Title |
Coral Ba/Ca records of sediment input to the fringing reef of the southshore of Moloka’i, Hawai’i over the last several decades
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Published in |
Marine Pollution Bulletin, June 2010
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DOI | 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.05.024 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Nancy G. Prouty, Michael E. Field, Jonathan D. Stock, Stacy D. Jupiter, Malcolm McCulloch |
Abstract |
The fringing reef of southern Moloka'i is perceived to be in decline because of land-based pollution. In the absence of historical records of sediment pollution, ratios of coral Ba/Ca were used to test the hypothesis that sedimentation has increased over time. Baseline Ba/Ca ratios co-vary with the abundance of red, terrigenous sediment visible in recent imagery. The highest values at One Ali'i are near one of the muddiest parts of the reef. This co-varies with the lowest growth rate of all the sites, perhaps because the upstream Kawela watershed was historically leveed all the way to the nearshore, providing a fast-path for sediment delivery. Sites adjacent to small, steep watersheds have ∼decadal periodicities whereas sites adjacent to mangrove forests have shorter-period fluctuations that correspond to the periodicity of sediment transport in the nearshore, rather than the watershed. All four sites show a statistically significant upward trend in Ba/Ca. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Kenya | 1 | <1% |
Brazil | 1 | <1% |
Mexico | 1 | <1% |
United States | 1 | <1% |
Philippines | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 108 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 22 | 19% |
Researcher | 22 | 19% |
Student > Master | 11 | 10% |
Student > Bachelor | 10 | 9% |
Student > Postgraduate | 7 | 6% |
Other | 18 | 16% |
Unknown | 23 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Environmental Science | 31 | 27% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 25 | 22% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 20 | 18% |
Engineering | 4 | 4% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 2 | 2% |
Other | 8 | 7% |
Unknown | 23 | 20% |