NurseryAreas

The Importance of Nursery Areas

Outline

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What are nurseries?

• Describe nurseries
  • Nurseries: a place that is naturally or unnaturally conducive to reproduction and development of species that bears more significance that a normal spawning area. (i.e. a mangrove)
• There are natural occurrences and man-made projects. [1,2,8,9]
  • Natural or not, what are the main differences between nurseries and other protected sea areas? [11,13]
    • The Florida Keys have man-made coral nurseries that are there to facilitate a growth in the populations of corals and reintroduce them into habitats [4]
• Purpose of nurseries
• When did they first start coming about and what prompted that?[13]
  • Include statistic from Fujita to stress the importance of protection and management, the two things that reef nurseries specialize in most[6]
• Different examples of nurseries/where can a nursery be?
  • This can include the basic requirements of a nursery and the broad areas that match them[9,10,13]

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Reef Nurseries

• What are they and how are they different from other nurseries? [9,10]
• how do they work?[9,10,11,13]
  • basic requirements as far as depth, type of coral, attentiveness, feeding[8,9]
• what are some examples of reef nurseries?[9,10,13]
• how effective are they in returning reefs to past state?[8,9,10]
  • most likely cannot bring back reefs on a worldwide scale[8]

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CRF-Coral Restoration Foundation [12]

• What does it do? [12]
  • charter trips, help people plant coral, tax-deductible, offers a real-world way to impact reefs and plan the coral, come up with new methods for planting
• one of the most active organizations out there that is doing this so important to mention

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Mangrove Nurseries

• What makes them so special?
  • most productive ecosystems in the world [3]
  • Lots of different factors that affect the fish growth and development and the conditions of a mangrove are the most conducive to the highest amount of fish. [2]
• Why do they make good nurseries?
  • Low hanging roots offer protection to juvenile fish [1]
    • Supports the idea that fish have a higher density in seaweed or kelp due to the extra protection [2]
  • The waters of mangroves are full of nutrients that aid the development of many iconic fish (parrotfish, barracuda, snappers, etc.) [1]
• Where are some located?
  • Nearby many coral reefs that are located between 25 degrees North and 25 degrees south (in the tropical region of the world)
• Anything cool we can find
  • Worth 375 billion dollars each year in resources [1]
  • We can determine which mangroves are delivering the most fish to a nearby coral reef by viewing the chemical composition of tissues. [1]

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Coastal North Carolina

• Why do they make good nurseries?
  • Other characteristics that are specific to areas this far North: Gulf Stream still plays an important role in the water temperature and nutrient cycling from different parts of the ocean. Additionally, there are other large scale factors that can play in (ex.eutrophication) [5]
  • The coastal estuarine ecosystems are vital nursery areas to large commercial fish (i.e. grouper/snapper) and make up 75% of US commercial landings (amount of fish/shellfish captured in a particular area) [5]
• Where are some located?
  • Any coastal area across the world

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Case Study of Great Barrier Reef as a reef nursery area

• What kinds of factors, environmental and synthetic, are affecting the health of the GBR?
  • higher ocean temperatures, El Nino and La Nina, ocean acidification, tourism, etc.[7]
• What steps are being taken to protect the GBR?
  • Discuss the different types of protection methods and what each one prevents/entails[7]
• How long have they been in place, how well are they working[7]
• What kind of punishments do they have there?
  • overall enforcement, laws, enacting and movement past government to get those laws into place[7]

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Current issues-something to update on the Wiki on a yearly basis

• nurseries under attack and governments that are going against them
  • Perfect time to use case study of Florida keys and the struggle that has been overcome there using collaboration, go off of Fujita being sure to cite him and his work[6]
• Current nurseries that are being considered created or expanded
  • potential areas that fit the bill, Hawai'ian islands reserves case study from Fujita[6]

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References

1. McMahon K. 2008. One Man’s Swamp is a Fishes’ Nursery. Cayman Islands: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
2. Beck MW, L K, Able KW, Childers DL. 2001. The identification, conservation, and management of estuarine and marine nurseries for fish and invertebrates. Oxford: Oxford University Press, UK
3. Martinho F, Cabral HN, Azeiteiro UM, Pardal MA. 2012. Estuarine nurseries for marine fish. Bradford, United Kingdom: Emerald Group Publishing, Limited.
4. Coral Nurseries [Internet]. Washington, DC: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; [2011 Dec 08, cited 2015 Feb 24] . Available from: http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/resource_protection/coralnurseries.html
5. Fodrie, J. F. (2012). Quantifying the nursery role of SAV, oyster reef and wetland landscapes for recreationally important fishes in high-salinity environments of North Carolina. North Carolina, United States: NC Division of Marine Fisheries.
6. Fujita R. 2003. Chapter 4: Coral Reefs: The Ocean’s Sensitive Child In: Heal the Ocean, Solutions for Saving Our Seas. New Society Publishers. p. 77–98.
7. Lawrence D, Kenchington R, Woodley S. 2002. The Great Barrier Reef, Finding the Right Balance. Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press.
8. Vance, Erik . 2011. Can Coral Nurseries Bring Reefs Back From the Brink?. Scientific American [Internet]. [2011 Oct 14, cited 2015 Feb 25] . Available from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coral-nurseries-bring-reefs-back-from-brink/
9. The Coral Nursery Initiative [Internet]. Hollywood(CA):NSU Oceanographic Center; cited 2015 Feb 25] . Available from: http://www.nova.edu/ocean/coralnursery
10. Coral Nursery [Internet]. Miami(FL):University of Miami; cited 2015 Feb 25] . Available from: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/benthic-ecology/research-projects/coral-nursery/
11. Shafir S, Van Rijn J, Rinkevich B. 2006. Steps in the construction of underwater coral nursery, an essentialcomponent in reef restoration acts. Marine Biology [Internet]. [2016 Jan 14, cited 2015 Feb 25] Vol(149);Location(679-687). Available from: http://www.coralreef.gov/mitigation/stepsinconstruction_underwater.pdf
12. Montgomery M. 2015. Coral Restoration Foundation [Internet]. Key Largo(FL):Coral Restoration Foundation; [2015, cited 2015 Feb 25] . Available from: http://www.coralrestoration.org/
13. Jenkins M. 2010. A series of underwater laboratories is reviving ravaged reefs from Miami to the Virgin Islands.. The Nature Conservancy magazine (Autumn) [Internet]. [2010, cited 2015 Feb 25] Available from: http://www.nature.org/newsfeatures/magazine/pastissues/autumn-2010-the-coral-nursery.xml