SPATIAL PATTERNS IN THE CORAL ECOSYSTEMS OF PAPAHĀNAUMOKUĀKEA MARINE NATIONAL MONUMENT

The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) is a cultural and ecological hub in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Largely undisturbed by local human urbanization, it holds high biodiversity and endemism isolated in the Pacific Ocean. To monitor PMNM’s reef system, research expeditions have collected benthic and fish underwater SCUBA survey data since 2000. Our project used these data to conduct an updated biogeographic analysis of PMNM. This helps characterize the marine resources of PMNM and identify areas where further research and conservation efforts are needed. Our goal is important to the preservation of PMNM in the face of anthropogenic climate change, marine debris, invasive species, and other human impacts. We used the R coding platform to organize data, identify patterns, and create ecological visualizations that represent the benthic and fish populations across the monument. Our results show that PMNM is an interconnected web of coral reef ecosystems, with each island having a unique profile of fish populations, benthic cover, and oceanographic setting. This suggests that each island in PMNM supports a unique marine ecosystem and may have a different standard of what health looks like. More data are needed as we continue to identify patterns through time at multiple atolls. This will help us recognize hotspots of ecological importance and monitor their condition. This is key to improving conservation efforts of PMNM ecosystems that provide resources for vulnerable marine life and local Hawaiian communities in the face of rapidly changing environments.

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: Khrista Nicholas, University of Miami (khristanicholas1@gmail.com)

Authors:

Chelsie Counsell, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  (chelsie.counsell@noaa.gov)

Randall Kosaki, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  (randall.kosaki@noaa.gov)