Substratum stability and coral reef resilience: insights from 90 years of disturbances on a reef in American Samoa1
Birkeland C, Green A, Fenner D, Squair C, Dahl AL. 2013. Substratum stability and coral reef resilience: insights from 90 years of disturbances on a reef in American Samoa1. Micronesica. 2013-06
Abstract—In 1917, Alfred Mayor recorded rich coral communities in distinct zones on the reef flat along a permanent transect at Aua village in Pago Pago Harbor, American Samoa. In the 1950s-1980s, this area was seriously degraded by chronic pollution from two tuna canneries and fuel spills in the inner harbor and by coastal development. By the 1970s, coral communities had declined substantially. Mayor provided a map and photographs of the transect in his 1924 report and so we were able to repeat surveys along the same transect in 1973, 1980, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2007. In 1992, a large pipe was installed to export wastewater from the tuna canneries to the harbor mouth. Management of coastal development and fuel spills had improved by the early 1990s. We found that since then, there has been a significant recovery of coral communities on the reef crest and outer reef flat where there is consolidated reef substratum (up to 30 m back from the reef
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Birkeland, C; Green, A; Fenner, D; Squair, C; Dahl, A
- Units
- NPSA
- Keywords
- American Samoa, Aua, coral, recovery, resilience, rubble, substrata, zonation