Regional-scale scenario analysis for the Meso-American Reef system: Modelling coral reef futures under multiple stressors

2011 ◽  
Vol 222 (10) ◽  
pp. 1756-1770 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Melbourne-Thomas ◽  
C.R. Johnson ◽  
E.A. Fulton
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Selmoni ◽  
Estelle Rochat ◽  
Gael Lecellier ◽  
Veronique Berteaux-Lecellier ◽  
Stéphane Joost

AbstractCoral reefs are suffering a major decline due to the environmental constraints imposed by climate change. Over the last 20 years, three major coral bleaching events occurred in concomitance of anomalous heat waves, provoking a severe loss of coral cover worldwide. The conservation strategies for preserving reefs, as they are implemented now, cannot cope with global climatic shifts. Consequently, researchers are advocating the set-up of preservation frameworks to reinforce coral adaptive potential. However, the main obstacle to this implementation is that studies on coral adaption are usually hard to generalize at the scale of a reef system.Here, we study the relationships between frequencies of genetic markers with that of environmental characteristics of the sea (seascape genomics), in combination with connectivity analysis, to investigate the adaptive potential of a flagship coral species of the Ryukyu Archipelago (Japan). By associating genotype frequencies with descriptors of historical environmental conditions, we discovered six genomic regions hosting polymorphisms that might promote resistance against thermal stress. Remarkably, annotations of genes in these regions were consistent with molecular roles associated with heat responses. Furthermore, we combined information on genetic and spatial distances between reefs to predict connectivity at a regional scale.The combination between the results of these analyses portrayed the adaptive potential of this population: we were able to identify reefs carrying potential adaptive genotypes and to understand how they disperse to neighbouring reefs. This information was summarized by objective, quantifiable, and mappable indices covering the whole region, which can be extremely useful for future prioritization of reefs in conservation planning. This framework is transferable to any coral species on any reef system, and therefore represents a valuable tool for empowering preservation efforts dedicated to the protection of coral reef in warming oceans.


1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Woodley

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. It is recognised and appreciated worldwide as a unique environment and for this reason has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Reef is economically-important to Queensland and Australia, supporting substantial tourism and fishing industries. Management of the Great Barrier Reef to ensure conservation of its natural qualities in perpetuity is achieved through the establishment of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The maintenance of water quality to protect the reef and the industries which depend on it is becoming an increasingly important management issue requiring better knowledge and possibly new standards of treatment and discharge.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 997-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guizhi Wang ◽  
Shuling Wang ◽  
Zhangyong Wang ◽  
Wenping Jing ◽  
Yi Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract. To investigate variation in nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate in a spring–neap tide in a coral reef system influenced by groundwater discharge, we carried out a time-series observation of these nutrients and 228Ra, a tracer of groundwater discharge, in the Luhuitou fringing reef at Sanya Bay in the South China Sea. The maximum 228Ra, 45.3 dpm 100 L−1, appeared at low tide and the minimum, 14.0 dpm 100 L−1, appeared during a flood tide in the spring tide. The activity of 228Ra was significantly correlated with water depth and salinity in the spring–neap tide, reflecting the tidal-pumping feature of groundwater discharge. Concentrations of all nutrients exhibited strong diurnal variation, with a maximum in the amplitude of the diel change for nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and silicate in the spring tide of 0.46, 1.54, 0.12, and 2.68 µM, respectively. Nitrate and phosphate were negatively correlated with water depth during the spring tide but showed no correlation during the neap tide. Nitrite was positively correlated with water depth in the spring and neap tide due to mixing of nitrite-depleted groundwater and nitrite-rich offshore seawater. They were also significantly correlated with salinity (R2  ≥  0.9 and P < 0.05) at the ebb flow of the spring tide, negative for nitrate and phosphate and positive for nitrite, indicating the mixing of nitrite-depleted, nitrate- and phosphate-rich less saline groundwater and nitrite-rich, nitrate- and phosphate-depleted saline offshore seawater. We quantified variation in oxidized nitrogen (NOx) and phosphate contributed by biological processes based on deviations from mixing lines of these nutrients. During both the spring and neap tide biologically contributed NOx and phosphate were significantly correlated with regression slopes of 4.60 (R2  =  0.16) in the spring tide and 13.4 (R2  =  0.75) in the neap tide, similar to the composition of these nutrients in the water column, 5.43 (R2  =  0.27) and 14.2 (R2  =  0.76), respectively. This similarity indicates that the composition of nutrients in the water column of the reef system was closely related with biological processes during both tidal periods, but the biological influence appeared to be less dominant, as inferred from the less significant correlations (R2  =  0.16) during the spring tide when groundwater discharge was more prominent. Thus, the variability of nutrients in the coral reef system was regulated mainly by biological uptake and release in a spring–neap tide and impacted by mixing of tidally driven groundwater and offshore seawater during spring tide.


Coral Reefs ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bennett ◽  
A. Vergés ◽  
D. R. Bellwood

2014 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 105-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Cuif ◽  
David Michael Kaplan ◽  
Jérôme Lefèvre ◽  
Vincent Martin Faure ◽  
Matthieu Caillaud ◽  
...  

Check List ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-629
Author(s):  
José Luis Tello-Musi ◽  
Ricardo González-Muñoz ◽  
Fabián H. Acuña ◽  
Nuno Simões

The sea anemone Calliactis tricolor (Le Sueur, 1817) is an ecologically important member of the benthic community in coastal and coral reefs of the tropical Atlantic, particularly for their propensity to establish mutualistic symbiotic relationships with hermit crabs. This species is presumably distributed throughout the Gulf of Mexico; however, it had never been recorded in the southwestern part of the Gulf. Here we document the first record of C. tricolor in 2 coral reef localities of the Veracruz reef system, Mexico, and update the number of species of sea anemones known for the region.


Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 340 (6128) ◽  
pp. 69-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Gilmour ◽  
Luke D. Smith ◽  
Andrew J. Heyward ◽  
Andrew H. Baird ◽  
Morgan S. Pratchett

Coral reef recovery from major disturbance is hypothesized to depend on the arrival of propagules from nearby undisturbed reefs. Therefore, reefs isolated by distance or current patterns are thought to be highly vulnerable to catastrophic disturbance. We found that on an isolated reef system in north Western Australia, coral cover increased from 9% to 44% within 12 years of a coral bleaching event, despite a 94% reduction in larval supply for 6 years after the bleaching. The initial increase in coral cover was the result of high rates of growth and survival of remnant colonies, followed by a rapid increase in juvenile recruitment as colonies matured. We show that isolated reefs can recover from major disturbance, and that the benefits of their isolation from chronic anthropogenic pressures can outweigh the costs of limited connectivity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 1889-1901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Francis Richard Cleary ◽  
Ana Rita Moura Polónia ◽  
Leontine E. Becking ◽  
Nicole Joy de Voogd ◽  
Purwanto ◽  
...  

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