Coral Reef Survey for Aitutaki, Cook Islands, 2008

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Descrição

Natural disturbances such as crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and coral bleaching in recent years have played a major role in shaping the reefs of Aitutaki today. Although, anthropogenic disturbances may play a major role as well, this remains difficult to comprehend due to lack of a consistent reef monitoring program on Aitutaki. The purpose of this study is to examine the current state of Aitutaki’s reef as well as re-establish its monitoring program. Based on information provided by this survey, the reefs of Aitutaki may have recovered subsequent to the disturbance in the 1990s, however these were patchy possibly a result of the different environmental regimes experienced at each site. Coral cover range from 34% (at Pacific RC) to 8% (at Pacific RI), and size classes were predominantly in the 8-16 cm class (~8-10 year-old colonies) particularly at the more pristine reefs (Pacific RC and Airport). This suggests that these reefs recruited immediately after the COTS outbreak in the ‘90s. The high cover of crustose coralline algae (CCA) at Atuatane suggests that Aitutaki’s reefs are still in the early stages of recovery. However, high CCA cover can hinder the growth and survival of newly settled corals, which may be the case on Aitutaki. The larger colonies only recorded at Maina in the 64-128 cm class suggested that the location of this site or possibly the establishment as a Marine Protected Area (MPA or raui) may have provided a refuge (in terms of being remote) for corals and other marine life. Anthropogenic disturbances as well as COTS at Maina may be minimal. Low coral cover and high turf algae (TA) noted at Atuatane (I) and Tokai’i as well as small coral colony sizes due to die-backs suggested that these sites are experiencing poor conditions for coral growth and survival. The 2005 National Environment Service survey of Manuae proposed the possibility of Manuae being a source population for Aitutaki based on observed ocean currents at the time. Information obtained from NOAA’S Oceanwatch website on ocean surface currents around these islands also supports this possibility. Assuming that Manuae is a source population for Aitutaki, a decline in marine resources on Manuae may affect the recovery of Aitutaki’s reefs.

Registros de Dados

Os dados deste recurso de ocorrência foram publicados como um Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), que é o formato padronizado para compartilhamento de dados de biodiversidade como um conjunto de uma ou mais tabelas de dados. A tabela de dados do núcleo contém 191 registros.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versões

A tabela abaixo mostra apenas versões de recursos que são publicamente acessíveis.

Versão	Publicado em	Registros	Resumo das mudanças	Handle do DOI	Modificado pela última vez por
1.0	2025-01-28 09:48:11	191	Não provido		Kevin Mackay

Como citar

Pesquisadores deveriam citar esta obra da seguinte maneira:

Rongo T (2025). Coral Reef Survey for Aitutaki, Cook Islands, 2008. Version 1.0. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Occurrence dataset. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=aitutaki_coral_2008&v=1.0

Direitos

Pesquisadores devem respeitar a seguinte declaração de direitos:

O editor e o detentor dos direitos deste trabalho é Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

Este recurso foi registrado no GBIF e atribuído ao seguinte GBIF UUID: 48c1ac93-7fd2-412d-9650-d6ae8d773f55. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node publica este recurso, e está registrado no GBIF como um publicador de dados aprovado por Ocean Biodiversity Information System.

Palavras-chave

Occurrence; Observation

Contatos

Teino Rongo

Provedor Dos Metadados ●
Originador ●
Ponto De Contato

Florida Tech

Avarua

Cobertura Geográfica

Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Coordenadas delimitadoras	Sul Oeste [-18,957, -159,845], Norte Leste [-18,821, -159,724]

Cobertura Temporal

Data Inicial / Data final	2008-06-01 / 2008-06-30

Métodos de Amostragem

Four 50-m transects (replicates) were deployed for all fore reef sites. Transects were placed following the reef contour at a depth of 7 m parallel to shore and laid consecutively at intervals of 10 m for Atuatane. For the remaining three sites, transects were stacked due to the frequent interruption of the reef by channels. Four 50-m transects were also deployed for all lagoon sites. Transects were deployed following the reef contour at depths ranging from 1 to 1.5 m laid consecutively at intervals of 10 m with the exception of Atuatane, which was laid at intervals of 10 m or more due to the patchiness of the reef at this site.

