Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Related Publications
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

Researchers examined the effects of vermetids on Pocillopora growth and survival at different locations around Moorea, French Polynesia.

Related Datasets:

• Reef Locations: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/645257
• Brown 2014 Muricid snails and vermetid gastropod: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/717528

Researchers chose 6 sites, and at each site, selected 10 patch reefs that had established populations of vermetids. On each reef, size (length, width, and water depth), as well as percent cover of corals and non corals were recorded. Of the 10 reefs surveyed at each site, they chose randomly chose 5 to remove vermetids using wire hooks, which removed the snail and left the shells intact. the remaining reefs were unmanipulated and contained vermetids at ambient densities.

Experimental colonies came from three distinct colonies of Pocillopora verrucosa. Colonies were chosen near the MOE site (~600m west). Within the site of collection, colonies were collected from separate patch reefs (separated by greater than 100m) to maximize the probability of different genotypes. Each colony terminal branches were removed in segments of 5cm in length. Each fragment was attached to a plastic base and the skeletal mass was estimated using the bouyant weight technique (Davies 1989). One fragment from each reef was attached to each reef.

Coral fragments were assessed after 155 days. Corals were collected, their final buoyant mass was measured and their proprtion of the coral surface area that was alive was visually estimated.

long_term_growth = ((Weight_day155_in_sea_water - Weight_day0_in_sea_water)/155)/(density_aragonite - ((density_sea_water_day0 + density_sea_water_day155)/2))
x_form_surv = calculated as: arcsine(square root(percent alive at day 155/100))

BCO-DMO Processing:

• added conventional header with dataset name, PI name, version date
• modified parameter names to conform with BCO-DMO naming conventions

Description from NSF abstract:
Ecological surprises are most likely to be manifest in diverse communities where many interactions remain uninvestigated. Coral reefs harbor much of the world's biodiversity, and recent studies by the investigators suggest that one overlooked, but potentially important, biological interaction involves vermetid gastropods. Vermetid gastropods are nonmobile, tube-building snails that feed via an extensive mucus net. Vermetids reduce coral growth by up to 80%, and coral survival by as much as 60%. Because effects vary among coral taxa, vermetids may substantially alter the structure of coral communities as well as the community of fishes and invertebrates that inhabit the coral reef.

The investigators will conduct a suite of experimental and observational studies that: 1) quantify the effects of four species of vermetids across coral species to assess if species effects and responses are concordant or idiosyncratic; 2) use meta-analysis to compare effects of vermetids relative to other coral stressors and determine the factors that influence variation in coral responses; 3) determine the role of coral commensals that inhabit the branching coral, Pocillopora, and evaluate how the development of the commensal assemblage modifies the deleterious effects of vermetids; 4) determine how vermetid mucus nets affect the local environment of corals and evaluate several hypotheses about proposed mechanisms; and 5) assess the long-term implications of vermetids on coral communities and the fishes and invertebrates that depend on the coral.

Note: The Principal Investigator, Dr. Craig W. Osenberg, was at the University of Florida at the time the NSF award was granted. Dr. Osenberg moved to the University of Georgia during the summer of 2014 (current contact information).