset include the location where the CAUs were deployed (REGION, REGION_NAME, LOCATION, REA_SITEID, OCC_SITEID, LATITUDE, and LONGITUDE), when they were deployed and recovered and the duration in water (DEPLOYMENT_MISSION, RECOVERY_MISSION, DEPLOYMENT_DATE, RECOVERY_DATE, DEPLOYMENT_YEAR, RECOVERY_YEAR, DAYS_IN_WATER, and YEARS_IN_WATER), information about the CAUs (SERIALNUMBER, CAU_UNIT), the calculated rate of calcification (CALCIFICATION_RATE_BY_UNIT), and a data quality flag for calculated calcification rates (DATASTATUSID).

While every effort has been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the limits of the current state of the art, NOAA cannot assume liability for any damages caused by errors or omissions in the data, nor as a result of the failure of the data to function on a particular system. NOAA makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty.

Site on reefs near Sprat Hole (west), Salt River Beach (north), Great Pond Bay (south), and the east peninsula (east) in St. Croix

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NOAA Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD) Data Sharing Recommendations, version 9.0 updated August 12, 2015:

ESD welcomes the opportunity to collaborate on research issues contributing to the scientific basis for better management of marine ecosystems. ESD has a very diverse set of field activities that generates large volumes of data using an array of data collection protocols.

The following recommendations are for your consideration as you use this data:

1) Data analyses should take all field exigencies into account. The most effective way to do this would be active collaboration with ESD principal investigators.

2) In all presentations, product releases, or publications using data generated by ESD, proper acknowledgement of both ESD and the individuals responsible for data collection is expected. Citing the DOI (if available) is preferred, a non-DOI example is listed below.

3) If you collect or generate data for the same study areas, ESD requests that you share relevant information on complimentary data collections.

4) Those receiving data are strongly urged to inform the ESD Data Management Team of any errors and discrepancies that are discovered during the course of using these data. They are further urged to bring to the attention of the Team all problems and difficulties encountered in using these data. This information is necessary in order to improve the collections and to facilitate more efficient and economical data processing and retrieval. The users are asked to supply copies of any missing data that may be located, and to provide information as to significant subsets and special aggregations of data that are developed in using the material provided.

Example citation:

"This publication makes use of data products provided by the Ecosystem Sciences Division (ESD), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab (AOML), with funding support from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP). The analysis and interpretations presented here are solely that of the current authors"

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

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Please cite NOAA's PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division and AOML Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division when using the data.

Suggested Citation:

Ecosystem Sciences Division at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and the Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab (2018). National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Calcification Rates of Crustose Coralline Algae Derived from Calcification Accretion Units (CAUs) Deployed at St. Croix from 2014 to 2019. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/67513

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After CAU units are deployed and recovered, the associated metadata is entered by the OCC team into the existing Oracle APEX mission application available on the research vessel, where it is eventually migrated to the NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) enterprise Oracle database. Upon cruise completion, each CAU is given the necessary data entry fields used in laboratory processing through the Oracle APEX CAU application. Laboratory analysis is conducted in batches of 25 CAU units and is conducted according to the Standard Operating Procedure (URL 4). All weights are entered digitally using an analytical balance to avoid data entry errors with such precise measurements (up to 3 decimal places). Once all steps of processing have been completed, all data entry fields in the Oracle CAU Application are verified as accurate and complete, then final calcification rates per unit are calculated. Data are then extracted from the Oracle database and distributed to the NOAA ocean data archive by region and year of recovery.

Prior to processing the calcification accretion unit (CAU) samples, laboratory analysts are trained to properly use relevant lab equipment (analytical balance, vacuum filtration pump, etc.) and are familiarized with the data entry tool/spreadsheet. Laboratory analysts are also required to go through the CAU Processing Standard Operating Procedure and other training materials.

Calcification Accretion Units (CAUs) that have been deployed may not have been recovered due to logistical constraints of the following mission or could not be found when divers returned to the site. This can be quantified by comparing the number of recovered units to the number of units originally deployed (typically, 5 units per site).

The calcification rate and ratio of calcified materials to fleshy materials are determined for each Calcification Accretion Unit (CAU) recovered by the Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML). Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Scripps) staff may conduct additional analyses of specific units to determine functional group coverage and to determine species recruitment rates based on the results of analyzed photos collected during the unit recovery and disassembly process.

Additionally, data from the CAUs processed in 2012 that do not meet the processing criteria set in 2012 - that is, if the difference between the final two subsequent dry weights exceeds 0.2 grams, then those data have been omitted from the final dataset described herein.

The sampling procedure is based on the protocols developed by Price et al. 2012. While this project followed the same overall protocols, slight modifications were made after the first set of recovered Calcification Accretion Units (CAUs) were processed in 2012. Specifically, the following changes were implemented in 2013: 1) camera settings (adjusted to fit laboratory light conditions), and 2) use of freshwater in lieu of seawater during plate photo-documentation (seawater was not readily available in the new facility). Further, the processing procedures were also modified in 2013 such that the acceptable criteria for samples to be considered completely dry was set to 0.1 grams instead of 0.2 grams - that is, if two subsequent dry weights do not fall within the identified acceptable range (0.1 grams), the drying process will continue until this criteria is met.

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 PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division master database.

NOAA IRC and NOAA Fisheries ITS resources and assets.

Assembled CAUs are attached to the benthos using stainless steel threaded rods. Five CAUs are deployed at a survey site. Calcareous organisms, primarily crustose coralline algae and encrusting corals, recruit to these CAUs and accrete/calcify carbonate skeletons over 4 year deployments. Once recovered from the seafloor, the CAUs are processed by the PIFSC Ecosystem Sciences Division to provide estimates of net calcification. CAUs have been deployed and recovered in accordance with protocols developed by Price et al. 2012.