Article
Environmental Sciences
Lara Talavera, Ana Vila-Concejo, Jody M. Webster, Courtney Smith, Stephanie Duce, Thomas E. Fellowes, Tristan Salles, Daniel Harris, Jon Hill, Will Figueira, Jorg Hacker
Summary: Rubble islands are dynamic sedimentary features on reef platforms, providing valuable land for small island nations and critical habitat for species, but facing threats from climate change. The evolution of One Tree Island (OTI) is influenced by factors such as cyclone activity, El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases, and mechanisms involving sediment transport and wave overtopping. Further research is needed to understand the future trajectory of OTI and other rubble islands under climate change scenarios.
Article
Limnology
Tania M. M. Kenyon, Christopher Doropoulos, Kennedy Wolfe, Gregory E. E. Webb, Sophie Dove, Daniel Harris, Peter J. J. Mumby
Summary: This article reviews the dynamics of rubble beds on coral reefs, with a focus on the changes expected in the generation, mobilization, binding, and coral recruitment of rubble on future reefs. It predicts that major disturbances, such as storms and coral bleaching, will increase in intensity and frequency, leading to larger quantities of coral rubble. With smaller recovery windows and increased bioerosion, smaller and less complex rubble pieces will be generated more often. The time available for binding will be reduced, and changing ocean chemistry may affect the efficacy of binders. Ultimately, increased rubble cover will negatively impact coral recruitment into rubble beds.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Juliano Morais, Renato Morais, Sterling B. Tebbett, David R. Bellwood
Summary: This study tracked the fate of 143 dead coral colonies with complex growth forms triggered by consecutive bleaching events. The results revealed rapid erosion of dead coral colonies, with an average of 79.7% completely disintegrating within 60 months. Surprisingly, factors such as bioerosion and wave exposure did not affect the observed erosion rates.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Kate M. Fraser, Rick D. Stuart-Smith, Scott D. Ling, Graham J. Edgar
Summary: The study revealed significant differences in assemblages of motile epifaunal invertebrates between live coral and turf-covered dead coral habitats, with dead coral supporting higher density, biomass, and productivity. Turf-covered dead coral had greater abundances of small animals, while live coral had proportionally greater abundances of larger decapods.
Review
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Kennedy Wolfe, Tania M. Kenyon, Peter J. Mumby
Summary: The structural complexity provided by living coral reefs is essential for the rich biodiversity found in these ecosystems. However, habitat degradation from live coral to rubble reefs can also support a diverse range of reef organisms with important roles in ecosystem functioning. Future research into rubble communities may help enhance our understanding of their current contribution to reef functioning and their ability to mitigate future impacts as coral framework erosion increases.
Article
Agronomy
Luis Enrique Chavarin-Gomez, Pedro Torres-Enciso, Paola Andrea Palmeros-Suarez, Ricardo Ramirez-Romero
Summary: This study investigates the foraging behavior of the parasitoid Eretmocerus eremicus in relation to the number of hosts and the risk of predation. The results show that the number of hosts has a significant impact on the parasitoid's behavior, while the risk of predation has a relatively smaller effect.
PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Geology
Tara R. Clark, George Roff, Tess Chapman, Hannah Markham-Summers, Nicholas M. Hammerman, Faye Liu, Yuexing Feng, John M. Pandolfi, Jian-xin Zhao
Summary: The overall status of many reefs in the Great Barrier Reef is uncertain due to the lack of detailed broad-scale studies. The relative role of various threats in impacting individual reefs is generally unclear. A novel approach using uranium-thorium dating of dead corals was adopted to reconstruct historical disturbance events at Rib and Davies Reefs, providing a reliable benchmark to assess recovery and monitor coral communities effectively.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yaniv Shmuel, Yaron Ziv, Baruch Rinkevich
Summary: This study found that Trapeziidae crabs feed on coral tissue and mucus, and also prey on demersal plankton in coral reefs. The results suggest that these crabs play a role as planktivorous reef organisms, and further research on their feeding habits and potential impacts on demersal plankton dynamics in coral reefs is needed.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Limnology
Manoela Romano de Orte, David A. Koweek, Tyler Cyronak, Yuichiro Takeshita, Alyssa Griffin, Kennedy Wolfe, Alina Szmant, Robert Whitehead, Rebecca Albright, Ken Caldeira
Summary: Global and local anthropogenic stressors are expected to shift coral reef benthic community composition from calcifying organisms to non-calcifying algae, affecting coral reef ecosystem calcification. Field experiments showed that live coral and dead coral substrate communities have similar calcification rates in the daytime, but the dead coral substrate communities experienced carbonate dissolution at night. This could lead to large daily cycling of calcium carbonate without long-term accumulation needed to sustain the reef.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Limnology
Ana Molina-Hernandez, Francisco Medellin-Maldonado, Ines D. Lange, Chris T. Perry, Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip
Summary: The study analyzed the rates of external erosion on different types of carbonate substrates under in situ conditions and found significant erosion on recently dead coral colonies. The research provides new insights into how and at what rates external carbonate erosion is shaping contemporary reefs at fine spatial and temporal scales.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ewa Merz, Marcelo V. Kitahara, Augusto A. V. Flores
Summary: Fast-growing and reproducing sun corals have invaded rocky reefs in the Atlantic Ocean, reducing the diversity of fouling invertebrates and macroalgae. They also change the composition of reef-associated mobile invertebrates. Researchers found that soft-bottom invertebrate communities were more abundant, diverse, and rich in coral rubble habitats compared to bare sandy grounds. The dominance of sun corals in the rubble patches had additive effects on community structure.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Denise D. Colombano, Thomas B. Handley, Teejay A. O'Rear, John R. Durand, Peter B. Moyle
Summary: Research in the San Francisco Estuary, CA, USA, has shown that factors such as channel depth, microhabitat, and tides influence fish abundance, while different feeding guilds overlap in space and time. During tidal flooding, fish are predicted to have high gut fullness in subtidal channels, after which they intensively feed throughout the marsh ecosystem.
ESTUARIES AND COASTS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Abigail Engleman, Kieran Cox, Sandra Brooke
Summary: The study highlights the contribution of dead coral to reef complexity and the potential implications for coral reef conservation. Dead coral maintains more varied profile curvatures and higher fractal dimensions compared to live or non-coral substrate, providing alternative insights into the mechanisms driving structural complexity on reefs.
Article
Limnology
Gemma F. Galbraith, Benjamin J. Cresswell, Mark I. McCormick, Geoffrey P. Jones
Summary: Hydrodynamic processes play a crucial role in marine environments and coral reefs, influencing patterns of habitat zonation, community structure, and biodiversity. This study focused on comparing fish communities among different reef types in Papua New Guinea, finding that submerged pinnacle reefs had higher fish biomass, abundance, and species richness compared to fringing and offshore emergent reefs. The study also highlighted the significant influence of reef-scale hydrodynamics, particularly average current speed, current speed variability, and reef area, on fish biodiversity. These findings emphasize the ecological importance of small, submerged coral reefs that are often overlooked in coral reef ecology.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Fisheries
Jake R. Lowe, Garry R. Russ, Abner A. Bucol, Rene A. Abesamis, John H. Choat
Summary: The study investigated reproductive ontogeny patterns in four species of coral reef wrasses and found that there were differences in sexual ontogenies influenced by various factors including geographical locations, fishing pressure, and environmental conditions.
JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Michael J. Kramer, Orpha Bellwood, Christopher J. Fulton, David R. Bellwood
Article
Ecology
M. J. Kramer, O. Bellwood, D. R. Bellwood
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
(2016)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
M. J. Kramer, D. R. Bellwood, O. Bellwood
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
M. J. Kramer, O. Bellwood, D. R. Bellwood
Article
Fisheries
M. J. Kramer, D. R. Bellwood, O. Bellwood
MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH
(2013)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
M. J. Kramer, D. R. Bellwood, O. Bellwood
Article
Ecology
M. J. Kramer, D. R. Bellwood, O. Bellwood
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
(2014)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Michael J. Kramer, David R. Bellwood, Richard B. Taylor, Orpha Bellwood