Oh Oh Oh my beautiful Islands
Rising from your low and your lonely home
Proudly showing what a hero you are of all times
You will always be and you be in my heart

Chorus: We are so proud of you
Your valour and humour that bring us together
PIPA you are the one you are my gift to humanity
God Bless our islands full of dreams and sweet sweet memories
God Bless our islands full of dreams and sweet sweet memories

Oh Oh Oh my beautiful Islands
The beautiful beaches and the green swaying palms
The ocean rich in life so full of promises
Your love for all that you want to share your riches
Oh I am so proud of you I still love you so

This is blog entry posted from the field during the 2012 Phoenix Islands Marine Protected Area (PIPA) Expedition. The Phoenix Islands are an isolated island chain more than 1,000 miles southwest of Hawaii. They are part of the island nation of Kiribati, which partnered with the New England Aquarium and Conservation International to create PIPA in 2008. Today it is one of the world's largest marine protected areas and a UNESCO world heritage site. This voyage is part of a regular series of scientific expeditions to investigate coral health and study ecosystems and biodiversity.

This post is from expedition leader Sangeeta Mangubhai.

We are on the return journey now, back to Apia, Samoa. The seas are rougher on the way home and many of my colleagues are down, bundled in their cabins. As boat pitches back and forth, I have the time to reflect on the expedition and what we have achieved.



In two short weeks we have managed to collect data on the health and resilience of the coral reefs to understand how the post-bleaching recovery is going. The "fish heads” from WHOI and KAUST have tagged nine manta rays from Kanton and Orona and there are data now being collected on how these animals move within and between islands in the Phoenix group, and how much time they spend on the open ocean. We have coral cores that WHOI researchers collected, which may tell us what has been the climatological history of the Phoenix Islands group over the last 200 to 250 years.

During the voyage home, I have been analyzing some of our monitoring data. Our temperature loggers are suggesting that there were unusually high temperatures in the Phoenix Islands in late 2009/early 2010 for about 3 to 6 months. I am keen to analyze all the photographs we collected on the coral benthos to assess whether this hot water event caused likely bleaching and mortality. It is a coral lover's worst nightmare – the thought of repeated coral bleaching events happening one after the other, leaving insufficient time for coral communities to fully recover, and changing reefs forever. However, as a coral ecologist, it remains instructive to observe the changing dynamics and to learn what we can from this special place.



It is clear from diving and collecting data on the reefs that the coral communities, especially those on the leeward side of reefs have undergone a large change, and the recovery is continuing slowly. Recruitment rates are low suggesting that these communities are relying on fragments of corals reattaching and growing, rather than large number of new corals settling on reefs.

Many of those iconic coral species on reefs like Acropora (which form everything from thick thickets to large plates), a decade after the 2002/2003 bleaching event, have not yet come back, suggesting the scarcity of healthy reproductive corals that would facilitate the recovery of these species. This is worrying, since Acropora corals create a lot of habitat diversity that is important to a number of fish species. However, there are still some areas where these Acropora corals thrive: places like Kanton lagoon and Enderbury, as well as many of the windward reefs are doing well, and hopefully will be a source of larvae that can help leeward side reefs recovery over the next decade.



What does give me hope is that our preliminary data analysis is showing that fish populations are healthy and continue to thrive. Large numbers of juvenile sharks at Kanton and Orona suggest that shark populations are well on their way to recovery. Where there are damaged reefs from old shipwrecks, large swarms of herbivorous fish are grazing away at the algae like lawn-mowers, keeping the algae from taking over the reefs.

It is clear that having healthy fish populations and not having additional man-made threats to stress
reefs further, is giving Phoenix Islands a fighting chance at recovery. The Phoenix Islands Protected Area is recovering at it's own pace, and will continue to inspire me and hopefully others to keep working on finding better ways to manage our coral reefs.

This is blog entry posted from the field during the 2012 Phoenix Islands Marine Protected Area (PIPA) Expedition. The Phoenix Islands are an isolated island chain more than 1,000 miles southwest of Hawaii. They are part of the island nation of Kiribati, which partnered with the New England Aquarium and Conservation International to create PIPA in 2008. Today it is one of the world's largest marine protected areas and a UNESCO world heritage site. This voyage is part of a regular series of scientific expeditions to investigate coral health and study ecosystems and biodiversity.

This post is from Kelton McMahon, post-doctoral fellow at WHOI and KAUST after the first day of diving near Kanton Island. Read all of Kelton's posts here. Pictures by Keith Ellenbogen.


