The role of predation on survivorship of coral recruits

Mike Evans, Masters candidate at SUNY Buffalo with Dr. Howard Lasker, has been at KML since early May. He is studying the role of predation on coral recruit survivorship of the gorgonian coral, Briarium asbestinum, and the scleractinian coral, Porites asteroides.

While grazing rarely results in mortality of adult coral, predation on single polyp recruits would presumably kill those individuals, with the potential to impact the abundance of adult colonies.

To assess the effect of predation on recruit survivorship, newly-settled polyps of each species were placed at East Turtle Shoals in one of 5 treatments that excluded different combinations of known coral predators.Hardware cloth cages which totally or partially enclosed settled recruits

Exposed polyps settled on branches (B. asbestinum) or plexi-plates (P. asteroides), floating above or attached directly to cinderblocks

Recruits were counted 3 times per week over a four week period to determine differences in survivorship between treatments and to assess the roles of various predators on coral recruit mortality.