Environment Focus Group

Meeting ID: 824 1211 9303 ,  Password: 189139

Come Learn About the Impacts of Climate Change on our Coral Reefs and What We Can To Help Them Recover

Hawai‘I Coral Reef Communities in the Wake of Recent Bleaching Events and Paths to Future Reef Recovery.

Corals in Hawaiʻi suffered catastrophic mortality following the most intensive coral bleaching event on record for the state beginning in July 2015. Coral bleaching is a global and growing environmental problem that is one of the major stressors that threatens our reefs. To illustrate the need to better monitor and manage this problem, we’ll look at the coral reefs of West Hawaiʻi on the island of Hawaiʻi as a case study in recent coral loss due to bleaching. 

Coral recovery will depend on numerous factors including the ability of surviving corals to regrow, the availability of open benthic substrates (maintained by surrounding fish and invertebrate communities), and the successful settlement and survivorship of coral recruits.  

Dr. David Delaney is a Senior Marine Biologist at Cardno-GS. He has a Ph.D. from McGill University and 15 years of experience in academia, environmental consulting, and non-profit groups, with extensive experience in aspects of marine ecology, threatened and invasive species. He previously worked at the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources as an Aquatic Biologist, Coral Planner, and was the State of Hawai‘i’s Point of Contact of the U.S. Coral Reef Taskforce.

Lindsey Kramer is the Fish & Habitat Monitoring Coordinator on contract to the Department of Land & Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources (DLNR/DAR) in Kailua Kona. She received an M.S. from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab at the University of South Alabama and worked for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) supporting the conservation of threatened corals in Florida & the Caribbean before arriving in Hawai‘i in 2007. For the past 13 years, she’s worked with numerous agencies on grant-based projects to better understand Hawaiian coral reef ecology and help improve marine management on Hawai'i Island.