The implications of recurrent disturbances within the world's hottest coral reef

Bento, Rita; Hoey, Andrew S.; Bauman, Andrew G.; Feary, David A.; Burt, John A.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.10.006

Cited by 49 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…In contrast to branching corals, massive corals have skeletons that are less efficient in enhancing the internal light field of the coral (Enríquez et al, 2017), which appears to be a key factor in enabling their higher tolerance to light and heat stress. Although less diverse and spatially complex, the new poritidand faviid-dominated communities in the PAG appear to be relatively resilient to ongoing disturbances in the region (e.g., Bento et al, 2016) and could represent future coral communities under continued climate change and increasing anthropogenic stressors.…”

Section: High Temperature Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Future of Coral Reefs Subject to Rapid Climate Change: Lessons from Natural Extreme Environments

et al. 2018

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Global climate change and localized anthropogenic stressors are driving rapid declines in coral reef health. In vitro experiments have been fundamental in providing insight into how reef organisms will potentially respond to future climates. However, such experiments are inevitably limited in their ability to reproduce the complex interactions that govern reef systems. Studies examining coral communities that already persist under naturally-occurring extreme and marginal physicochemical conditions have therefore become increasingly popular to advance ecosystem scale predictions of future reef form and function, although no single site provides a perfect analog to future reefs. Here we review the current state of knowledge that exists on the distribution of corals in marginal and extreme environments, and geographic sites at the latitudinal extremes of reef growth, as well as a variety of shallow reef systems and reef-neighboring environments (including upwelling and CO 2 vent sites). We also conduct a synthesis of the abiotic data that have been collected at these systems, to provide the first collective assessment on the range of extreme conditions under which corals currently persist. We use the review and data synthesis to increase our understanding of the biological and ecological mechanisms that facilitate survival and success under sub-optimal physicochemical conditions. This comprehensive assessment can begin to: (i) highlight the extent of extreme abiotic scenarios under which corals can persist, (ii) explore whether there are commonalities in coral taxa able to persist in such extremes, (iii) provide evidence for key mechanisms required to support survival and/or persistence under sub-optimal environmental conditions, and (iv) evaluate the potential of current sub-optimal coral environments to act as potential refugia under changing environmental conditions. Such a collective approach is critical to better understand the future survival of corals in our changing environment. We finally outline priority areas for future research on extreme and marginal coral environments, and discuss the additional management options they may provide for corals through refuge or by providing genetic stocks of stress tolerant corals to support proactive management strategies.

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Section: High Temperature Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Future of Coral Reefs Subject to Rapid Climate Change: Lessons from Natural Extreme Environments

et al. 2018

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“…These large-scale differences in non-coral settlement mirror the divergence of benthic community structure on reefs across these regions (Bauman et al, 2013;Bento et al, 2016), and is likely driven by the highly divergent environmental conditions among these seas, which have also been subject to varying degrees of disturbance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Communities were generally dominated by faviids and poritids in all regions, with other subdominant families differing in relative abundance among sites. A full description of the benthos in each region is provided in Bento et al (2016).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recurrent bleaching events and disease outbreaks have heavily affected reefs in the southern Persian/Arabian Gulf (hereafter 'the Gulf ') while reefs in the adjacent Sea of Oman have been impacted by a super-cyclone and a large-scale harmful algal bloom (Bauman et al, 2010;Riegl and Purkis, 2015;Burt et al, 2016). All of these disturbances have caused substantial declines in coral cover and shifts in the composition of the wider benthic community (Bento et al, 2016). Recovery of reef communities in subsequent years has been variable, with a return toward pre-disturbance assemblages observed in some locations but not others (Burt et al, 2008(Burt et al, , 2011Bento et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All of these disturbances have caused substantial declines in coral cover and shifts in the composition of the wider benthic community (Bento et al, 2016). Recovery of reef communities in subsequent years has been variable, with a return toward pre-disturbance assemblages observed in some locations but not others (Burt et al, 2008(Burt et al, , 2011Bento et al, 2016). Several studies have suggested that this divergence in recovery patterns can largely be attributed to variation in the abundance and composition of juvenile corals that have recruited to these reefs (Burt et al, 2008;Pratchett et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Settlement Patterns of Corals and other Benthos on Reefs with Divergent Environments and Disturbances Histories around the Northeastern Arabian Peninsula

