Recruitment hotspots and bottlenecks mediate the distribution of corals on a Caribbean reef

Edmunds, Peter J.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2021.0149

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…The marked variability in coral recruitment reported here emphasizes the need for large-scale and long-term studies to determine temporal trends, identify the frequency of sporadic peak events, and examine their implications for the resilience of adult assemblages (Kayal et al 2018, Hughes et al 2019, Edmunds 2021b, Thomson et al 2021. Identifying the major biological and environmental factors underlying this variability is also essential to improve knowledge on drivers of coral recruitment, enable predictions of such extreme events, and assess implications for reef conservation (Mumby & Steneck 2008).…”

Section: Implications For Conservation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…However, spatial patterns among stations were not conserved through time (i.e. peak recruit abundances were observed at different sites among years), which prevents the identification of persistent coral recruitment hotspots as can be found in some other coral reefs (Edmunds 2021b). Overall, higher recruit abundances were observed at some fringing and mid-shelf reefs, whereas recruitment rates were generally lower at barrier and outer-slope reefs.…”

Section: Spatio-temporal Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 94%

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Extremely high but localized pulses of coral recruitment in the southwestern lagoon of New Caledonia and implications for conservation

Adjeroud

Peignon

Gauliard

et al. 2022

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Recruitment processes largely drive spatial distributions, dynamics, and recovery potential of marine communities. Determining scales of variation in recruitment rates and composition can help in understanding population replenishment mechanisms, while identifying recruitment hotspots is crucial for improving conservation strategies, particularly for threatened marine ecosystems such as coral reefs. We examined the spatial and interannual variability (2012-2014) of coral recruitment at multiple scales within and among reef habitats (14 stations) in the southwestern lagoon of New Caledonia. Recruit assemblages were characterized by high recruitment rates compared to other regions (overall mean of 34.9 recruits per 11 × 11 × 1 cm settlement tile, corresponding to 1220.9 recruits m-2) and strong dominance of Acroporidae. We found a marked spatial heterogeneity among habitats but also exceptionally high interannual variation (100-fold), with extreme recruitment peaks (up to 13572.8 recruits m-2, with a maximum of 811 recruits on a single tile) recorded in 2014 at some fringing and mid-shelf reefs, the highest records ever reported to date. These encouraging results contrast with other reefs where recent declines in coral recruitment rates have been documented with major concerns for their resilience capacities. However, the marked spatio-temporal variability of coral recruitment complicates conservation strategies, as it makes it difficult to identify ‘recruitment hotspots’ as priority sites to protect for their potential capacity to boost the replenishment of local populations.

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Section: Implications For Conservation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Spatio-temporal Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 94%

Extremely high but localized pulses of coral recruitment in the southwestern lagoon of New Caledonia and implications for conservation

Adjeroud

Peignon

Gauliard

et al. 2022

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…The role of water circulation in the semi-enclosed lagoon of Bourakéhas also to be considered since a close water circulation could enhance coral larvae settlement via a decrease in larval dispersal (O'Connor et al, 2007). The particular morphology and hydrodynamics of Bourakécould make this lagoon a real recruitment hotspot as recently observed in St. John, US Virgin Islands (Edmunds, 2021). Recruitment was especially noticeable on the bottom sides of the tiles for each station, likely because tiles act as a shelter against grazing and predation and enhance coral recruitment compared with the top or lateral sides (Penin et al, 2011).…”

Section: Shift Between Cca and Turf Algaementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recruitment rates recorded in this study are difficult to compare with the literature because values are quite variable. For instance, in French Polynesia, it varies from 0 to 10.8 recruits tile -1 (Gleason, 1996;Adjeroud et al, 2007;Bramanti and Edmunds, 2016), and it was less in the Virgin Islands (average of 3 recruits tile -1 ; Edmunds, 2021) and in Palau (0.3 to 3.9 recruits tile -1 ; Victor, 2008), while no data is available for New Caledonia. There might be several explanations for our uncommon and counterintuitive findings.…”

Section: Shift Between Cca and Turf Algaementioning

confidence: 99%

High Coral Recruitment Despite Coralline Algal Loss Under Extreme Environmental Conditions

