Bottlenecks to coral recovery in the Seychelles

Chong‐Seng, Karen M.; Graham, Nicholas A. J.; Pratchett, Morgan S.

doi:10.1007/s00338-014-1137-2

Cited by 81 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…In addition, coral juveniles at the transplanted site showed a constant uptrend in contrast to the up-and downtrend seen at the healthy and degraded sites (Figure 3). Finally, spatial variation in coral settlement and recruitment in the inner Seychelles has not been linked to differences in larval supply, which results in similar rates of coral settlement between reefs of different habitat quality (Chong-Seng et al 2014). The lack of replication in our study hinders our ability to rule out completely all alternative explanations.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 40%

“…The lower number of total recruits at the healthy site, where coral structure is better, may be explained by an increase in recruit mortality from fish predation and grazing (O'Leary and Potts 2011) due to having a more diverse fish community than the two other sites (Frias-Torres et al unpublished data). Further, a positive relationship between adult cover and recruitment rates (spat tile -1 ) was found for pocilloporids in the Inner Seychelles (Chong-Seng et al 2014). Enhanced settlement cues at the transplanted site due to the large-scale nature of the restoration project explain the overall higher number of coral spat and the higher number of spat from non-transplanted families compared to the degraded site.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…In the Seychelles Archipelago alone, live coral cover decreased to less than 3% in some areas (Graham et al 2006). Since 1998, recovery has been extremely slow in the inner granitic islands of Seychelles (Graham et al 2006;Chong-Seng et al 2014;Harris et al 2014). Such slow post-bleaching recovery motivated active restoration efforts in the inner Seychelles to assist natural recovery (Frias-Torres et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean

Montoya-Maya¹,

Smit²,

Burt³

et al. 2016

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The aim of ecological restoration is to establish self-sustaining and resilient systems. In coral reef restoration, transplantation of nursery-grown corals is seen as a potential method to mitigate reef degradation and enhance recovery. The transplanted reef should be capable of recruiting new juvenile corals to ensure long-term resilience. Here, we quantified how coral transplantation influenced natural coral recruitment at a large-scale coral reef restoration site in Seychelles, Indian Ocean. Between November 2011 and June 2014 a total of 24,431 nursery-grown coral colonies from 10 different coral species were transplanted in 5,225 m 2 (0.52 ha) of degraded reef at the no-take marine reserve of Cousin Island Special Reserve in an attempt to assist in natural reef recovery. We present the results of research and monitoring conducted before and after coral transplantation to evaluate the positive effect that the project had on coral recruitment and reef recovery at the restored site. We quantified the density of coral recruits (spat <1 cm) and juveniles (colonies 1-5 cm) at the transplanted site, a degraded control site and a healthy control site at the marine reserve. We used ceramic tiles to estimate coral settlement and visual surveys with 1 m 2 quadrats to estimate coral recruitment. Six months after tile deployment, total spat density at the transplanted site (123.4 ± 13.3 spat m -2 ) was 1.8 times higher than at healthy site (68.4 ± 7.8 spat m -2 ) and 1.6 times higher than at degraded site (78.2 ± 7.17 spat m -2 ). Two years after first transplantation, the total recruit density was highest at healthy site (4.8 ± 0.4 recruits m RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalPhanor Hernando Montoya-Maya et al. / Nature Conservation 16: 1-17 (2016) 2 have a positive influence on coral recruitment and juveniles. The effect of key project techniques on the results are discussed. This study supports the application of large-scale, science-based coral reef restoration projects with at least a 3-year time scale to assist the recovery of damaged reefs.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 40%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean

Montoya-Maya¹,

Smit²,

Burt³

et al. 2016

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“…Following settlement, many marine organisms experience very high early post-settlement mortality (e.g., asteroids [8]; bivalves [71]; fish [72]; corals [73]), to the extent that this is a recognised demographic bottleneck for some taxa [73]. Although Sweatman's [50] measurements of predation by fishes on laboratory-reared juvenile CoTS (25-79 mm diameter) revealed very low predation rates (0.13% per day), predation on juvenile CoTS is due mainly to epifaunal invertebrate predators, which are highly abundant on coral reefs (e.g., [17,70]).…”

