The relative influence of sea surface temperature anomalies on the benthic composition of an Indo‐Pacific and Caribbean coral reef over the last decade

Abstract

Rising ocean temperatures are the primary driver of coral reef declines throughout the tropics. Such declines include reductions in coral cover that facilitate the monopolization of the benthos by other taxa such as macroalgae, resulting in reduced habitat complexity and biodiversity. Long‐term monitoring projects present rare opportunities to assess how sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) influence changes in the benthic composition of coral reefs across distinct locations. Here, using extensively monitored coral reef sites from Honduras (in the Caribbean Sea), and from the Wakatobi National Park located in the center of the coral triangle of Indonesia, we assess the impact of global warming on coral reef benthic compositions over the period 2012–2019. Bayesian generalized linear mixed effect models revealed increases in the sponge, and hard coral coverage through time, while rubble coverage decreased at the Indonesia location. Conversely, the effect of SSTAs did not predict any changes in benthic coverage. At the Honduras location, algae and soft coral coverage increased through time, while hard coral and rock coverage were decreasing. The effects of SSTA at the Honduras location included increased rock coverage, but reduced sponge coverage, indicating disparate responses between both systems under SSTAs. However, redundancy analyses showed intralocation site variability explained the majority of variance in benthic composition over the course of the study period. Our findings show that SSTAs have differentially influenced the benthic composition between the Honduras and the Indonesian coral reefs surveyed in this study. However, the large intralocation variance that explains the benthic composition at both locations indicates that localized processes have a predominant role in explaining benthic composition over the last decade. The sustained monitoring effort is critical for understanding how these reefs will change in their composition as global temperatures continue to rise through the Anthropocene.

A global analysis of coral bleaching patterns in association with mangrove environments under global warming

“…Collection of these types of data is unlikely feasible with citizen science. Thus, despite the overwhelming benefit of citizen science derived data (Done et al 2017, Gouraguine et al 2019, Johnson et al 2022c), in‐situ data collection of environmental conditions and coral taxonomy will be useful for future research.…”

Coexistence of nonfluorescent chromoproteins and fluorescent proteins in massive Porites spp. corals manifesting a pink pigmentation response

“…Global climate change and anthropogenic disturbances have led to an increased incidence of coral diseases and bleaching during the last 3 decades, particularly in corals inhabiting tropical regions in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific Ocean ( Beeden et al, 2008 ; Aeby et al, 2011 ; Weil et al, 2012 ; 2016 ; Hughes et al, 2018 ; Johnson et al, 2022 ). In the last decade, heat-susceptible genotypes may have declined and/or adapted to such conditions; therefore, the remaining coral populations could have a higher thermal threshold for bleaching ( Sully et al, 2019 ).…”

Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata

“…The focus of OA research has been primarily on hard corals while the second biggest taxon on coral reefs, i.e., soft corals, especially from tropical regions, are relatively overlooked. Soft corals may overtake reefs as the dominant taxon after die-offs of hard coral [20][21][22][23]. Despite the lower structural complexity that comes with soft coral dominance (compared to hard coral dominance), they may still provide important habitat to e.g., reef fishes [24,25].…”