Lawrence Patrick Cases Bernardo

The University of Tokyo | Todai · International Coastal Research Center

While widely known for their destructive power, typhoon events can also bring benefit to coral reef ecosystems through typhoon-induced cooling which can mitigate against thermally stressful conditions causing coral bleaching. Sensor deployments in Sekisei Lagoon, Japan’s largest coral reef area, during the summer months of 2013, 2014, and 2015 were...

The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) can often lead to environmental differences between MPAs and fishing zones. To determine the effects on marine dispersal of environmental dissimilarity between an MPA and fishing zone, we examined the abundance and recruitment patterns of two anemonefishes (Amphiprion fre-natus and A. perideraion)...

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of sea level variations around the Mekong Delta, and their causes and consequences on the environment, based on the tidal records from several stations. The results of the analysis revealed significant spatio-temporal sea level variations along the delta coast. Tidal fluctuations showed their local peaks...

The Bohol Sea region in the Southern Philippines is an important site for marine studies. Coral reefs line many of its coasts, making it valuable for fisheries, tourism, and other means of livelihood derived from marine resources. More than 60 individual marine protected areas (MPAs) have also been established in the region. In this study, a partic...

Coastal warming, acidification, and deoxygenation are progressing primarily due to the increase in anthropogenic CO2. Coastal acidification has been reported to have effects that are anticipated to become more severe as acidification progresses, including inhibiting the formation of shells of calcifying organisms such as shellfish, which include Pa...

An approach was developed to help evaluate and predict the combined effects of ocean acidification and deoxygenation on calcifying organisms along the coast of Japan. The Coastal and Regional Ocean COmmunity (CROCO) modeling system was set up to couple the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) to the Pelagic Interaction Scheme for Carbon and Ecosys...

Many marine species have a pelagic larval phase that undergo dispersal among habitats. Studies on marine larval dispersal have revealed a large variation in the spatial scale of dispersal and self-recruitment. However, few studies have investigated the influence of types of coastline (e.g., bay vs. open coast) on marine larval dispersal. Bays or la...

Coastal warming, acidification, and deoxygenation are progressing, primarily due to the increase in anthropogenic CO2. Coastal acidification has been reported to have effects that are expected to become more severe as acidification progresses, including inhibiting formation of the shells of calcifying organisms such as shellfish. However, compared...

Many marine species have a pelagic larval phase that undergo dispersal among habitats. Studies on marine larval dispersal have revealed a large variation in the spatial scale of dispersal, and accumulated evidence has shown that seascape patchiness is the major determinant for variation in self-recruitment. However, few studies have investigated th...

Coral reefs are declining worldwide due to regional and global anthropogenic stress. Sekisei Lagoon and areas in its vicinity are impacted by the same stresses. Sekisei Lagoon is the largest coral reef area in Japan covering an area of almost 15 km × 20 km. Being situated upstream of Kuroshio Current, coral reefs in this area could supply larvae to...

Sekisei Lagoon is the site of Japan’s largest coral reef area and is an important target site for conservation. However, it is affected to varying degrees by typhoons which approach yearly during the summer and autumn seasons. To closely investigate typhoon-driven hydrodynamics in Sekisei Lagoon, a modeling setup was developed using a nested Region...

Instantaneous implementation of systematic conservation plans at regional scales is rare. More typically, planned actions are applied incrementally over periods of years or decades. During protracted implementation, the character of the connected ecological system will change as a function of external anthropogenic pressures, local metapopulation p...

Networks of no-take marine reserves (NTMRs) are a widely advocated strategy for managing coral reefs. However, uncertainty about the strength of population connectivity between individual reefs and NTMRs through larval dispersal remains a major obstacle to effective network design. In this study, larval dispersal among NTMRs and fishing grounds in...

Outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns sea star (Acanthaster planci) are likely to be strongly associated with drastic changes in larval survival influenced by food availability. However, no quantitative or qualitative data are available on the distribution of A. planci larvae in the field nor on the environmental factors that influence their survivorshi...

Shallow coral reefs threatened by climate change must be spatio-temporally analyzed in terms of their protection of coastal human populations. This study combines Japanese spatio-temporal gradients of population/asset and coral buffering exposure to stress-inducing and stress-mitigating factors so that the socio-economic and ecological (SEE) resili...

Malampaya Sound is an enclosed bay in Palawan, Philippines. A salinity maximum or salt plug was discovered in the middle of the Sound by a field survey in May 2005 and successfully simulated using a Delft3D numerical model of the sound, forced with tide and freshwater discharge at the lateral boundaries, and evaporation at the surface. Different co...

Oceanographic sensor deployments allow a unique view of water circulation patterns in coral reef areas. Sensors were deployed around Sekisei Lagoon from June 5 to August 21, 2014 which included sensors for water flow velocity, water level, wave height, temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, and turbidity. Temperature sensor arrays were also setup in d...

Oceanographic sensor deployments allow a unique view of water circulation patterns within or near coral reef areas. Sensors were deployed around Sekisei Lagoon for two weeks in August to September 2013 which included sensors for water flow velocity, water level, wave height, temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, and turbidity. Temperature sensor arra...

This paper presents preliminary efforts in developing a rapid evaluation tool for tidal in-stream energy (TISE) in the Philippines. We study the possibility of using an energy density metric based on the sea surface elevation (SSE) or tide height difference at the boundaries of a site of interest as a gauge for the TISE potential of that site. Resu...