No matter what you do for a living, how old you may be, or how experienced you are (or think you are), the desire to explore seems to transcend all. We spent two full weeks taking photos, collecting samples, and surveying species distributions and abundances on the reefs fringing the Phoenix Islands.



But like the thousands of photos we’d taken since arriving, our view of the reef was only a snapshot of the diversity and complexity that the ecosystem had to offer. As the sun set behind Nikumaroro Island, we donned our dive gear for a night dive exploration.

A flounder resting on an old coral head

The reef gets a complete makeover at night: new species, new colors and a new perspective of how the system operates. Some species are just settling down for a good night’s sleep. A green sea turtle sits on a sandy patch of bottom, holding its breath long enough to catch a few Z’s. Take a look under a nearby coral ledge and you may find a parrotfish encased in mucus cocoon.

Neon fusilier tucked in for the night amidst the Montipora coral

At the same time, an entirely different suite of animals are just waking up. A neon fusilier fish changes into its night colors for a evening cruising the reef. Meanwhile, a few large solitary shadows glide along the outskirts of our lights looking for a snack.

Don't let the fuzzy, turf-algae and sediment-covered shell fool you - there's a brightly colored hermit crab inside!

Diving by the narrow scope of an underwater flashlight has a way of emphasizing the tiny creatures that come out at night. As we scan the reef with our light, a myriad of iridescent eyes light up. As my light passes over a colorful hermit crab it freezes. Move the light away and he picks up his shell to scurry along his path. Bring the light back and he freezes once again freezes. It reminds me of playing red light-green light as a child.

Shrimp-tastic

Under the next coral ledge, we see two banded coral shrimp sifting through particles in the water column. It’s hard not to imagine that we’ve stumbled upon an old married couple on a dinner date. As the dive comes to an end and we float suspended above the reef on our safety stop, a larval octopus dances in our lights.

Back aboard the skiff, we cruise towards the Nai’a under a blanket of stars. Along the side of the boat, a pod of bottlenose dolphins rides our bow wake. As they crisscross paths below us, they trail plumes of green bioluminescence like jets in an airshow. It was the grand finale to yet another amazing exploration of the Phoenix Islands.

This is blog entry posted from the field during the 2012 Phoenix Islands Marine Protected Area (PIPA) Expedition. The Phoenix Islands are an isolated island chain more than 1,000 miles southwest of Hawaii. They are part of the island nation of Kiribati, which partnered with the New England Aquarium and Conservation International to create PIPA in 2008. Today it is one of the world's largest marine protected areas and a UNESCO world heritage site. This voyage is part of a regular series of scientific expeditions to investigate coral health and study ecosystems and biodiversity.

This post is from expedition leader Sangeeta Mangubhai.

We are at our final atoll, Nikumaroro. (Read about our other adventures on this island here and here.) I always like to end on Nikumaroro – not only is the atoll scenically stunning with its long extended reef flats, thick tropical vegetation and white sandy beaches, but the reefs here seem to draw lots of pelagic fish near or adjacent to reefs, and the shark populations are still very healthy.



So far, we have recorded six species of sharks in the Phoenix Islands. The most common have been grey reef, white tip and black tip reefs sharks which are fairly typically found on healthy coral reefs. We have also seen grey nurse, silver tip and scalloped hammerhead sharks at a couple of the atolls. This is heartening when so many coral reefs around the world have such decimated populations of sharks.




The lagoon at Nikumaroro is shallow and acts as a nursery area for sharks, especially blacktips. Yesterday Tuake Teema, our representative from the Kiribati government (who was with us for the first expedition and the one in 2009) led a small trip into the lagoon to see if juvenile sharks were still present in the lagoon.




We were happy to see juvenile sharks in the lagoon, a few of which are featured above. This sighting is particularly important since, according to Tuake, there have been a number of shark finning boats that have come into these islands and have severely impacted populations at Kanton, Orona and Rawaki. As Tuake and Keith approached the waters’ edge 15 small sharks came up curiously to check them out, swimming right up to their ankles. With the inception of PIPA, all of the islands became no-take zones. Now, shark finning is highly illegal. Protecting sharks is one of the many functions of the no-take zones within the Phoenix Islands Protected Area.




Out on the reefs larger grey reef, white tip and black tip sharks patrol the reefs. As soon as we jump in, they race up to the surface often circling us a couple of times and then following us to the bottom. They then continue on their patrols crossing our paths many times. These animals are just spectacular to see in the water – the way they move so quickly under the water and how finely atuned they are to injured fish. If they spot an injured fish within second a number of sharks can race out of the depths and within seconds the fish is gone!




