Coral reef water quality: Systematic evidence maps

This project would seek to develop a systematic understanding of the existing body of quantitative information relating water quality measurements to coral ecosystem health. The goal would be to comprehensively synthesize the available literature on a specific set of select water quality and coral metrics and build out an evidence base of data availability and quality. The evidence base would be guided by a conceptual model identifying causal relationships between water quality stressors and coral endpoints, in the context of other stressors, location differences, climate interactions, and land management choices. The evidence base could then be mapped to the conceptual model to understand which causal relationships have a lot versus a little evidence, type and strength of existing evidence, magnitude and consistency of links reported under what conditions, synergies of multiple stressors or conditions, and to identify information gaps.

Impact/Purpose

This research project will synthesize literature on existing information relating water quality (WQ) metrics to coral ecosystem health metrics. This presentation describes the project goals and solicits feedback on project scope by describing two options for the approach taken: Option 1. a “deep dive” focus on a single water quality stressor, or Option 2. a broader but shallower evidence search for all key water quality stressors. Both approaches would help clarify the types of decisions that need to be made by jurisdictions to develop coral-specific water quality standards. Either option results in a systematic literature assessment of available coral-specific water quality information– the difference is in the depth versus breadth and desired use of the information that results from the project.

Citation

Kashuba, R. AND J. West. Coral reef water quality: Systematic evidence maps. Solicitation for Early Feedback on Water Quality Project, Arlington, Virginia, April 29, 2021.