2017

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Larval supply is a principal factor determining the establishment, structure, and diversity of sessile benthic assemblages on coral reefs. Benthic reef communities in north-eastern Arabia have been subject to recurrent disturbances in recent years, and subsequent recovery will be, in part, driven by variation in the supply of available colonists. Using settlement tiles deployed seasonally over 1 year at eight sites encompassing three environmentally divergent regions (southern Arabian Gulf, the Musandam Peninsula in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Sea of Oman) we assessed spatial and seasonal variability in settlement of benthic reef organisms. There was strong spatial variation in composition of new colonists among regions, mainly driven by the high abundance of coralline algae in the Arabian Gulf, colonial ascidians on the Musandam Peninsula and barnacles in the Sea of Oman. Seasonal differences in composition of new colonists were less important than regional differences, with seasonal variation in settlement not consistent among regions. The number of corals settling to the tiles was low compared to those reported for other regions, with mean densities ranging from 0 corals m −2 year −1 in the Sea of Oman to 30 (± 0.6 SE) and 38 (± 0.5 SE) in Musandam and the Arabian Gulf, respectively. Peak coral settlement abundance in the Gulf occurred in summer and autumn and in Musandam in spring (averaging 82 and 70 settlers m −2 year −1 , respectively, during the peak settlement season). This work provides the first record of large-scale spatial and seasonal patterns of settlement in north-eastern Arabia and provides valuable information on the supply of settlers available to recolonize heavily disturbed reefs in this region. The extremely low rates of coral settlement suggest that these marginal reefs are likely to be extremely slow to recover from on-going and future disturbances.

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Recurring bleaching events disrupt the spatial properties of coral reef benthic communities across scales

Ford

Gove

Healey

et al. 2023

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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Marine heatwaves are causing recurring coral bleaching events on tropical reefs that are driving ecosystem change. Yet, little is known about how bleaching and subsequent coral mortality impacts the spatial properties of tropical seascapes, such as patterns of organism spatial clustering and heterogeneity across scales. Changes in these spatial properties can offer insight into ecosystem recovery potential following disturbance. Here we repeatedly quantified coral reef benthic spatial properties around the circumference of an uninhabited tropical island in the central Pacific over a 9‐year period that included a minor and subsequent severe marine heatwave. Benthic communities showed increased biotic homogenisation following both minor and mass bleaching, becoming more taxonomically similar with less diverse intra‐island community composition. Hard coral cover, which was highly spatially clustered around the island prior to bleaching, became less spatially clustered following minor bleaching and was indiscernible from a random distribution across all scales (100–2000 m) following mass bleaching. Interestingly, the reduced degree of hard coral cover spatial clustering was already evident by the onset of mass bleaching and before any dramatic wholesale loss in island‐mean coral cover occurred. Reductions in hard coral spatial clustering may therefore offer an early indication of the ecosystem becoming degraded prior to mass coral mortality. In contrast, the spatial clustering of competitive fleshy macroalgae remained unchanged through both bleaching events, while crustose coralline algae and fleshy turf algae became more spatially clustered at larger scales (200–700 m) following mass bleaching. Overall, benthic community spatial patterning became less predictable following bleaching and was no longer reflective of gradients in long‐term environmental drivers that typically structure these remote reefs. Our findings provide novel insights into how climate‐driven marine heatwaves can impact the spatial properties of coral reef communities over multiple scales.

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The implications of recurrent disturbances within the world's hottest coral reef

Cited by 49 publications

References 72 publications

The Future of Coral Reefs Subject to Rapid Climate Change: Lessons from Natural Extreme Environments

The Future of Coral Reefs Subject to Rapid Climate Change: Lessons from Natural Extreme Environments

Settlement Patterns of Corals and other Benthos on Reefs with Divergent Environments and Disturbances Histories around the Northeastern Arabian Peninsula

Recurring bleaching events disrupt the spatial properties of coral reef benthic communities across scales

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