The recovery of the shark populations at these previously fished atolls is slow, but it is happening. If we can continue to protect PIPA, they will come back to their previous numbers.

In a previous post we discussed evidence of human influence on the terrestrial side of Orona: ancient Polynesian villages, a more recent (2001) settlement project that was rather short-lived. But there is underwater evidence as well. For example, abandoned anchors off of old ships lying undisturbed amidst the corals.

Anchor left on the reef

But there are also lingering global influences that are evidenced by what is NOT present on the reef. For example, lack of live coral. These mostly dead and overgrown coral skeletons are remnants from previous bleaching events, the most severe of which occurred in 2002-2003.

A lone shark swims over a reef of encrusted coral skeletons

All is not lost, however. As was found on the 2009 expedition, the reef was seen to be rapidly recovering from bleaching, thanks in part to reef herbivores that were keeping the dead substrate clean and ready for coral recolonization. Thanks to these coral reef "lawnmowers", the reef is mostly free from the weedy macroalgal species that are competitively dominant. Instead, the reef harbors mostly Halimeda (a green calcareous algae) and CCA (crustose coralline algae, in pink), which do not impede the resettlement of corals.

Reef herbivores (Acanthurids) graze turf and macroalgae off the reef

And the fish just keep on coming.... even in the depths

...And in the shallows

The presence of such high abundance and diversity of fishes is likely a key part of reef recovery. Part of the beauty of PIPA is that all of the island-surrounding reefs are part of the no-take portion of the MPA, which means no fishing. No fishing AT ALL. Hopefully, such conservation measures will enable these reefs to recover from the global impacts of climate change, and we will continue to document and observe the changes in these reef communities over time. 

Photographer Keith Ellenbogen, a regular Aquarium blog contributor, is on the expedition. Here are some of his images from Nikumaroro Island.

A deserted island beach may look idyllic, but imagine being stranded here... quite a different perspective! TIGHAR thinks Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan may have have been stranded on this island... they are soon headed to PIPA, and perhaps we'll find out.

One of the popular "Amelia" theories is that her plane landed on the reef flats during low tide (the TIGHAR hypothesis). You can see here how the reef flats may have been suitable for an emergency runway!

This crab has a story to tell, and the punchline: "Stay away from my territory!"

Birds landing on the Nai'a have a good view of the exposed  SS Norwich City shipwreck, to the left.

Stormy sunsets are one of the amazing views in PIPA

But nothing beats a full rainbow. :-)

Photographer Keith Ellenbogen, a regular Aquarium blog contributor, is on the expedition capturing stunning underwater photos. These images are from dives near Nikumaroro Island.


Now that you've seen Nikumaroro from the air, it's time to dive down and see the reefs below.

Colorful green Halimeda algae and pink crustose coralline algae covering a mound of dead coral substrate (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

Atop the large plates of mounding Porites corals is the perfect place for an underwater cleaning station. This grouper is actually being cleaned by a tiny wrasse (see the blue and black striped fish to the right?). (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

The silvery surface waters of Nikumaroro are home are far from empty...Scomberoides lysan(queenfish) and Elagatis bipinnulata(rainbow runner) abound! (Fish ID by Dr. Les Kaufman) (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

A school of herbivorous convict tangs feeding on turf algae (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

A scrubby coral forest regrows in the shallows (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

Herbivory in action! (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

Photographer Keith Ellenbogen, a regular Aquarium blog contributor, is on the expedition capturing stunning underwater photos of marine life as well as these aerial images of Nikumaroro Island that were made using a kite.


Flight and Nikumaroro are no strangers to each other. Indeed, Nikumaroro is perhaps most famous as a potential landing site for Amelia Earhart, the famous female aviator. The Amelia Earhart recovery is being attempted by TIGHAR, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, who made the movie below (posted for convenience, and also shows a helicopter flyover of the island):



But when our team is on Nikumaroro, they are busy gathering biological information about the corals, fishes, and seawater chemistry (similar to their work on the other islands, detailed in previous posts). Amidst all the hard work, a bit of fun is definitely welcome! One of the goals was to collect water samples from the Niku lagoon - these kite photos helped to verify the shallow nature of the lagoon, and provided a fun way to contextualize the site of sampling. In this case, Keith and Jay mounted a GoPro camera to a kite in order to get a birds-eye view of the island, without taking on Amelia-style risk. :-) We are happy to report that there are no missing aviators as a result of this activity. Instead, just some great photos! Not bad for a team that primarily works underwater. Enjoy!

