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Recovery of coral cover in records spanning 44 yr for reefs in Kāne‘ohe Bay, Oa‘hu, Hawai‘i

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Abstract

Published and unpublished long-term studies are assembled to examine trends in coral cover and the dependence of change in coral cover on the initial coral cover in Kāne‘ohe Bay over the last 44 yr. Each study showed there had been periods of increase in coral cover in the bay and showed that the rate of change in cover has been inversely dependent on the initial cover at a site. When coral cover is high on upper reef slopes, the fragile structure of reefs in this sheltered bay often collapses, resulting in a decrease in coral cover. The rate of change in coral cover was also inversely dependent on cover in one of the two studies that included analysis of reef-flat corals; the cause of decrease in cover in this habitat is thought to be attributable to particularly low sea levels in Hawai‘i in the late 1990s and 2009–2010. The inverse relationship between initial coral cover and change in cover, and the intersections of the regression lines of these variables with the x-axis at intermediate values of coral cover, is indicative of resilience in this ecosystem over the last 44 yr. In the 1970s, the invasive macroscopic green alga Dictyosphaeria cavernosa covered a high percentage of coral habitat and commonly displaced corals from the reef slope and outer reef flats; the change was cited as an example of a phase shift on a reef. This alga has virtually disappeared from the bay, thus increasing the space available to corals; its disappearance is coincident with the increase in coral cover. Other species of macroalgae, including alien species, have not replaced D. cavernosa as major space competitors. The increase in coral cover and virtual disappearance of D. cavernosa constitute an example of a phase-shift reversal.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the Department of Zoology, University of Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology for access to facilities. The 1992 and 1996–1997 studies were accomplished with funding from the Sea Grant College Program and with the help of a number of undergraduates, Eric Conklin and Scott Larned. I wish to thank Ku’ulei Rodgers and co-workers for providing access to the data on the 1999 estimates of cover at the Maragos sites, and to thank Drs. Julie Brock and Steve Coles for commenting on a draft of the manuscript.

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  1. Biology Department, University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    John Stimson

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Correspondence to John Stimson.

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Stimson, J. Recovery of coral cover in records spanning 44 yr for reefs in Kāne‘ohe Bay, Oa‘hu, Hawai‘i. Coral Reefs 37, 55–69 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-017-1633-2

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