Coral Reefs of Eastern Asia under Anthropogenic Impacts

Description

Coral reefs, which are one of the most productive and biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, serve various important roles, such as providing shelter and spawning grounds to a wide range of marine animals. However, the global decline of hard corals in tropical and subtropical regions is a growing concern. A recent review of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicated that only 10%–30% of coral reefs would survive with an increase of 1.5 °C in global warming temperature. Of coral reefs around the world, the coral reefs in eastern Asia face one of the most industrially developed and high population areas in the world. Thus, coral reefs of eastern Asia have been affected by various anthropogenic factors, such as eutrophication, coastal development, anthropogenic pollutants, ocean acidification, disease, and overfishing. Therefore, urgent research is required to determine the levels at which different factors will affect coral health. Besides, we propose a perspective on coral reef (especially those in eastern Asia) conservation under climate change and various anthropogenic activities. Preface Contents 1: Introduction: The Relevance of Anthropogenic Factors to Coral Reef Conservation in the Coastal Areas of the East China Sea 1.1 Age of the Anthropocene 1.2 Present Status of Anthropogenic Impacts on Earth 1.3 Present Status of Coastal Environments 1.4 Anthropogenic Impacts in the East China Sea and Adjacent Waters References 2: Transitional Coral Ecosystem of Taiwan in the Era of Changing Climate 2.1 Importance of Coral Ecosystem and Threats of Climate Change 2.1.1 Scleractinian Corals and Coral Reef Ecosystems 2.1.2 Threats to the Coral Reef Ecosystems 2.1.3 Research into the Identification of Potential Resilience Reefs for the Future 2.1.4 The Aim of This Chapter 2.2 Geological and Marine Environmental Settings of Taiwan, Including Surrounding Islands and Islets 2.2.1 Geological Setting of Taiwan 2.2.2 Marine Environmental Settings: Currents and Upwelling/Cold Dome 2.2.3 Marine Environmental Settings: Monsoons and Sea Surface Currents 2.3 Biodiversity and Biogeographic Distribution of Scleractinian Corals in Taiwan: Patterns and Possible Mechanisms 2.3.1 Biodiversity of Scleractinian Corals in Taiwan 2.3.2 Biogeographic Distribution Patterns of Scleractinian Corals in Taiwan and Japan 2.3.3 The Forming of ``Chen´s Line´´ 2.3.4 The Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs) in Taiwan 2.3.5 Mechanisms Forming the Two Distinct Coral Assemblages in Taiwan 2.4 Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbances Affecting Coral Ecosystems in Taiwan 2.4.1 Natural Disturbances 2.4.2 Anthropogenic Disturbances 2.5 Impact of Climate Change and Ocean Acidification on Coral Ecosystems in Taiwan 2.5.1 Rising Sea Surface Temperature 2.5.2 Tropical Typhoon 2.5.3 Ocean Acidification 2.5.4 Bioerosion 2.6 Conclusion 2.7 Future Research Directions of Coral Ecosystems in Taiwan 2.7.1 Pattern and Process of Biodiversity Formation in the Transitional Coral Ecosystems in Taiwan 2.7.2 Role of Kuroshio Current: A Promoter or a Barrier in Reef Formation and Connecting Coral Ecosystems in the East Asia 2.7.3 Long-Term Ecological Research (Including Environmental Settings) in Coral Ecosystems of Taiwan 2.7.4 Conservation and Governance of Transitional Coral Ecosystems in Taiwan in the Era of Changing Climate References 3: Dynamics of Coral Reef Communities in the Sekisei Lagoon, Japan, Following the Severe Mass Bleaching Event of 2016 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Methods 3.2.1 Study Area 3.2.2 Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Degree Heating Week (DHW) 3.2.3 Field Methods and Statistical Analysis 3.3 Results 3.3.1 Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Degree Heating Week (DHW) of the Sekisei Lagoon 3.3.2 Coral Bleaching Patterns and Susceptibility Among Coral Genera in the Sekisei Lagoon 3.3.3 Temporal Changes Observed in Reef Community Assemblages Following Bleaching 3.3.4 Temporal Changes in Percentage Cover of Coral Genera 3.4 Discussion References 4: Succession and Emergence of Corals in High-Latitude (Temperate) Areas of Eastern