Expedition members Keith and Jo test the aerodynamics of the kite and camera. (Photo: S. Mangubhai)

Expedition Leader Sangeeta launches the kite, which is being controlled by Keith. (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

Aerial photograph of Nikumaroro Lagoon from the kite (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

Aerial photograph of Nikumaroro Lagoon from the kite (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

This post is by Expedition Team Member Jennifer Boulay.

The idea for this blog hit me during one of our dives and I wrote this down on my slate. So here it is literally from the reefs of Phoenix Island to you. I am a PhD student at Penn State studying coral genetics and my work here is like being on a television crime drama.

Okay not exactly.

In reality, my work is much cooler. Instead of a dirty crime scene, I get to be here on the beautiful reefs of the Phoenix Islands and instead of taking samples from a dead body, I take small samples of coral tissue under the water.

Jennifer Boulay collecting sample of porites (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

But back in the lab, I do get to use information in DNA to solve a mystery: How far do PIPA corals move within and among PIPA islands and the other Pacific archipelagos?

I know it can be difficult to think of a coral as a motile animal because they look like rocks or plants but like some plants they do have a motile life phase. In order for you to understand the ecology behind coral genetics, I think need to explain about reproduction in corals (Don’t worry I promise I will keep it PG). Coral colonies reproduce in two ways:

1) A coral colony can release sperm, eggs, or sometimes both into the water and mate with other colonies of the same species. This is how corals sexually reproduce. The resulting larvae can travel in the water on currents to other reefs or stay locally and settle back on the same reef. For these sexually produced colonies, their genetic signatures allow us to model patterns of connection among reefs. This will tell us if the colonies were locally produced or if coral larvae from one island make it to other islands within PIPA or even the other islands of the Pacific. My lab has been working on reef connectivity across the entire Pacific in one species of coral. In fact, the first samples I ever analyzed during my PhD were sent to my lab by Randi Rotjan from Enderbury on the PIPA expedition in 2009. So the Phoenix Islands are especially close to my heart and I am so excited to be here and experience them with my own eyes. But this year, I am collecting samples from all the islands and will be able to look at connectivity within PIPA in addition to the connections among the PIPA islands and other Pacific Islands.

2) Another way a new coral can establish on the reef is from an existing colony. A piece or branch of a coral colony can break off and become a new colony. This is known as asexual reproduction by fragmentation. Think of your garden at home. Even though corals are animals they reproduce somewhat like plants. You can take a cutting of a tree, plant it in the ground, and it will grow into a new tree. But this new tree is a genetic clone of the original plant from which you took a cutting. These two plants will share the exact same DNA. In my lab at Penn State I will use 11 sites in the DNA to give each coral a unique identifier, its genotype. If two samples have the same genotype those colonies are clones of each other. For branching colonies it is easier to understand how a branch can break off in a storm for example and become a new colony but many of the corals on the reef just look like rocks or even grow encrusting on the surface. For these colonies it is possible that fish bite the coral, not to eat it but to get at other things living inside the corals like mussels or worms. The coral pieces that are broken off might establish their own colonies nearby. The 2012 PIPA expedition is the optimal way to study this unique method of asexual propagation because we have scientists collecting data on fish assemblage and corals at the same time.

A tissue sample of Porites for genetic analysis. (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

 
Unlike in TV, my results are not completed in one, neat, 30-minute episode, so STAY TUNED.

-Jennifer

Orona Island is relatively lush, hosting many prominent coconut palms, scrub brush and other trees. The expedition team went ashore to assess infrastructure that was previously installed by the Kirabati government in 2001. The idea was to host a small fishing settlement, but the project was unsuccessful, likely due to the extreme isolation and resulting issues (freshwater availability, supply runs, etc). Though the infrastructure is relatively new (only a decade old!), you can see the impact of the intense sun and salt spray. Interestingly, Orona also hosts prehistoric Polynesian ruins ... but those are on the other side of the island and were not visited by the team. That's the thing about the Phoenix Islands - tiny specks in the Pacific, but yet there's always more to see.

Orona Island (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

A Maneeba (local word for village hall) (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

On Orona Island in the Central Pacific a safe remains locked within the bank.  A place to withdraw money... but there's no treasure left. (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

Tuake Teema explores and assesses the conditions of the island and village that was last inhabited in 2001. (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

The remnants of  a church bell from 2001. This bell was rung every Sunday.  (Photo: K. Ellenbogen)

A korean or japanese-style fishing helmet with a light that washed ashore in Orona Island. There is lots of shoreline debris littering the islands (read more here).