Área de Estudo	The survey focused on the northwestern side of Aitutaki, an area most likely impacted by land-based development. Three sites were established within the lagoon: Maina (control site; also an MPA), Tokai’i (non-MPA), and Atuatane (adjacent to the newly established landfill). Four fore reef sites were established: Atuatane (directly offshore from the Atuatane lagoon site), Pacific RC (control site; northern side of major channel in the Pacific Resort area), Pacific RI (impact site; southern side of channel), and Airport site located at the western end of the runway where a proposed development is expected.

Área de Estudo

The survey focused on the northwestern side of Aitutaki, an area most likely impacted by land-based development. Three sites were established within the lagoon: Maina (control site; also an MPA), Tokai’i (non-MPA), and Atuatane (adjacent to the newly established landfill). Four fore reef sites were established: Atuatane (directly offshore from the Atuatane lagoon site), Pacific RC (control site; northern side of major channel in the Pacific Resort area), Pacific RI (impact site; southern side of channel), and Airport site located at the western end of the runway where a proposed development is expected.

Descrição dos passos do método:

Point Intercept (PI) and coral colony size was used to examine benthic communities. A two-meter belt transect (1 m on each side) was used for quantifying macro-invertebrates (i.e., sea urchins, sea cucumbers, Tridacna spp., Trochus spp., and COTS) at all sites. All species were recorded and identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible (i.e. genus and species). Species identification was verified using Randall and Myers (1983) and Veron (2000).
Point Intercept (PI) Method. A 1-m2 quadrat frame was tossed every 5 m along a 50-m transect for a total of 10 quadrats. The quadrat is lined with strings equally spaced dividing the quadrat into 25 sections providing 16 points where the strings intercept. Any substratum falling under each intercept was recorded and it's percent cover calculated. Substrates included categories of corals, soft corals, algae (i.e., turf, crustose coralline, and macro), and other abiotic substratum (i.e., sand and pavement).

Citações bibliográficas

Rongo, T., 2008. Coral reef survey for Aitutaki. Report for the Cook Islands National Environment Service. 32pp.

Metadados Adicionais

marine, harvested by iOBIS

Acknowledgements	Thanks to Environment Officer Vavia Puapii and boatman Rimaroa Tuiravakai for their assistance in data collection. Thanks also to Environment Officer Bobby Bishop for coordinating survey logistics on Aitutaki. Special thanks to Jackie Rongo for discussions and editorial assistance throughout the preparation of the report.
Introduction	Aitutaki is located at 18º 52’ S and 159º 46’ W, about 260 km north of Rarotonga. The area of the mainland of this almost-atoll island is about 16 km2 with a moderate-sized lagoon lined by 15 small islands (motu) around its perimeter. This predominantly sandy lagoon with numerous micro-atolls host a range of marine organisms, making it one of the most beautiful lagoons in the world that provides many benefits to the people of Aitutaki. These benefits include food resources, recreational activities, and eco-tourism. The increase in development over the last twenty years to meet the demand of the tourism industry along with natural disturbances (e.g., global warming, crown-of-thorns starfish or COTS outbreaks, and hurricanes) pose a threat to the existence of this delicate ecosystem. However, this is not limited to Aitutaki; similar effects are evident on other coral reefs around the world.
Propósito	The purpose of this survey is to examine the state of Aitutaki’s reef as well as collect baseline information for future comparisons. During the 1990’s, the reef of Aitutaki went through several natural disturbances: a bleaching event in the early ‘90s followed by a COTS outbreak degraded the reef to its current state. With any monitoring program, it is of foremost interest to distinguish natural and anthropogenic disturbances on reefs as management approaches differ accordingly. Although, the Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) has conducted coral surveys in the past, their focus has been on quantifying exploitable resources rather than utilizing these resources as bio-indicators for assessing environmental impacts, using methodologies that are not comparable to this survey
Identificadores alternativos	https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=aitutaki_coral_2008