Article
Ecology
Peter C. Doll, Philip L. Munday, Mary C. Bonin, Geoffrey P. Jones
Summary: The study in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, found that many Eviota species exhibit strong preferences for specific coral substrates, with some showing extreme fine-scale patterns of habitat specialisation. Overall, the local abundance of these species varied based on their degree of habitat specialisation, with more generalist species being more abundant.
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Jacey C. Van Wert, Leila Ezzat, Katrina S. Munsterman, Kaitlyn Landfield, Nina M. D. Schiettekatte, Valeriano Parravicini, Jordan M. Casey, Simon J. Brandl, Deron E. Burkepile, Erika J. Eliason
Summary: Consumers play a crucial role in nutrient cycling through excretion and egestion. While the excretion of fish-derived inorganic nutrients has been studied extensively, the importance of egestion for nutrient cycling has been neglected. This study investigated the fecal nutrient content of different fish species on a coral reef and found that different species exhibit unique fecal nutrient concentrations.
Article
Zoology
Luke Tornabene, Rachel Manning, D. Ross Robertson, James L. van Tassell, Carole C. Baldwin
Summary: This article studies fish communities on tropical deep reefs and finds that they are dominated by species primarily found in shallow-water. Collecting deep-reef fish species has led to the discovery of a new deep-reef invasion that occurred approximately 20-30 million years ago.
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jenny Fong, Peter A. Todd
Summary: The study reveals that interactions between corals and macroalgae vary greatly across sites and seasons, with different coral species showing varying effects on macroalgae. It is important to consider seasonal fluctuations of macroalgae for understanding their overall long-term impacts.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Fisheries
Ann-Christin Ziebell, Maite L. Vogel, Niklas Kjell Ratajczak, Bert W. Hoeksema
Summary: Cryptobenthic fishes, making up over half of coral reef fish fauna, play a significant role in coral reef trophodynamics and diversity. However, due to their small size, they are often overlooked and understudied. This study investigated the habitat use of two common cryptobenthic gobies in the Caribbean and found that depth, host species, and host-colony size were influential factors in determining their distributions.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Angela Randazzo-Eisemann, Joaquin Rodrigo Garza-Perez, Baruch Figueroa-Zavala
Summary: The study found that coral diseases outbreaks, along with the effects of coastal development and thermal stressors, have significantly decreased the coverage and abundance of major reef-building corals in the Akumal reef over the past two decades, shifting the dominant species to non-framework weedy life history strategies.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Catherine E. E. Sheppard, Gareth J. J. Williams, Dan A. A. Exton, Sally A. A. Keith
Summary: Biodiversity loss is negatively impacting ecosystem functions and services globally. This study focuses on the importance of co-occurrence of different functional groups in addition to functional diversity for the coral reef benthic state. The results suggest that protecting specific herbivorous fish functional groups is crucial for promoting coral accretion.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Miriam Reverter, Stephanie B. Helber, Sven Rohde, Jasper M. de Goeij, Peter J. Schupp
Summary: Non-random community changes are becoming more frequent in many ecosystems, with coral reefs experiencing shifts towards communities dominated by other than hard corals. Despite the existence of various alternative communities, knowledge remains scattered on the global diversity and functioning of alternative coral reef benthic communities.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Don R. Levitan, Rachael M. Best, Peter J. Edmunds
Summary: In 1983-1984, a mass mortality event led to a significant population reduction of Diadema antillarum, which caused algae blooms and devastation of coral populations in the Caribbean. Limited recovery was observed, but in 2022, a second mass mortality event occurred. Analysis of sea urchin populations from St. John, US Virgin Islands, revealed a 98.00% reduction compared to 2021 and a 99.96% reduction compared to 1983. This mortality event eliminated algal-free halos, increasing the risk of coral-free communities.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Deborah L. Santavy, Susan K. Jackson, Benjamin Jessup, Jeroen Gerritsen, Caroline Rogers, William S. Fisher, Ernesto Weil, Alina Szmant, David Cuevas-Miranda, Brian K. Walker, Christopher Jeffrey, Patricia Bradley, David Ballantine, Loretta Roberson, Hector Ruiz-Torres, Brandi Todd, Tyler Smith, Randy Clark, Ernesto Diaz, Jorge Bauza-Ortega, Christina Horstmann, Sandy Raimondo
Summary: With the decline in coral reef condition worldwide, it is important to understand and communicate the response of coral reefs to management actions, environmental contamination, and natural disasters. A narrative model has been developed to evaluate the condition of coral reefs and detect changes using narrative descriptions. The model can be used to assess actions that affect coral reef ecosystems and develop management plans.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Mark T. Gibbs, Maxine Newlands
Summary: The allocation and management of spatially-bound property rights is crucial in natural resource management, especially in high-income countries. The rapid expansion of coral reef restoration activities globally requires adaptation of management regimes, which may clash with traditional approaches in low-income nations hosting coral reefs. Communities must carefully consider how to manage increasing activities in order to avoid unintended consequences of western governance and management instruments.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kayla Cayemitte, Nadege Aoki, Sophie R. Ferguson, T. Aran Mooney, Amy Apprill
Summary: The settlement of coral larvae is crucial for the success and longevity of coral reefs. However, the proliferation of Ramicrusta sp., a red-brown encrusting alga, poses a serious threat to coral recruitment by overgrowing corals and causing high mortality rates in larvae compared to crustose coralline algae (CCA) and control groups.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Hillary A. Smith, Stella E. Fulton, Ian M. Mcleod, Cathie A. Page, David G. Bourne
Summary: Manual removal of macroalgae can promote the recovery of inshore coral reefs and improve the composition of benthic reef organisms.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jennifer E. Mallon, Alyssa M. Demko, Jennifer M. Sneed, Lilyana Newman, Carle Dugan, Andrew H. Altieri, Valerie Jean Paul, Maggie D. Johnson
Summary: Deoxygenation poses a major threat to coral reefs, causing catastrophic effects such as mass coral mortality. Different coral species have different tolerances to reduced dissolved oxygen concentrations, with some species surviving only a few days while others can tolerate deoxygenation for weeks. This study found that severe deoxygenation had a significant negative impact on recruit survivorship in certain coral species, highlighting the importance of considering species-specific variations in deoxygenation tolerance during reef conservation and restoration efforts.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jimmy Arguelles-Jimenez, Fabian A. Rodriguez-Zaragoza, Carlos Gonzalez-Gandara, Jorge C. Alva-Basurto, Jesus E. Arias-Gonzalez, Roberto Hernandez-Landa, Alfonso Aguilar-Perera, Yuri B. Okolodkov, Ana Lilia Gutierrez-Velazquez, Manuel J. Zetina-Rejon, Robert Ulanowicz, Horacio Perez-Espana
Summary: This study investigated the geomorphology of a set of coral reefs in the Greater Caribbean, revealing a gradient of maturity in coral reef functional developmental states (FDS) that can be described through trophic networks and topological indices. The results showed that energy flow control increases with maturity and complexity of geomorphological and physical structures, while betweenness centrality, number of connections, and predator-prey interactions decrease with functional maturity.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)