Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
ORCID
0000-0002-6003-9324
ResearcherID
B-8552-2013; F-8807-2011
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
PLoS One
ISSN
1932-6203
Publication Date
6-5-2012
Keywords
Atolls, Bleaching, Coral reefs, Corals, Death rates, Lagoons, Pollution, Population dynamics
Abstract
We explore impacts on pristine atolls subjected to anthropogenic near-field (human habitation) and far-field (climate and environmental change) pressure. Using literature data of human impacts on reefs, we parameterize forecast models to evaluate trajectories in coral cover under impact scenarios that primarily act via recruitment and increased mortality of larger corals. From surveys across the Chagos, we investigate the regeneration dynamics of coral populations distant from human habitation after natural disturbances. Using a size-based mathematical model based on a time-series of coral community and population data from 1999–2006, we provide hind- and forecast data for coral population dynamics within lagoons and on ocean-facing reefs verified against monitoring from 1979–2009. Environmental data (currents, temperatures) were used for calibration. The coral community was simplified into growth typologies: branching and encrusting, arboresent and massive corals. Community patterns observed in the field were influenced by bleaching-related mortality, most notably in 1998. Survival had been highest in deep lagoonal settings, which suggests a refuge. Recruitment levels were higher in lagoons than on ocean-facing reefs. When adding stress by direct human pressure, climate and environmental change as increased disturbance frequency and modified recruitment and mortality levels (due to eutrophication, overfishing, pollution, heat, acidification, etc), models suggest steep declines in coral populations and loss of community diversification among habitats. We found it likely that degradation of lagoonal coral populations would impact regeneration potential of all coral populations, also on ocean-facing reefs, thus decreasing reef resilience on the entire atoll.
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0036921
Volume
7
Issue
6 e36921
First Page
1
Last Page
11
Additional Comments
NOAA grant #: NA16OA1443
NSUWorks Citation
Riegl BM, Sheppard CRC, Purkis SJ (2012) Human Impact on Atolls Leads to Coral Loss and Community Homogenisation: A Modeling Study. PLoS ONE 7(6): e36921. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036921
Comments
©2012 Riegl et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.