Environmental Monitoring and Risk Assessment of Coral Reefs: A Multi-Scale Approach
Pamela Hallock Muller, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida
11 Feb 2005
Resource managers require indicators of the biological condition of reef environments that relates data acquired through remote-sensing, water-quality and benthic-community monitoring to stress responses in organisms. A multi-level approach to monitoring and risk assessment of coral reefs is proposed. Advantages of implemention can be immediate, as well as long term and economic. Most technology and procedures are currently available. The existing coral hot-spot program should be expanded to include estimates of radiant energy reaching the sea surface and water transparency anomalies. Risk assessments based on remote sensing, in situ measurements and low cost bioindicators can inform resource managers as to when targeted chemical or molecular procedures are needed to determine sources of stress, which can then focus management actions to protect or restore reef resources.