Chemically cued suppression of coral reef resilience: Where is the tipping point?

Brooker, Rohan M.; Hay, Mark E.; Dixson, Danielle L.

doi:10.1007/s00338-016-1474-4

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…At the community level, excess nutrients can alter coral reproduction 42 and lead to loss of coral diversity and percent cover 43 . It can stimulate macroalgal growth and give algae a competitive advantage over slower-growing reef-building corals that once established, can create changes in chemical conditions on the reef 44 , 45 that maintain the reef in a macroalgal dominated state 46 . However, most studies on nutrient impacts on corals have been conducted on reefs that are already in a degraded state 47 or subject to multiple stressors in addition to excess nutrient availability 48 , including habitat transformation 49 and overfishing 50 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seabird nutrients are assimilated by corals and enhance coral growth rates

Savage

2019

Sci Rep

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Nutrient subsidies across ecotone boundaries can enhance productivity in the recipient ecosystem, especially if the nutrients are transferred from a nutrient rich to an oligotrophic ecosystem. This study demonstrates that seabird nutrients from islands are assimilated by endosymbionts in corals on fringing reefs and enhance growth of a dominant reef-building species, Acropora formosa. Nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ15N) of zooxanthellae were enriched in corals near seabird colonies and decreased linearly with distance from land, suggesting that ornithogenic nutrients were assimilated in corals. In a one-year reciprocal transplant experiment, A. formosa fragments grew up to four times faster near the seabird site than conspecifics grown without the influence of seabird nutrients. The corals influenced by elevated ornithogenic nutrients were located within a marine protected area with abundant herbivorous fish populations, which kept nuisance macroalgae to negligible levels despite high nutrient concentrations. In this pristine setting, seabird nutrients provide a beneficial nutrient subsidy that increases growth of the ecologically important branching corals. The findings highlight the importance of catchment–to–reef management, not only for ameliorating negative impacts from land but also to maintain beneficial nutrient subsidies, in this case seabird guano.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seabird nutrients are assimilated by corals and enhance coral growth rates

Savage

2019

Sci Rep

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“…When coral communities shift, due to stressors, some visible changes often occur. One such example is the shift from a coral-dominated community to an algae-dominated one (Brooker et al, 2016). We observed FIGURE 6 | Results of relative abundance of predatory, herbivorous, planktivorous and omnivorous fish obtained from eDNA analysis of seawater samples collected from the same study sites.…”

Section: Functional Diversity As a Driver Of Ecosystem Functionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Multifunctionality of an Urbanized Coastal Marine Ecosystem

Asundi

Baker²

2020

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Coastal marine ecosystems provide numerous invaluable services and benefits to humankind. However, urbanization of coastal areas has homogenized and reduced the biodiversity of the surrounding marine environment and the sustainability of the multiple ecosystem services it provides. Studies have focused on single ecosystem functions despite human populations relying on several functions being delivered at once (known as multifunctionality). This study investigates five ecosystem functions (primary productivity, herbivory, predation, organic matter decomposition and carbon sequestration) and overall multifunctionality in four sites along a gradient of 16 environmental parameters. Ecosystem function varied significantly between sites that were farthest apart. In determining factors that drove ecosystem functioning, we found a positive relationship between coral cover and primary productivity but negative relationships between coral cover and levels of herbivory and predation intensity. Higher temperatures and greater concentrations of chlorophyll-a had a positive impact on predation and herbivory, respectively. Notably, we found a significant negative impact of total inorganic nitrogen and significant positive impact of total Kjeldahl nitrogen on carbon sequestration. Further, individual functions were compared with fish abundance (obtained from seawater eDNA), and benthic community composition (obtained from plate % coverage of autonomous reef monitoring structures). Increasing herbivorous fish abundance had a positive impact on Ulva mass loss. Overall, relative abundance of predatory, omnivorous and planktivorous fish exerted overriding influences on primary productivity and predation intensity, implying that fishing pressure and marine protected area status are important factors. Importantly, we found significant effects from environmental parameters indicating that reliably predicting the effects of future anthropogenic impacts will not be straightforward as multiple drivers are likely to have complex effects. Taken together, urbanized coastal ecosystems exhibit varying levels of multifunctionality depending on the extent of human impact, and the functional diversity of the benthic community present.

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“…The roles of algae in recruitment facilitation are diverse, including indirect pathways through herbivory and feeding scars (Dart 1972), adding structural complexity free from the coral polyp 'wall of mouths' (Hamner et al 1988) and/or biochemical settlement cues (e.g. CCA, macroalgae) (Heyward & Negri 1999, Harrington et al 2004, Birrell et al 2008b, Arnold et al 2010, Doropoulos et al 2012a, Brooker et al 2016b). While turf and macroalgal growth can impair the recruitment of coral reef species (Birrell et al 2008a, Diaz-Pulido & McCook 2008, Arnold et al 2010, Johns et al 2018, it has been posited that the benefits of macroalgae in protecting juvenile corals from predation by species such as parrotfishes may outweigh the negative impacts of algal growth on coral settlement and coral-algal competition (Venera-Ponton et al 2011).…”

Section: Recruitment Facilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oceanography and Marine Biology

Hawkins¹,

Allcock²,

Bates³

et al. 2020

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Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.With the exception of reviews 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.Reviews 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.crcpress.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

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Chemically cued suppression of coral reef resilience: Where is the tipping point?

Cited by 6 publications

References 50 publications

Seabird nutrients are assimilated by corals and enhance coral growth rates

Seabird nutrients are assimilated by corals and enhance coral growth rates

Multifunctionality of an Urbanized Coastal Marine Ecosystem

Oceanography and Marine Biology

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