Interpreting coral reef monitoring data: A guide for improved management decisions

Flower, Jason; Ortíz, Juan Carlos; Chollett, Iliana; Abdullah, Sabah; Castro‐Sanguino, Carolina; Hock, Karlo; Lam, Vivian; Mumby, Peter J.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.09.003

Cited by 60 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 159 publications

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“…Recent work has focused on measuring macroalgal abundance in response to anthropogenic stressors (Hughes et al, 2007;Littler and Littler, 2007;Smith et al, 2010). To evaluate the effects of human impacts, however, it is first necessary to understand the effects of natural processes on reef condition (Bruno et al, 2014;Flower et al, 2017).…”

Section: Modeling the Effect Of Benthic Cover On The Frequency Of Cormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, investigations into the drivers of coral-algal phase shifts have focused on disturbed ecosystems, where anthropogenic stressors (i.e., overfishing, eutrophication) are contributing to the proliferation of macroalgae and an increase in coral-algal competition (Hughes, 1994;Burkepile and Hay, 2006;Hughes et al, 2007;Littler and Littler, 2007;Smith et al, 2010). In order to understand the effects of human impacts, it is first necessary to understand how macroalgae respond to natural processes and to include more dynamic indicators of reef condition, such as coral-algal interactions (Connell et al, 2004;Bruno et al, 2014;Flower et al, 2017). Very few studies, however, have investigated natural drivers of the spatio-temporal dynamics of macroalgal biomass and its effect on coral-algal competition in the absence of anthropogenic influence (Bruno et al, 2014;Sangil and Guzman, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Dynamics of Coral-Algal Interactions in Space and Time on the Southern Great Barrier Reef

et al. 2018

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Globally, tropical coral reefs are being degraded by human activities, and as a result, reef-building corals have declined while macroalgae have increased. Recent work has focused on measuring macroalgal abundance in response to anthropogenic stressors. To accurately evaluate the effects of human impacts, however, it is necessary to understand the effects of natural processes on reef condition. To better understand how coral reef communities are influenced by natural processes, we investigated how spatial and seasonal changes in environmental conditions (temperature and PAR) influence benthic community structure, and the composition and frequency of coral-algal interactions across eight distinct zones and over a 23-month period at Heron reef on the southern Great Barrier Reef. Hard coral cover and macroalgal density showed distinct spatio-temporal variations, both within and between zones. Broad hard coral cover was significantly higher at the reef slope sites compared to the lagoon and was not significantly influenced by season. The composition and biomass of macroalgae increased in spring and declined in summer, with maximum macroalgal abundance corresponding with average temperatures of between 22 and 24 • C and average 24 h PAR of 300-500 µmol qanta m −2 s −1 . Changes in macroalgal biomass further influenced the composition and frequency of coral-algal interactions, however the incidence of coral-algal contact was best explained by coral cover. The results presented here emphasize that natural levels of macroalgae and coral-algal interactions are context-specific, and vary not only with-in zones, but in somewhat predictable seasonal cycles. Further, these results emphasize that the frequency of coral-algal interactions is dependent on hard coral, not just macroalgal cover, and an increase in coral-algal interactions does not necessarily translate to degradation of coral reefs.

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Section: Modeling the Effect Of Benthic Cover On The Frequency Of Cormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dynamics of Coral-Algal Interactions in Space and Time on the Southern Great Barrier Reef

et al. 2018

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“…Additionally, long-term monitoring programs are costly and work intensive. Identifying a few integrated multimetric indices as indicators of change in coral reef status at the regional scale and using developed frameworks would allow for simplification of monitoring efforts and provide an opportunity for more effective coral reef management (Jameson et al, 2001;Flower et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio-Temporal Patterns in Coral Reef Communities of the Spermonde Archipelago, 2012–2014, I: Comprehensive Reef Monitoring of Water and Benthic Indicators Reflect Changes in Reef Health

