Larval Dispersal and Recruitment Processes in Great Barrier Reef Corals: Analysis and Synthesis

Author(s):  
Paul W. Sammarco
PLoS ONE ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. e10401 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Charlotte E. Kvennefors ◽  
Eugenia Sampayo ◽  
Tyrone Ridgway ◽  
Andrew C. Barnes ◽  
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

2003 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal Alibert ◽  
Les Kinsley ◽  
Stewart J. Fallon ◽  
Malcolm T. McCulloch ◽  
Ray Berkelmans ◽  
...  

1992 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 569 ◽  
Author(s):  
MK James ◽  
JP Scandol

The work reported in this paper is a further development of results from a research programme whose principal objective is to achieve an understanding of the large-scale population dynamics of Acanthaster planci. The research is based on the development and use of numerical models of hydrodynamics and resulting larval dispersal throughout a large portion of the Great Barrier Reef. It is chiefly concerned with the large-scale statistical patterns of larval dispersal, the central hypothesis being that passive hydrodynamic dispersal plays an important role in the recruitment process. The present aim is to examine more closely than has been done before the consistencies between the modelling results and the database of recorded observations of crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks. Reefs in the Cairns and Central Sections of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park that were recorded as carrying active outbreaks during the period 1979-89 were used as sources in a programme of intensive simulations of Acanthaster larval dispersal under forcing by the wind, tidal action and the East Australian Current. The resulting broad-scale patterns of larval dispersal were found to be in strong qualitative agreement with the observed spatial and temporal distribution of adult Acanthaster populations. Statistical analysis of the results revealed a strong positive correlation between potential recruitment on surveyed reefs, as estimated by the dispersal simulations, and the observed presence of outbreak populations on those reefs. The correlation was particularly strong when different cross-shelf zones were considered separately.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1684-1696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Riginos ◽  
Karlo Hock ◽  
Ambrocio M. Matias ◽  
Peter J. Mumby ◽  
Madeleine J. H. Oppen ◽  
...  

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. e77091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Walther ◽  
Michael J. Kingsford ◽  
Malcolm T. McCulloch

2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 2046-2054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd C. LaJeunesse ◽  
William K. W. Loh ◽  
Robert van Woesik ◽  
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg ◽  
Gregory W. Schmidt ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Riginos ◽  
K Hock ◽  
AM Matias ◽  
PJ Mumby ◽  
MJH van Oppen ◽  
...  

AbstractAimWidespread coral bleaching, crown-of-thorns seastar outbreaks, and tropical storms all threaten foundational coral species of the Great Barrier Reef, with impacts differing over time and space. Yet, dispersal via larval propagules could aid reef recovery by supplying new settlers and enabling the spread of adaptive variation among regions. Documenting and predicting spatial connections arising from planktonic larval dispersal in marine species, however, remains a formidable challenge.LocationThe Great Barrier Reef, AustraliaMethodsContemporary biophysical larval dispersal models were used to predict longdistance multigenerational connections for two common and foundational coral species (Acropora tenuisandAcropora millepora). Spatially extensive genetic surveys allowed us to infer signatures of asymmetric dispersal for these species and evaluate concordance against expectations from biophysical models using coalescent genetic simulations, directions of inferred gene flow, and spatial eigenvector modelling.ResultsAt long distances, biophysical models predicted a preponderance of north to south connections and genetic results matched these expectations: coalescent genetic simulations rejected an alternative scenario of historical isolation; the strongest signals of inferred gene flow were from north to south; and asymmetric eigenvectors derived from north to south connections in the biophysical models were significantly better predictors of spatial genetic patterns than eigenvectors derived from symmetric null spatial models.Main conclusionsResults are consistent with biophysical dispersal models yielding approximate summaries of past multigenerational gene flow conditioned upon directionality of connections. ForA. tenuisandA. millepora, northern and central reefs have been important sources to downstream southern reefs over the recent evolutionary past and should continue to provide southward gene flow. Endemic genetic diversity of southern reefs suggests substantial local recruitment and lack of long distance gene flow from south to north.


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