dc.contributor.advisor | Aronson, Richard | |
dc.contributor.author | Whitcher, Elizabeth | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2017-05-03T19:09:29Z | |
dc.date.available | 2017-05-03T19:09:29Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2017-05 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11141/1406 | |
dc.description | Thesis (M.S.) - Florida Institute of Technology, 2017 | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | Coral reefs are critical barriers to coastal erosion and flooding throughout
tropical regions, but their role in coastal protection is threatened by declining coral
populations and sea-level rise. Climate change is causing widespread losses of live-coral
cover on Caribbean reefs, and is reducing the capacity of reef-building to keep
pace with sea-level rise. Reefs that lag behind rising sea level will struggle to
maintain their role as protective barriers, as rising water-levels over shallow reef-crests
result in a reduction of the dissipation of wave energy. A clear understanding
of reef-building processes in the Caribbean will be a critical component in regional
analyses of coastal hazards under sea-level rise.
The objective of this study was to investigate the spatial variability in
contemporary reef-building processes on a bank-barrier reef in Buck Island National
Monument, a marine protected area in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Reef-building
processes were evaluated using a census-based carbonate-budget model, which
estimates rates of contemporary geomorphic change based on ecological data. The
model reveals that in 8 of the 9 shallow-water reef habitats studied, reef framework
is being eroded at a faster rate than new framework is being produced. Reef habitats that grew at an average rate of +3.1 mm yr-1
in the late Holocene are now in a state
of net erosion, with reef surfaces poised to lose 8–25 cm of elevation by the year
2100.
The contemporary state of carbonate production on Buck Island reefs is a
result of the relationship between biological erosion and declining rates of carbonate
production, due to recent coral mortality. The erosion of the reef framework will
amplify the rate of relative sea-level rise over shallow-reef crests surrounding Buck
Island, which will have negative consequences for the long-term viability of the
ecosystem services that the reefs provide. The results of this case study indicate that
recent ecological changes will have long-term geomorphic consequences for reefs
across the Caribbean region. | en_US |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.rights | Copyright held by author. | en_US |
dc.title | Reef-Building Threatened by Ecosystem Decline: A Case Study from Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.date.updated | 2017-05-01T20:27:51Z | |
thesis.degree.name | Master of Science in Biological Sciences | en_US |
thesis.degree.level | Masters | en_US |
thesis.degree.discipline | Biological Sciences - Marine Biology | en_US |
thesis.degree.department | Biological Sciences | en_US |
thesis.degree.grantor | Florida Institute of Technology | en_US |
dc.type.material | text | |