et al. 2018

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Pollution, fishing, and outbreaks of predators can heavily impact coastal coral reef ecosystems, leading to decreased water quality and benthic community shifts. To determine the main environmental drivers of coral reef status in the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia, we monitored environmental variables and coral reef benthic community structure along an on-to-offshore gradient annually from 2012 to 2014. Findings revealed that concentrations of phosphate, chlorophyll a-like fluorescence, suspended particulate matter, and light attenuation significantly decreased from on-to-offshore, while concentrations of dissolved O 2 and values of water pH significantly increased on-to-offshore. Nitrogen stable isotope signatures of sediment and an exemplary common brown alga were significantly enriched nearshore, identifying wastewater input from the city of Makassar as primary N source. In contrast to the high temporal variability in water quality, coral reef benthic community cover did not show strong temporal, but rather, spatial patterns. Turf algae was the dominant group next to live coral, and was negatively correlated to live coral, crustose coralline algae (CCA), rubble and hard substrate. Variation in benthic cover along the gradient was explained by water quality variables linked to trophic status and physico-chemical variables. As an integrated measure of reef status and structural complexity, the benthic index, based on the ratio of relative cover of live coral and CCA to other coral reef organisms, and reef rugosity were determined. The benthic index was consistently low nearshore and increased offshore, with high variability in the midshelf sites across years. Reef rugosity was also lowest nearshore and increased further offshore. Both indices dropped in 2013, increasing again in 2014, indicating a period of acute disturbance and recovery within the study and suggesting that the mid-shelf reefs are more resilient to disturbance than nearshore reefs. We thus recommend using these two indices with a selected number of environmental variables as an integral part of future reef monitoring.

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“…Evidently, state metrics, when used appropriately, can provide valuable information on ecosystem dynamics (Flower et al 2017). However, there are certain advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of proxies.…”

Section: Monitoring and Resilience: "States" Vs "Rates"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some progress have been made with regards to undertaking ecological resilience assessments, such as the development of guidelines in the measurement and assessment of resilience indicators Grimsditch & Salm 2006;, and considerations for potential management interventions . However, there remains a challenge in using existing monitoring programmes and the subsequent wealth of historical monitoring data in the application of RBM, and one of the key issues is the choice of reef metrics to monitor and its interpretation under a resilience context (Flower et al 2017).…”

Section: Operationalising Coral Reef Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

The Dynamics and Resilience of Coral Reefs

Lam¹

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A major goal in ecosystem management is to prevent shifts to undesirable states, and there is widespread interest in understanding, mapping, and quantifying resilience to support management decisions. With rapid changes taking place on coral reefs, managers and scientists are faced with a challenging task in prioritising interventions that help strengthen reef resilience. Resilience-based management (RBM) of coral reefs requires in-depth knowledge on the various components and feedback mechanisms of the ecosystem, and uses resilience theory to inform decisions. To date, there are mechanistic models that analyse and forecast the future of reefs, but being data intensive and requiring specialist knowledge, are not applicable to managers in most locations with limited data and analytical training. Hence, there is a need to develop approaches to acquire insights on resilience using monitoring data.The global decline of reefs to varying extents, underscores the importance of understanding how biophysical factors influence and shape reef community dynamics. Multiple environmental factors affect reef functioning, either positively or negatively, and the diversity and complexity of responses make it difficult to predict future reef trajectories. My thesis addresses the need to improve retrospective analyses of time-series monitoring data to suit management goals, such as resilience, by focusing on the data collection and analytical components of long-term monitoring programmes. In this thesis, I trialled two state-of-the-art methods to extract useful ecological information and identified drivers of coral reef trajectories from long-term monitoring data collected in the Great Barrier Reef, arguably one of the most comprehensive coral reef monitoring dataset in the world.In Chapter 1, I provide a theoretical overview of the issues related to resilience and identify the quantification approaches found within the coral reef field. By examining the current state of knowledge, a simple framework of resilience-related concepts is developed, followed by an analysis of approaches used to quantify reef resilience and vulnerability. Seven broad quantification approaches were identified under the three principle concepts of (1) ecological resilience (ecological resilience, precariousness and current attractor), (2) engineering resilience (short-term recovery rate and long-term reef performance), and (3) vulnerability (absolute and relative vulnerability) respectively.iii Resilience-based management (RBM) is a new approach to reef management that is being adopted by governmental institutions globally. However, there are no quantitative studies on how this has changed coral reef monitoring and assessment. In Chapter 2, I conducted a critical evaluation of how RBM has changed the way we monitor our reefs. Through a comparison of metrics used in conventional programmes with those developed specifically for resilience assessments, I show that resilience metrics are much more diverse and have a strong focus on ecological processe...

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Interpreting coral reef monitoring data: A guide for improved management decisions

Cited by 60 publications

References 159 publications

The Dynamics of Coral-Algal Interactions in Space and Time on the Southern Great Barrier Reef

The Dynamics of Coral-Algal Interactions in Space and Time on the Southern Great Barrier Reef

Spatio-Temporal Patterns in Coral Reef Communities of the Spermonde Archipelago, 2012–2014, I: Comprehensive Reef Monitoring of Water and Benthic Indicators Reflect Changes in Reef Health

The Dynamics and Resilience of Coral Reefs

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