Caroline Rogers, Ph.D.
Biography
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Botany, University of Florida
RESEARCH
Caroline Rogers is a Marine Ecologist with the Wetland and Aquatic Research Center based at the USGS Caribbean Field Station in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Previously, she was a research biologist with the National Park Service in Virgin Islands National Park (1984 – 1993). She has over 30 years of experience in research on coral reefs and has published papers on coral diseases, the effects of sedimentation, effects of hurricanes, damage from boat anchors, long-term monitoring, reef productivity, coral recruitment, and the threatened coral species Acropora palmata. She is the Deputy Editor for Reef Encounter, the newsletter of the International Society for Reef Studies.
Science and Products
Coral Bleaching and Disease: Effects on Threatened Corals and Reefs
Severe coral bleaching in 2005, followed by a disease outbreak, resulted in severe reef degradation in the US Virgin Islands; the amount of living coral cover at long-term monitoring sites decreased an average of 60%. With climate change, high seawater temperatures are expected to lead to more frequent bleaching episodes and possibly more disease outbreaks.
Life on the Edge: Can Corals Thriving in Mangroves Provide Insights into Climate Change?
On an island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, USGS scientists discover corals are seeking refuge from climate change in mangroves.
Local-scale ecosystem resilience amid global-scale ocean change: the coral reef example
Coral reefs are massive, wave resistant structures found throughout the tropics, where they have long attracted attention for their beauty, ecological importance, and rich biological diversity. However, in recent years attention to these systems has focused on their downturn in health and the potential that they effectively could disappear within a century. Yet while many coral reefs have...
Mangrove Secrets
The Sheltered Corals of Hurricane Hole, US Virgin Islands
Immediate effects of hurricanes on a diverse coral/mangrove ecosystem in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the potential for recovery
Hurricanes Irma and Maria, two powerful storms that hit the U.S. Virgin Islands less than 2 weeks apart in September 2017, caused extensive damage to the natural resources on St. John. Damage was particularly severe in a unique mangrove/coral ecosystem in three bays within Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, a National Park Service marine...
Rogers, Caroline What nutrient sources support anomalous growth and the recent sargassum mass stranding on Caribbean beaches? A review
Since 2011, tropical beaches from Africa to Brazil, Central America, and the Caribbean have been inundated by tons of sargassum seaweed from a new equatorial source of pelagic sargassum in the Atlantic. In recent years the extraordinary accumulations of sargassum make this a nuisance algal bloom for tropical coasts. In 2018 satellite data...
Oviatt, Candace; Huizenga, Kristin; Rogers, Caroline; Miller, Jeff The circumtropical swarm population of the longspined porcupinefish (Diodon holocanthus Linnaeus)
Evidence is presented that Diodon holocanthus is a circumtropical swarm (not a hybrid swarm because the individuals are not hybrids). Some individuals are so differentfrom one another in both color and morphology that they appear to be different species. Thirty undersea and aquarium photographs from different global localities are...
Randall, John E; Rogers, Caroline; Ogden, John C A framework for identifying and characterising coral reef “oases” against a backdrop of degradation
Human activities have led to widespread ecological decline; however, the severity of degradation is spatially heterogeneous due to some locations resisting, escaping, or rebounding from disturbances.We developed a framework for identifying oases within coral reef regions using long‐term monitoring data. We calculated standardised estimates of...
Guest, James R.; Edmunds, Peter J.; Gates, Ruth D.; Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Andersson, Andreas J; Barnes, Brian B.; Chollett, Iliana; Courtney, Travis A.; Elahi, Robin; Gross, Kevin; Lenz, Elizabeth A.; Mitarai, Satoshi; Mumby, Peter J.; Nelson, Hannah R.; Parker, Britt A.; Putnam, Hollie M.; Rogers, Caroline S.; Toth, Lauren T. A unique coral community in the mangroves of Hurricane Hole, St. John, US Virgin Islands
Corals do not typically thrive in mangrove environments. However, corals are growing on and near the prop roots of red mangrove trees in Hurricane Hole, an area within the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument under the protection of the US National Park Service in St. John, US Virgin Islands. This review summarizes current knowledge of the...
Rogers, Caroline S. Octocoral diseases in a changing ocean
Octocorals (Cnidaria, Octocorallia) constitute a geographically widely distributed and common group of marine invertebrates commonly referred to as “soft-corals,” “sea fans,” “horny corals,” “sea feathers,” and “sea plumes.” They are found from shallow coastal habitats to mesophotic and abyssal depths. Octocorals are important members of most...
Weil, Ernesto; Rogers, Caroline S.; Croquer, Aldo Measuring, interpreting, and responding to changes in coral reefs: A challenge for biologists, geologist, and managers
What, exactly, is a coral reef? And how have the world’s reefs changed in the last several decades? What are the stressors undermining reef structure and function? Given the predicted effects of climate change, do reefs have a future? Is it possible to “manage” coral reefs for resilience? What can coral reef scientists contribute to improve...
Hubbard, Dennis K.; Rogers, Caroline S.; Lipps, Jere H.; Stanley, George D.; Rogers, Caroline S.; Miller, Jeff Disease prevalence and snail predation associated with swell-generated damage on the threatened coral, Acropora palmata (Lamarck)
Disturbances such as tropical storms cause coral mortality and reduce coral cover as a direct result of physical damage. Storms can be one of the most important disturbances in coral reef ecosystems, and it is crucial to understand their long-term impacts on coral populations. The primary objective of this study was to determine trends in disease...
Bright, Allan J.; Rogers, Caroline S.; Brandt, Marilyn E.; Muller, Erinn; Smith, Tyler B. Rapidly spreading seagrass invades the Caribbean with unknown ecological consequences
The non-native seagrass Halophila stipulacea has spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean Sea (Willette et al. 2014); without additional research, the ecological ramifications of this invasion are difficult to predict. Biodiversity, connectivity of marine ecosystems, and recovery of degraded coral reefs could all be affected. The invasive seagrass...
Rogers, Caroline S.; Willette, Demian A; Miller, Jeff Diverse coral communities in mangrove habitats suggest a novel refuge from climate change
Risk analyses indicate that more than 90% of the world's reefs will be threatened by climate change and local anthropogenic impacts by the year 2030 under "business-as-usual" climate scenarios. Increasing temperatures and solar radiation cause coral bleaching that has resulted in extensive coral mortality. Increasing carbon dioxide reduces...
Yates, Kimberly K.; Rogers, Caroline S.; Herlan, James J.; Brooks, Gregg R.; Smiley, Nathan A.; Larson, Rebekka A. Early signs of recovery of Acropora palmata in St. John, US Virgin Islands
Since the 1980s, diseases have caused significant declines in the population of the threatened Caribbean coral Acropora palmata. Yet it is largely unknown whether the population densities have recovered from these declines and whether there have been any recent shifts in size-frequency distributions toward large colonies. It is also unknown...
Muller, E.M.; Rogers, Caroline S.; van Woesik, R. Coral reef resilience through biodiversity
Irrefutable evidence of coral reef degradation worldwide and increasing pressure from rising seawater temperatures and ocean acidification associated with climate change have led to a focus on reef resilience and a call to “manage” coral reefs for resilience. Ideally, global action to reduce emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases...
Rogers, Caroline S.
Biologist starting over after Hurricane Irma damages home, office, research site
Coral reef expert Caroline Rogers was the only USGS employee in the Virgin Islands when the Category 5 storm hit.