Coral Community Decline at Bonaire, Southern Caribbean

Sommer, Brigitte; Harrison, Peter Lynton; Brooks, Lyndon O; Scheffers, Sander

doi:10.5343/bms.2010.1046

Cited by 16 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…2c) indicates significant intra-regional variability. Net production rates in Montastraea spur-and-groove habitats in Bonaire range from 3.51 to 16.68 G and are significantly higher ( F =11.485, P <0.001) than in Belize (range: −0.46 to 10.68 G) and Grand Cayman (range: −0.47 to 4.15 G), a finding consistent with reports that cite Bonaire as having among the best remaining reefs in the Caribbean13, although recent reports suggest even these reefs are on a declining trajectory16. Net production rates in shallow A. palmata habitats are, on average, also higher in Bonaire (range: −1.74 to 15.25 G) compared with those from Belize (range: −1.33 to 3.68 G) and Grand Cayman (range: −1.54 to 1.53 G), but are not significantly different.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Caribbean-wide decline in carbonate production threatens coral reef growth

et al. 2013

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Global-scale deteriorations in coral reef health have caused major shifts in species composition. One projected consequence is a lowering of reef carbonate production rates, potentially impairing reef growth, compromising ecosystem functionality and ultimately leading to net reef erosion. Here, using measures of gross and net carbonate production and erosion from 19 Caribbean reefs, we show that contemporary carbonate production rates are now substantially below historical (mid- to late-Holocene) values. On average, current production rates are reduced by at least 50%, and 37% of surveyed sites were net erosional. Calculated accretion rates (mm year−1) for shallow fore-reef habitats are also close to an order of magnitude lower than Holocene averages. A live coral cover threshold of ~10% appears critical to maintaining positive production states. Below this ecological threshold carbonate budgets typically become net negative and threaten reef accretion. Collectively, these data suggest that recent ecological declines are now suppressing Caribbean reef growth potential.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Caribbean-wide decline in carbonate production threatens coral reef growth

et al. 2013

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“…At sites that experience high impact from land‐based activity (e.g. Kralendijk, salt pans, sites close to water inlets), the historically low rates of gross carbonate production are strongly linked to the substantial loss in coral cover that has occurred over the past decades (Bak et al, ; De Bakker et al, ; Sommer, Harrison, Brooks, & Scheffers, ; this study). Bonaire's coral reefs are generally reported to have experienced less ecological decline in relation to other Caribbean reefs (Jackson et al, ; Kramer, ; Steneck et al, , but see De Bakker et al, , ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Extreme spatial heterogeneity in carbonate accretion potential on a Caribbean fringing reef linked to local human disturbance gradients

Bakker

Duyl

Perry

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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The capacity of coral reefs to maintain their structurally complex frameworks and to retain the potential for vertical accretion is vitally important to the persistence of their ecological functioning and the ecosystem services they sustain. However, datasets to support detailed along‐coast assessments of framework production rates and accretion potential do not presently exist. Here, we estimate, based on gross bioaccretion and bioerosion measures, the carbonate budgets and resultant estimated accretion rates (EAR) of the shallow reef zone of leeward Bonaire – between 5 and 12 m depth – at unique fine spatial resolution along this coast (115 sites). Whilst the fringing reef of Bonaire is often reported to be in a better ecological condition than most sites throughout the wider Caribbean region, our data show that the carbonate budgets of the reefs and derived EAR varied considerably across this ~58 km long fringing reef complex. Some areas, in particular the marine reserves, were indeed still dominated by structurally complex coral communities with high net carbonate production (>10 kg CaCO3 m−2 year−1), high live coral cover and complex structural topography. The majority of the studied sites, however, were defined by relatively low budget states (<2 kg CaCO3 m−2 year−1) or were in a state of net erosion. These data highlight the marked spatial heterogeneity that can occur in budget states, and thus in reef accretion potential, even between quite closely spaced areas of individual reef complexes. This heterogeneity is linked strongly to the degree of localized land‐based impacts along the coast, and resultant differences in the abundance of reef framework building coral species. The major impact of this variability is that those sections of reef defined by low‐accretion rates will have limited capacity to maintain their structural integrity and to keep pace with current projections of climate change induced sea‐level rise (SLR), thus posing a threat to reef functioning and biodiversity, potentially leading to trophic cascades. Since many Caribbean reefs are more severely degraded than those found around Bonaire, it is to be expected that the findings presented here are rather the rule than the exception, but the study also highlights the need for similar high spatial resolution (along‐coast) assessments of budget states and accretion rates to meaningfully explore increasing coastal risk at the country level. The findings also more generally underline the significance of reducing local anthropogenic disturbance and restoring framework building coral assemblages. Appropriately focussed local preservation efforts may aid in averting future large‐scale above reef water depth increases on Caribbean coral reefs and will limit the social and economic implications associated with the loss of reef goods and services.

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“…We sampled the coastal subtropical coral communities of eastern Australia using five replicate 30 m long, 1 m wide photographic belt transects (see Sommer et al [2011] for more details on survey method) at each of 17 locations along a latitudinal environmental gradient from 26836 0 S to 32848 0 S. Study sites were selected based on the known occurrence of scleractinian corals and were located on the semi-protected leeward side of headlands and islands, where corals mainly occur in these wave-exposed environments. Thus, the factors, wave and current exposure, were similar throughout the study sites.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait‐mediated environmental filtering drives assembly at biogeographic transition zones

Sommer

Harrison

Beger

et al. 2014

Ecology

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123

151

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Abiotic filtering is a major driver of gradients in the structure and functioning of ecosystems from the tropics to the poles. It is thus likely that environmental filtering is an important assembly process at the transition of biogeographical zones where many species occur at their range limits. Shifts in species abundances and association patterns along environmental gradients can be indicative of environmental filtering, which is predicted to be stronger in areas of high abiotic stress and to promote increased similarity of ecological characteristics among co-occurring species. Here we test these hypotheses for scleractinian corals along a broad latitudinal gradient in high-latitude eastern Australia, where corals occur at the margins of their ranges and environmental tolerances. We quantify variation in taxonomic, zoogeographic, and functional patterns combined with null model approaches and demonstrate systematic spatial variation in community structure and significant covariance of species abundance distributions and functional characteristics along the latitudinal gradient. We describe a strong biogeographic transition zone, consistent with patterns expected under abiotic filtering, whereby species are sorted along the latitudinal gradient according to their tolerances for marginal reef conditions. High-latitude coastal reefs are typified by widely distributed, generalist, stress-tolerant coral species with massive and horizontally spreading morphologies and by diminishing influence of tropical taxa at higher latitudes and closer to the mainland. Higher degree of ecological similarity among co-occurring species than expected by chance supports the environmental filtering hypothesis. Among individual traits, the structural traits corallite size and colony morphology were filtered most strongly, suggesting that characteristics linked to energy acquisition and physical stability may be particularly important for coral survival in high-latitude environments. These findings highlight interspecific differences and species interactions with the environment as key drivers of community organization in biogeographic transition zones and support the hypothesis that environmental filters play a stronger role than biotic interactions in structuring ecological communities in areas of high abiotic stress.

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Coral Community Decline at Bonaire, Southern Caribbean

Cited by 16 publications

References 44 publications

Caribbean-wide decline in carbonate production threatens coral reef growth

Caribbean-wide decline in carbonate production threatens coral reef growth

Extreme spatial heterogeneity in carbonate accretion potential on a Caribbean fringing reef linked to local human disturbance gradients

Trait‐mediated environmental filtering drives assembly at biogeographic transition zones

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