Award: OCE-1946866

The coral reefs of Moorea, French Polynesia experienced a major coral bleaching event between April and June 2019. This event resulted in the coral mortality on the fore reef that varied from 30-50%, dependent on site and depth.Building on prior measurements of reef metabolism at six sites around the island, the major goals of this RAPID project were to: 1) quantify the immediate effects of this major mortality event on fore reef metabolism (primary production, respiration, calcification), and 2) quantify the trajectory of reef metabolism over time as reef community structure changed and began a recovery. The proposed methods to accomplish these goals was the use a boundary layer method (gradient flux method) to estimate vertical scalar fluxes above the benthos over a defined areal footprint. Data on fore reef metabolism at each of the six Moorea Coral Reef LTER sites around the island at two depths (10 m, 17 m) were collected for a year prior to the coral bleaching event. This project proposed originally to revisit each of those site/depth combinations to remeasure metabolism at 1, 5, and 9 months following the bleaching event. Due to travel restrictions imposed by the current COVID pandemic, those timelines were stretched, facilitated by 2, approved 1-y, no-cost extensions. An additional goal of the project was to involve personnel (postdoc, technician, graduate student) from a diverse academic setting (CSUN), thereby providing unique opportunities for training in coral reef science. Furthermore, the results of this research will be communicated directly to resource management personnel in French Polynesia through reports and presentations, and to the Polynesian community through outreach facilitated by the UCB Richard Gump At'tia Cultural Center on the campus of the Gump Research Station. Last Modified: 01/04/2023 Submitted by: Robert C Carpenter