Coral Reefs: A Reef Resilience Toolkit Module

Rapid Resilience Assessment

Recently developed, this protocol is designed to provide a rapid assessment of coral bleaching resistance and resilience at an individual site level. This is intended to facilitate assessment of any past management actions in maintaining the resilience of coral reefs, and the making of new management decisions against local MPA objectives1.

Specifically, the protocol is intended to:

1. Assess the factors affecting coral bleaching during a bleaching event (resistance factors)
2. Assess the factors affecting coral and reef recovery following a bleaching event (resilience factors)
3. Enable between-site comparisons at a local area/region/MPA (network) level
4. Enable inter-regional comparisons at larger scales

In a management context, the protocol should facilitate:

5. Building an understanding of bleaching resistance and resilience factors that can be addressed by MPA design and management
6. Assessing whether MPA design and management practices to date have addressed bleaching resistance and resilience
7. Designing networks of MPAs based on bleaching resistance/resilience characteristics
8. Providing information to adaptively manage coral reefs in response to bleaching events and reef resilience

Resilience compartments model

Assessment Scope

The scope of the assessment includes two main areas:

First, coral reef compartments that will be measured must be identified. Four levels at which to structure the assessment include:

1. biotic compartments: corals, algae, fish
2. ecological interactions
3. habitat and environmental influences
4. external drivers: anthropogenic & climate factors

Second, the strong drivers either of resilience, or of shifts away from a resilient coral community, must be identified. The strong drivers of resilience include:

Strong drivers of resilience

1. connectivity
2. physical/chemical factors
3. algal-coral dynamics
4. anthropogenic factors
5. thermal stress

Methods

The survey methodology takes the resilience principles and compartmentalization of the coral reef community and strong drivers of resilience, and organizes them into a practical set of field measurements. The resilience assessment is designed to:

1. Provide an overarching semi-quantitative assessment of all components of reef resilience with respect to climate change, through estimation of indicators grouped under key compartments/drivers of resilience, and
2. For key compartments and strongest drivers with respect to thermal stress and bleaching, establish quantitative measures that enable more thorough assessment of status and health.

Overview of Methods

Resources

Nosy Hara MPA Northwest Madagascar Assessment Report