et al. 2022

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The crucial role of crustose coralline algae (CCA) in inducing hard coral larval settlement and ensuring the replenishment of coral reefs is widely accepted, and so are the negative effects of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on both CCA abundance and coral development. However, diversified and well-developed coral reef communities have been recently discovered in natural conditions where CCA and corals would not be expected to thrive. Back-reef pools, volcanic CO2 vents, mangrove estuaries, and semi-enclosed lagoons systems can present seawater pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen values reaching or even exceeding the conditions currently predicted by the Inter Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for 2100. In the semi-enclosed lagoon of Bouraké (New Caledonia, southwest Pacific Ocean), seawater pHT, dissolved oxygen, and temperatures regularly fluctuate with the tide reaching respectively minimum values of 7.23 pHT units, 2.28 mg O2 L-1, and maximum of 33.85°C. This study reports the effect of such extreme environmental conditions on hard coral recruitment and CCA originally settled at a forereef on artificial substrates that were transplanted over two years in two fringing reef and at the Bouraké lagoon. Our data emphasize the negative effects of the extreme conditions in our study sites on the CCA, which decreased in cover by ca. 80% and lost in the competition with turf algae, which, in turn, increased up to 162% at the end of the two years. Conversely, hard coral recruitment remained high at Bouraké throughout the study, three-fold higher than at two sites located outside Bouraké where environmental conditions were typical for coastal fringing reefs. Our findings show that while such extreme, climate change like-conditions have a direct and adverse effect on CCA abundance, and despite a certain persistence, coral larvae settlement was not affected. Based on previous findings from Bouraké, and the present observations, both coral recruits and adults seem to be unaffected despite the extreme environmental conditions. This study supports previous research illustrating how extreme natural and variable environments may reveal unexpected and positive insights on the processes underlying coral acclimatization and adaptation to global change.

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“…Our results clearly demonstrate the high degree of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in coral recruitment in the Toliara region. This is consistent with patterns recorded at several reefs worldwide, from the east African coast (Sola et al., 2015), Mascarene islands (Jouval et al., 2019; Nzali et al., 1998), and the Seychelles (Chong‐Seng et al., 2014) in the SWIO, to the Great Barrier Reef (Davidson et al., 2019; Doropoulos et al., 2015; Dunstan & Johnson, 1998), New Caledonia (Adjeroud et al., 2022), and French Polynesia (Adjeroud et al., 2007; Edmunds et al., 2010; Penin & Adjeroud, 2013) in the Pacific, as well as the Red Sea (Abelson et al., 2005; Glassom et al., 2004; Guerrini et al., 2020) and the Caribbean (Edmunds, 2021a; Green & Edmunds, 2011; Harper et al., 2023; Moulding, 2005). Overall (all taxa pooled) recruitment rates documented in the present study ranged from 17.48 ± 8.04 to 681.81 ± 198.60 recruits.m −2 across stations and years, with highest values (>200 recruits.tile −1 ) recorded at patch reefs and outer slope stations, notably during the first (2018–2019) and last (2020–2021) year of this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coral recruitment in the Toliara region of southwest Madagascar: Spatio‐temporal variability and implications for reef conservation

Botosoamananto,

Todinanahary,

Gasimandova

et al. 2024

Marine Ecology

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Investigating coral recruitment is critical to better understand replenishment and resilience capacities of coral reef ecosystems and to improve their conservation. Here, we examined the spatio‐temporal patterns of coral recruitment and the influence of confamilial adult coral cover in the region of Toliara, southwest Madagascar. Terracotta tiles were immersed from October to late January over a 3‐year period (2018–2021) at 10 stations located on major reef habitats. Overall recruitment rates were relatively high compared to those of other reefs in the Southwestern Indian Ocean, ranging from 219.20 recruits.m−2 in 2018–2019 to 156.30 recruits.m−2 in 2020–2021. Recruit assemblages were dominated by Acroporidae (45.5%) and Pocilloporidae (45.0%), whereas Poritidae (1.9%) and “other” recruits (3.6%) were rarely recorded. Recruitment patterns varied among stations and habitats, with higher rates in patch reef (187.06 recruits.m−2) and outer slope stations (156.99 recruits.m−2) compared to inner slope stations (108.04 recruits.m−2). With the exception of “other” recruits, recruitment rates decreased between 2018 and 2019 and 2019 and 2020, followed by an increase in 2020–2021 that reached or even exceeded initial values at some stations. The abundance of Pocilloporidae recruits was positively correlated with the cover of confamilial adult corals, highlighting potential stock–recruitment or recruitment–limitation relationships, or an aggregative settlement of young stages near the established adult colonies, whereas no such relationships were recorded for other coral family categories. This study identified sites on the outer slope and patch reefs to consider prioritizing for protection as recruitment hotspots, as well as degraded inner slope sites that could benefit from restoration, with the important caveat that any measures should be accompanied by alternative income‐generating activities through local involvement that suits the Malagasy context, such as locally marine managed areas.

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Recruitment hotspots and bottlenecks mediate the distribution of corals on a Caribbean reef

Cited by 10 publications

References 58 publications

Extremely high but localized pulses of coral recruitment in the southwestern lagoon of New Caledonia and implications for conservation

Extremely high but localized pulses of coral recruitment in the southwestern lagoon of New Caledonia and implications for conservation

High Coral Recruitment Despite Coralline Algal Loss Under Extreme Environmental Conditions

Coral recruitment in the Toliara region of southwest Madagascar: Spatio‐temporal variability and implications for reef conservation

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