Census of Coral Reefs Feel free to include sample imagery and animations where appropriate. Be sure to credit source where appropriate or necessary. Additional slides may be added to this template, however, please note that presentations will be strictly limited to 10 minutes. Place project logo here This slide is only for project identification purposes

Preliminary Synthesis Conclusions We are still a long way from even an order of magnitude estimate of reef biodiversity. However, the often quoted statement that ¼ of all marine species live on coral reefs is probably too low. In just 22 small dead heads of central Pacific corals, the total number of crab species (defined by the bar code gene) was 20% of the entire described European crab fauna! Why?

Diversity If ¼ of all marine species live on coral reefs, and if coral reef species are described at the same rate as other species, then there are about 62,500 described coral reef species. If there are 1-9 million species on coral reefs in total (based on beetle and aquarium data!) then 94-99% remain undescribed!

Diversity French Frigate Shoals (40 sites): new species and > 100 new records of marine invertebrates among ~2300 morphospecies sampled Australian Coral Reefs: 3 locations, 377 sites, 5691 specimens ~ new species

Diversity All localities Number individuals sequenced Backreef Forereef Forereef Lagoon ARMS French Frigate Shoals Difficult to adequately sample because diversity is so high Number of species

Distribution and Abundance In a typical biodiversity survey, most species are found in only one place. Absolute abundance is difficult to estimate because almost everything is rare. Nb of localitiesNb of species ARMS Samples – French Frigate Shoals, NWHI 34% of species were singletons, and an additional 24% occurred more than once but at a single place Similarly, in the Northern Line Islands and Moorea, 44% were singletons and an additional 33% occurred in only one place.

Visualization & Communication ,000,000 Number of coral reef species detected - One million? and counting!

Visualization & Communication ? ? or Number of coral reef species in a warmer and more acidic ocean

Societal Impact of Results to Date January

Limits to Knowledge The scale of reef biodiversity is so large, that traditional taxonomic and survey approaches are inadequate. Molecular environmental censuses hold the key. For example pyrosequencing can generate hundreds of thousands of sequences from a single sample. However, this is much easier to do with bacteria than with other organisms. No species-level matches to GenBank

Limits to Knowledge Multicellular organisms vary enormously with respect to size, which genes amplify, which preservatives work. Even different PCR machines give different results!!

Limits to Knowledge Standardized sampling methods are also essential. >300 Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures have already been deployed throughout the Pacific. Standardized sampling methods are also essential. >300 Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures have already been deployed throughout the Pacific.