Section: Post-settlement Predationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Known Predators of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster spp.) and Their Role in Mitigating, If Not Preventing, Population Outbreaks

et al. 2017

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Predatory release has long been considered a potential contributor to population outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS; Acanthaster spp.). This has initiated extensive searches for potentially important predators that can consume large numbers of CoTS at high rates, which are also vulnerable to over-fishing or reef degradation. Herein, we review reported predators of CoTS and assess the potential for these organisms to exert significant mortality, and thereby prevent and/or moderate CoTS outbreaks. In all, 80 species of coral reef organisms (including fishes, and motile and sessile invertebrates) are reported to predate on CoTS gametes (three species), larvae (17 species), juveniles (15 species), adults (18 species) and/or opportunistically feed on injured (10 species) or moribund (42 species) individuals within reef habitats. It is clear however, that predation on early life-history stages has been understudied, and there are likely to be many more species of reef fishes and/or sessile invertebrates that readily consume CoTS gametes and/or larvae. Given the number and diversity of coral reef species that consume Acanthaster spp., most of which (e.g., Arothron pufferfishes) are not explicitly targeted by reef-based fisheries, links between overfishing and CoTS outbreaks remain equivocal. There is also no single species that appears to have a disproportionate role in regulating CoTS populations. Rather, the collective consumption of CoTS by multiple different species and at different life-history stages is likely to suppress the local abundance of CoTS, and thereby mediate the severity of outbreaks. It is possible therefore, that general degradation of reef ecosystems and corresponding declines in biodiversity and productivity, may contribute to increasing incidence or severity of outbreaks of Acanthaster spp. However, it seems unlikely that predatory release in and of itself could account for initial onset of CoTS outbreaks. In conclusion, reducing anthropogenic stressors that reduce the abundance and/or diversity of potential predatory species represents a "no regrets" management strategy, but will need to be used in conjunction with other management strategies to prevent, or reduce the occurrence, of CoTS outbreaks.

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“…This ecological state may have a number of negative consequences yet still have high production and resilience to synergistic disturbances, such as climate and fishing impacts. Finally, it may be that coral devastation was worse and recovery poorer in the Seychelles than in Kenya (Darling et al 2013, Chong-Seng et al 2014). Possibly, a permanent ecological phase shift is required to produce a large decline in reef fish catches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catch rates and income are associated with fisheries management restrictions and not an environmental disturbance, in a heavily exploited tropical fishery

McClanahan¹,

Abunge²

2014

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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We evaluated and compared the influence of the largest temperature anomaly in recent history, the 1997−1998 El Niño−Indian Ocean Dipole anomaly that killed half of the corals in the Indian Ocean, with a nearly coincident increase in fisheries management restrictions on coral reef fisheries in southern Kenya. Seawater temperatures, benthic primary producers, and fishing effort and catch rate and income time series collected over the 1993−2012 period were evaluated using time series and variable cointegration methods. An observed decline and subsequent increase in catch rates was closely associated with the implementation of increasing fisheries restrictions and was not predictably cointegrated with the temperature or the primary producer's time series. This may have occurred because the disturbance was pulsed with a limited 6 yr impact on the primary producers and the fishery was heavily utilized and composed of fastgrowing generalist species with broad diet and habitat needs. Consequently, under these conditions, promoting fisheries restrictions is expected to attenuate the predicted declines in fish catches projected by global warming.

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Bottlenecks to coral recovery in the Seychelles

Cited by 81 publications

References 74 publications

Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean

Large-scale coral reef restoration could assist natural recovery in Seychelles, Indian Ocean

Known Predators of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster spp.) and Their Role in Mitigating, If Not Preventing, Population Outbreaks

Catch rates and income are associated with fisheries management restrictions and not an environmental disturbance, in a heavily exploited tropical fishery

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