Guidance for monitoring the impacts of heat stress and coral bleaching events : Standard operating procedures from the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force

Pomeroy, Morgan W.; Rothstein, Anna; Towle, Erica K.; Manzello, Derek

doi:10.25923/8xsj-qs43

i

Guidance for monitoring the impacts of heat stress and coral bleaching events : Standard operating procedures from the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force

2026
By Pomeroy, Morgan W. ; Rothstein, Anna ; Towle, Erica K. ; ...

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Personal Author:

Pomeroy, Morgan W. ; Rothstein, Anna ; Towle, Erica K. ; Manzello, Derek
Corporate Authors:

United States Coral Reef Task Force
NOAA Program & Office:

CoRIS (Coral Reef Information System)
Description:

As coral bleaching events intensify in frequency and severity, the need for standardized and simplified protocols to quantify the impacts of bleaching are needed more than ever. During a bleaching event, managers often struggle to actually quantify how many corals have been affected, how many have died, and how many have recovered following the event. This lack of quantitative information makes it challenging to know how and when to act during a bleaching event, and equally challenging to know how to plan for the next event. This document offers guidance on how often to survey to get the most pertinent information to answer those questions, as well as the key metrics to collect. The guidance is intentionally simplified, streamlined, and scalable, meaning it can apply to a team of two snorkelers surveying a single reef site, or it can apply to a large team of divers surveying multiple reef sites. The guidance applies whether the surveyor is conducting the survey in-situ, or whether they are collecting imagery to be analyzed later.
Keywords:

Coral Bleaching Handbooks, Manuals, Etc. Monitoring Coral Bleaching Handbooks, Manuals, Etc.
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25923/8xsj-qs43
Publisher:

pdf
Document Type:

Manuals & Handbooks
Place as Subject:

United States
License:

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Rights Information:

CC0 Public Domain
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:81e3f421f977fe0f592731e6f5bdae0f18de6e961484bfe9d7ecad5df516c29aef9908f60b47acf39f6472ca3d00c548ea4e6c1229726d33c03fa98445d4b41e
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/73340/noaa_73340_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 2.18 MB ]

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