Local variability but landscape stability in coral reef communites following repeated hurricane impacts

Abstract

Coral reef community structure has remained remarkably stable over a 10 yr period within a small protected marine area despite repeated hurricane impacts. Local community dynamics have been highly variable, however. Sites that were destroyed by disease in the 1970s are showing little or no recovery, while sites less than a kilometre away that were devastated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 are recovering well. Strong coral recruitment has occurred in shallow, exposed areas that showed the greatest hurricane impacts, and these areas are now more species rich than in 1988, although coral cover has not reached pre-hurricane levels. Coral colony survivorship has been high throughout most of the study area. Partial mortality rates were elevated for several years following Hurricane Hugo, but significant whole coral-head mortality only occurred during periods with hurricane impacts and only at the most exposed sites. Overall, the coral community has proved resilient to closely repeated major hurricane impacts. From a single case study we cannot attribute this resilience to the relatively low level of human impacts, but grazing fish populations have apparently remained high enough to keep macroalgae in check despite the mass mortality of the herbivore Diadema antillarum in the 1980s.

Biological community structure on patch reefs in Biscayne National Park, FL, USA

“…Physical disturbances can have lasting effects on coral communities (Hughes and Connell 1999;Bythell et al 2000), and impact studies following Hurricane Andrew revealed that disturbance was very patchy (Tilmant et al 1994;Blair et al 1994). Further, historical changes to coral communities can affect competitive interactions among benthic organisms many years after the disturbance event (Hughes 1989).…”

Ecological Shifts along the Florida Reef Tract: The Past as a Key to the Future

“…The effects of hurricanes in the Florida Keys over the last 50 years can be considered minimally important at the regional scale, but probably important at the scale of individual reefs (see Bythell, Hillis-Starr, and Rogers 2000). Significantly, the recent period of Acropora decline in Florida (the late 1970s to early 1980s) was coincident with an extended period of no major hurricanes.…”

“…Geister (1980) explained that the almost exclusive occurrence of M. annularis in the Key Largo Limestone indicates protected conditions or a growth depth below normal wave base. It has been shown, however, that corals of the M. annularis species complex are extremely robust and resistant to the effects of storms, including hurricanes (Stoddart 1963;Woodley et al 1981;Graus, Macintyre, and Herchenroder 1984;Woodley 1992;Bythell, Hillis-Starr, and Rogers 2000;Jackson and Johnson 2000), and that their distribution and zonation are due to a combination of factors including, but not limited to, competitive interactions with other corals-notably the Acropora species Rylaarsdam 1983;Tunnicliffe 1983;Huston 1985;Aronson and Precht 2001b). In fact, large, centuries-old colonies of the M. annularis species complex appear to be the most resistant corals to catastrophic hurricanes in the Caribbean (Stoddart 1963;Woodley 1992;Aronson and Precht 2001b).…”

“…In addition, under all but the most extreme conditions, hurricanes can be favorable to the propagation and expansion of acroporid-dominated communities by asexual reproduction of storm-induced fragments (Shinn 1966(Shinn , 1976Gilmore and Hall 1976;Highsmith, Riggs, and D'Antonio 1980;Tunnicliffe 1981;Highsmith 1982;Fong and Lirman 1995;Lirman and Fong 1997;Lirman 2000;Precht et al 2005a). It appears that, on a regional basis at least, corals suffer greater damage from chronic disturbances and stresses such as disease outbreaks (Shinn 1989;Bythell, Gladfelter, and Bythell 1993;Rogers 1993b;Bythell, Hillis-Starr, and Rogers 2000;Aronson and Precht 2001b,c;). …”

Coral Reef Resilience through Biodiversity

“…Reef zones may respond dissimilarly to the variety of stressors. Although disease appears to have been the cause of much of the mortality of Acropora palmata (typically less than 5 m deep) and A. cervicornis in the late 1970s and 1980s [117,210], and of the die-off of the important sea urchin grazer Diadema antillarum [211], at least some of the shallow reef zones with these coral species have not been carpeted with macroscopic algae that can radically reduce recruitment [212,213]. Perhaps there has not been a shi to macroalgal dominance in some of these locations because grazing is more intense in shallow water or heavy wave action periodically removes the macroalgae from the reef.…”