Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2013

Publication Title

Ecology and Evolution

Keywords

Coral population dynamics, Coral reef, Global change, Impacts, Management, Predator outbreak, Sensitivity

ISSN

2045-7758

Volume

3

Issue/No.

4

First Page

1050

Last Page

1064

Abstract

Coral reefs distant from human population were sampled in the Red Sea and one-third showed degradation by predator outbreaks (crown-of-thorns-starfish = COTS observed in all regions in all years) or bleaching (1998, 2010). Models were built to assess future trajectories. They assumed variable coral types (slow/fast growing), disturbance frequencies (5,10,20 years), mortality (equal or not), and connectivity (un/connected to un/disturbed community). Known disturbances were used to parameterize models. Present and future disturbances were estimated from remote-sensing chlorophyll and temperature data. Simulations and sensitivity analysis suggest community resilience at >20-year disturbance frequency, but degradation at higher frequency. Trajectories move from fast-grower to slow-grower dominance at intermediate disturbance frequency, then again to fast-grower dominance. A similar succession was observed in the field: Acropora to Porites to Stylophora/Pocillopora dominance on shallow reefs, and a transition from large poritids to small faviids on deep reefs. Synthesis and application: Even distant reefs are impacted by global changes. COTS impacts and bleaching were key driver of coral degradation, coral population decline could be reduced if these outbreaks and bleaching susceptibility were managed by maintaining water quality and by other interventions. Just leaving reefs alone, seems no longer a satisfactory option.

Comments

©2013 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. This is an open access article under the term sof the CreativeCommons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ORCID ID

0000-0002-6003-9324

ResearcherID

F-8807-2011

DOI

10.1002/ece3.519

Peer Reviewed

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