[Coral-List] corals survive in turbid water (Eugene Shinn) Coral-List Digest, Vol 89, Issue 11
Chowdula Satya narayana
chowdula_narayana at rediffmail.com
Thu Jan 14 12:53:58 EST 2016
Dear Damien Beri,
The dams construction is not done for our restoration purpose and the control of sediment due to
damming happened over many decades, which reduced the sediment load into Kachchh facilitating a chance
for us to go for transplantation of staghorn corals which have become extirpated many years ago. We
are only trying some Ocean engineering interventions to locally control sediment and algae, the major
threats to coral growth in our study area (Kachchh).
In fact the sedimentation is a problem to the dams as well since it reduces its carrying capacity.
When a river is stilled behind a dam, the sediments it contains sink to the bottom of the reservoir.
The proportion of a river’s total sediment load captured by a dam – known as its "trap efficiency" As
the sediments accumulate in the reservoir, the dam gradually loses its ability to store water for the
purposes for which it was built. Every reservoir loses storage to sedimentation although the rate at
which this happens varies widely.
On Wed, 13 Jan 2016 23:13:37 +0530 Damien Beri wrote
>Thats incredible that the dams actually help reduce turbidity. How often does the sediment need to be
cleared from the specific dam, and whats the cost of removal? Does the production of coral in non-
turbid environments which once were turbid offset the process of removing the sediment from the dam
once it builds up behind the dam wall in the same time span?
On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 2:33 PM, Chowdula Satya narayana wrote:
Dear Professor,
I agree to the fact that impact of light on corals will reduce in turbid waters. But, the survival of
Siderastrea and Acropora in shaded waters may be a totally a different concept. I am working with my
team in a turbid coral reef area in India located in a state called Gujarat. It is Gulf of Kachchh and
the first Marine National Park in India. Siderastrea savignayana in this region is surviving even in
highly muddy and murky environment and all the Acropora species surviving about 10 thousand years back
are totally extirpated primarily due to loads of sediment brought into the Gulf by adjacent rivers.
Gulf of Kachchh MNP is the less diverse coral reef environment in India with hardly about 50 hardy
species of scleractinians reported so far. The corals are surviving primarily because of high tidal
amplitude, which keeps the waters always on the move without allowing the sediment/silt to settle on
corals. Due to damming the rivers, now the sediment load has reduced to about one tenth and now we are
successfully transplanting acropora species from other reef regions with almost similar conditions to
Kachchh. Probably this is the first of its kind effort in the world. We have observed temporary
bleaching due to seasonal changes. The corals got their colour back once the cold or hot spell is
over. If you are interested, you are welcome to visit this unique environment. Now we are
concentrating on reducing the sediment load further along with algal control using some ocean
engineering interventions.
On Tue, 12 Jan 2016 22:32:06 +0530 coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov wrote
>Send Coral-List mailing list submissions to
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 13:07:31 -0500
From: Eugene Shinn
Subject: [Coral-List] corals survive in turbid water
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
Attached is a paper with an unusual conclusion. It suggests
transplanting threatened corals to areas of turbidity to protect them
from sun light. The paper presents good evidence for the proposal. In
the Keys however, nearshore areas of high turbidity are also prone to
periodic chilling during sporadic cold fronts. I might add that while
most of the head corals and all of the Acroporids at Carysfort reef
located in clear water off the Florida Keys are suffering there is a
cluster of /Siderasterea siderea/ heads in the shade beneath the
lighthouse that are growing just fine. I have been photographing them
once a year for many years. Does this not suggest a place to perform a
simple experiment? Gene
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1111%2Fgcb.13166#.VpPXbbgXj08.email
--
No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science Room 221A
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Tel 727 553-1158
---------------------------------- -----------------------------------
End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 89, Issue 11
******************************************
Dr. Ch. Satyanarayana,
Scientist
(Coral Taxonomist),
Zoological Survey of India,
(II Floor) Fire Proof Spirit Building,
Indian Museum Complex,
27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road,
Kolkata - 700 016.
Cell:9433325559
Phone: 091-033-22861608
091-033-22521212
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Dr. Ch. Satyanarayana,
Scientist
(Coral Taxonomist),
Zoological Survey of India,
(II Floor) Fire Proof Spirit Building,
Indian Museum Complex,
27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road,
Kolkata - 700 016.
Cell:9433325559
Phone: 091-033-22861608
091-033-22521212
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