{"id":2831,"date":"2016-04-12T20:58:56","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T03:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coral.org\/news\/announcing-the-successful-completion-of-the-reefs-tomorrow-initiative-2\/"},"modified":"2021-09-01T12:35:34","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T19:35:34","slug":"announcing-the-successful-completion-of-the-reefs-tomorrow-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/announcing-the-successful-completion-of-the-reefs-tomorrow-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Announcing the successful completion of the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past three years, CORAL has been privileged to work with world-class researchers from academic institutions and conservation organizations as part of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reefstomorrowinitiative.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reefs Tomorrow Initiative (RTI)<\/a>. Launched in 2012 with a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, RTI\u2019s goal was to understand how multiple factors\u2014for example, wave energy, herbivores, and the distribution of coral species on a reef\u2014interact to affect the health of a coral reef. In conjunction with our scientific research, we worked with coral reef managers around the world to understand how they use science to inform their management decisions.<\/p>\n<p>We based our scientific research on the remote atoll of Palmyra in the central Pacific. Armed with cameras, clipboards, settlement tiles, temperature data loggers and more, we collected a truly staggering amount of biological, physical, and ecological data. Simultaneously, we worked with communities around the world\u2014including partners in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Palau\u2014to make sure that our scientific work was relevant to conservation and management challenges.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_458\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-458\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-458 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mapping-seafloor-life_CREDIT-BRIAN-ZGLICZYNSKI_ok-to-use-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"mapping seafloor life in Palmyra\" width=\"660\" height=\"386\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-458\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Armed with cameras, clipboards, settlement tiles and more, we collected a truly staggering amount of data. Photo by Brian Zgliczynski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now that we have completed RTI, I wanted to share some of our key findings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In areas not impacted by humans, there are rules that dictate how reef-building corals are distributed on a reef\u2014that is, there\u2019s a certain amount of determinism to who lives where. In more degraded systems, these rules tend to break down. Using mathematical models and data from Palmyra, we are exploring what this means for reef resilience and management.<\/li>\n<li>The resilience of ecosystems cannot be decoupled from the resilience of human communities. For example, for communities to be resilient to storms, their ecosystems must be resilient as well. Knowing this, we have been able to improve the way we share scientific information with natural resource managers.<\/li>\n<li>Not all herbivores are created equal. Through RTI\u2019s work, we are learning that the effects that herbivores can have on a reef depend on their behavior, size, home ranges, and where they feed. This information will help us better manage herbivores on reefs.<\/li>\n<li>Coral reefs protect shorelines by absorbing wave energy. Through work at Palmyra, we discovered that healthy reefs can dissipate significantly more wave energy than more degraded reefs. This suggests there may be a feedback loop whereby degradation of a reef\u2019s physical complexity results in the reef experiencing greater wave energy, which in turns leads to further degradation of the reef.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_459\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-459\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-459 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Spatial-Ecology-of-Herbivores_Katie-Davis_OK-to-use-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"spatial ecology of herbivores\" width=\"660\" height=\"495\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-459\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Through RTI\u2019s work, we are learning that the effects that herbivores can have on a reef. Photo by Katie Davis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We have combined these and other findings into a mathematical model that allows us to explore how climate change might affect reef health by increasing the frequency and intensity of disturbance events. If we know how healthy reefs, like those at Palmyra, can withstand change and recover from disturbance, we may be able to unlock the key to this resilience for other reefs around the globe.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_461\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-461\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-461\" src=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_3083_OK-to-Use-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Fijian community\" width=\"660\" height=\"440\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-461\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">For communities to be resilient to storms, their ecosystems must be resilient as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While funding for RTI has ended, our collaborative work will continue for years to come as we build on what we have learned from Palmyra and our work with communities around the world.<\/p>\n<p><em>Members of RTI include American Museum of Natural History, Coral Reef Alliance, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Stanford University, University of California &#8211; Santa Barbara, University of North Carolina &#8211; Wilmington, Victoria University of Wellington. More at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reefstomorrowinitiative.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.reefstomorrowinitiative.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past three years, CORAL has been privileged to work with world-class researchers from academic institutions and conservation organizations as part of the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative (RTI). Launched in 2012 with a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, RTI\u2019s goal was to understand how multiple factors\u2014for example, wave energy, herbivores, and the&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/announcing-the-successful-completion-of-the-reefs-tomorrow-initiative\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading &#8594;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_genesis_transparent_header":false,"_genesis_hide_siblings_nav":false,"_genesis_hide_flyout":false,"_genesis_subtitle":"","_genesis_subheading":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-coral-updates","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"template_part":"\n<article class=\"article article-post post-2831 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail category-coral-updates entry\">\n\t<div class=\"entry-image\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/announcing-the-successful-completion-of-the-reefs-tomorrow-initiative\/\">\n\t\t\t<img width=\"740\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mapping-seafloor-life_CREDIT-BRIAN-ZGLICZYNSKI_ok-to-use-740x560.jpg\" class=\"attachment-preview size-preview wp-post-image\" alt=\"mapping seafloor life in Palmyra\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"entry-meta\">\n\t\t<ul class=\"post-categories\">\n\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/category\/coral-updates\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CORAL Updates<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"entry-body\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/announcing-the-successful-completion-of-the-reefs-tomorrow-initiative\/\" class=\"entry-title-link\">Announcing the successful completion of the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative<\/a><\/h2>\t\t<p>Over the past three years, CORAL has been privileged to work with world-class researchers from academic institutions and conservation organizations as part of the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative (RTI). Launched in 2012 with a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, RTI\u2019s goal was to understand how multiple factors\u2014for example, wave energy, herbivores, and the&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/announcing-the-successful-completion-of-the-reefs-tomorrow-initiative\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading &#8594;<\/a><\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mapping-seafloor-life_CREDIT-BRIAN-ZGLICZYNSKI_ok-to-use-scaled.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mapping-seafloor-life_CREDIT-BRIAN-ZGLICZYNSKI_ok-to-use-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/static.coral.org\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mapping-seafloor-life_CREDIT-BRIAN-ZGLICZYNSKI_ok-to-use-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coral.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}