Asia into the Future 4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 High-Latitude Coral Communities 4.1.2 Overview of High-Latitude Coral Communities in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan Japan Korea Taiwan 4.1.3 Climate Change and Future High-Latitude Coral Communities: Possible Responses of Species Extinction Acclimatization and Adaptation Migration and Range Shifts 4.1.4 Climate Change and Future High-Latitude Coral Communities in East Asia: Perspectives 4.2 Conclusions Definition References 5: Succession and Spread of Coral Diseases and Coral-Killing Sponges with Special Reference to Microbes in Southeast Asia and ... 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Coral Diseases 5.2.1 Lethal Coral Diseases: Rapid Tissue Loss Diseases 5.2.2 Black Band Disease (BBD) 5.2.3 White Syndrome (WS) 5.2.4 Brown Band (BrB) 5.2.5 Compromised Disease/Syndrome 5.3 Sponges 5.3.1 Terpios Sponge 5.3.2 Cliona Sponge 5.3.3 Chalinula Sponge 5.3.4 Other Coral-Killing Sponges 5.4 Coral Holobiont 5.5 Causes of Coral Diseases by Biotic Agents 5.6 Pathological Studies in Eastern Asia 5.6.1 Coral Pathogens in Eastern Asia 5.6.2 Bacterial Community in Coral Diseases 5.6.3 Vibrio corallilyticus Infection with Corals 5.6.4 Further Pathological Research for Coral Diseases 5.7 Potential Beneficial Bacteria to Reduce Coral Disease 5.8 Microbiome-Associated Coral-Killing Sponge Terpios hoshinota References 6: Succession of Ocean Acidification and its Effects on Reef-Building Corals 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Acidification of the World Ocean and Western Pacific 6.3 Systems for Ocean Acidification Experiments with Reef-Building Corals 6.4 Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Reef-Building Corals 6.5 Assessing the Combined Effects of Ocean Acidification and Increased Water Temperature on Reef-Building Corals 6.6 Inter- and Intraspecies Differences in the Responses of Reef-Building Corals to Ocean Acidification 6.7 Ocean Acidification, Coral Skeletal Composition, and Calcification Mechanisms 6.8 Future Prospects References 7: Anthropogenic Stresses in Coral Reefs and Adjacent Ecosystems of the East China Sea 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Climate Change 7.3 Continental Origin Anthropogenic Impacts 7.3.1 Eutrophication 7.3.2 Anthropogenic Chemicals 7.3.3 Plastic Wastes 7.4 Island-Based Anthropogenic Impacts 7.4.1 Urbanisation 7.4.2 Red Soil 7.4.3 Nutrients 7.4.4 Submarine Groundwater Discharge 7.4.5 Herbicides and Pesticides 7.4.6 Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) 7.4.7 Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) 7.4.8 Outbreak of the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish 7.4.9 Military Base-Related Anthropogenic Effects 7.5 Coastal Waters-Based Anthropogenic Impacts 7.6 Tourism 7.7 Conclusion References 8: Development of a Compact Experimental System for Ecotoxicological Experiments on Acropora spp. 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Setup of the Experimental Laboratory 8.3 Seawater Used for the Experiment 8.4 Transportation System 8.5 Fragmentation of Acropora spp. 8.6 Compact Aquarium System 8.7 Colour Evaluation Using RGB Values 8.8 Compact Measurement of Photosynthetic Efficiency of Hermatypic Corals 8.9 Coral Bleaching Process Under Anthropogenic Chemicals and High Seawater Temperature 8.10 Conclusion References 9: Effects of Anthropogenic Chemicals on Hermatypic Corals with Special Reference to Gene Expression 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Effects of Anthropogenic Chemicals on Gene Expression 9.2.1 Heavy Metals 9.2.2 Polycyclic Aromatic Carbons 9.2.3 Polychlorinated Biphenyls 9.2.4 Herbicides 9.2.5 Other Chemicals 9.3 Future Directions References 10: Perspective for the Conservation of Coral Reefs in the East China Sea 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Monitoring and Reducing Terrestrial and Coastal Impacts 10.3 Selecting Area less Affected by Continental Anthropogenic Pressures 10.4 Selecting Mitigating Areas Under Climate Change 10.5 Prompt Coral Reef Monitoring Technology 10.6 Cutting-Edge Technologies of Coral Ecotoxicology Assays 10.7 Conservation of Coral Reefs Under Increasing Sea Level References