Article
Environmental Sciences
Cameron Do, Georgia Elizabeth Saunders, Yuriy Kuleshov
Summary: This study attempts to expand the methodology of tropical cyclone risk assessment by focusing on coral reefs and to understand the risk to Australia's natural environment. The study found that the northern Ningaloo Reef and southern Great Barrier Reef regions had the highest risk values. However, the limitations in data quality mean that these results are only estimates at best.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Elisa Lahcene, Anawat Suppasri, Kwanchai Pakoksung, Fumihiko Imamura
Summary: The impact of tsunamis on coral reefs is investigated using the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami as a case study. The study reproduces tsunami hydrodynamic characteristics and develops fragility curves for the impacted coral reefs in the Maldives. A vulnerability map of Male City and its surrounding Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is presented.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Melita Samoilys, Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip, Robert Myers, Pascale Chabanet
Summary: Communities of coral reef fishes are changing due to global warming and overfishing. To understand these changes and inform conservation, knowledge of species diversity and distributions is needed. The western Indian Ocean (WIO) contains the second highest coral reef biodiversity hotspot globally, yet a detailed analysis of the diversity of coral reef fishes is lacking. This study developed a timed visual census method and recorded 356 species from 19 families across four countries in the WIO to examine patterns in species diversity.
Article
Environmental Sciences
F. M. Mendrik, T. B. Henry, H. Burdett, C. R. Hackney, C. Waller, D. R. Parsons, S. J. Hennige
Summary: The study found that the impact of microplastic on corals depends on the type of microplastic, coral species, and temperature. Microplastic fibers reduced the photosynthetic capability of Acropora sp., while exposure to microplastic spheres significantly improved photosynthetic performance in Seriatopora hystrix.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Sara E. Cannon, Simon D. Donner, Angela Liu, Pedro Gonzalez C. Espinosa, Andrew H. Baird, Julia K. Baum, Andrew G. Bauman, Maria Beger, Cassandra E. Benkwitt, Matthew J. Birt, Yannick Chancerelle, Joshua E. Cinner, Nicole L. Crane, Vianney Denis, Martial Depczynski, Nur Fadli, Douglas Fenner, Christopher J. Fulton, Yimnang Golbuu, Nicholas A. J. Graham, James Guest, Hugo B. Harrison, Jean-Paul A. Hobbs, Andrew S. Hoey, Thomas H. Holmes, Peter Houk, Fraser A. Januchowski-Hartley, Jamaluddin Jompa, Chao-Yang Kuo, Gino Valentino Limmon, Yuting V. Lin, Timothy R. McClanahan, Dominic Muenzel, Michelle J. Paddack, Serge Planes, Morgan S. Pratchett, Ben Radford, James Davis Reimer, Zoe T. Richards, Claire L. Ross, John Rulmal, Brigitte Sommer, Gareth J. Williams, Shaun K. Wilson
Summary: Scientists and managers often assume a positive relationship between local human disturbance and macroalgae on coral reefs, but this study finds that specific macroalgae taxa may respond differently to human disturbance. By examining genus-level monitoring data, the study reveals that no genera were positively correlated with all human disturbance metrics, highlighting the need to consider specific algae divisions or genera in assessments. The convention of using macroalgae percent cover as an indicator of local human disturbance may overlook important signatures of anthropogenic threats to reefs.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kalyan De, Sabyasachi Sautya, Santosh Gaikwad, Aditi Mitra, Mandar Nanajkar
Summary: This study evaluates the accumulation, origin, and fate of marine debris in the intertidal coral habitats of Mumbai, India. The results indicate that marine debris pollution poses a threat to coastal coral communities, and adopting integrated coastal zone management methods and policy frameworks can help mitigate the impact of debris in coastal environments.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lauren T. Toth, Travis A. Courtney, Michael A. Colella, Rob R. Ruzicka
Summary: SCTLD has had an unprecedented impact on the western Atlantic coral-reef ecosystems, causing a decline in reef-accretion potential and altering the composition of coral assemblages. The loss of reef-building corals has significantly decreased carbonate production, leading to a decline in their capacity for growth.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
K. U. D. N. Hansani, E. P. D. N. Thilakarathne, J. Bimali Koongolla, W. G. I. T. Gunathilaka, B. G. D. O. Perera, W. M. P. U. Weerasingha, K. P. U. T. Egodauyana
Summary: This study investigated the abundance, distribution, and characteristics of microplastics in ten coral reef ecosystems in Sri Lanka, revealing their potential threat to the ecosystems. The average abundance of microplastics in corals, water, and sediments were 546.7 items/kg, 9.8 items/m³, and 46.3 items/kg respectively, with blue LDPE fibres being the dominant type. Corals showed the highest amount of microplastics.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Valentine Meunier, Laura Geissler, Sophie Bonnet, Nils Raedecker, Gabriela Perna, Olivier Grosso, Christophe Lambert, Riccardo Rodolfo-Metalpa, Christian R. Voolstra, Fanny Houlbreque
Summary: The study revealed that corals adapt to high CO2 conditions by modifying their nitrogen assimilation pathways and increasing feeding on nitrogen-rich picoplankton. This flexible adaptation may help corals cope better in a high pCO2 world.
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Philip M. Gravinese, Alex Douwes, Katherine R. Eaton, Erinn M. Muller
Summary: Global coastal waters have seen a 10% decline in oxygen concentrations since the mid-twentieth century, with ocean warming expected to worsen this trend. Research on the reef-building coral, Orbicella faveolata, showed that hypoxia and elevated temperature led to reduced oxygen consumption, with simultaneous exposure resulting in a significant decrease. This suggests that increased temperature may intensify the negative impacts of hypoxia on O. faveolata.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alex S. J. Wyatt, James J. Leichter, Libe Washburn, Li Kui, Peter J. Edmunds, Scott C. Burgess
Summary: Marine heatwaves hidden beneath the surface, induced by ocean eddies and internal waves, pose a threat to coastal ecosystems by causing unexpected heating and severe coral bleaching and mortality. Previous assessments of marine heatwaves (MHWs) have mainly relied on sea-surface temperature data, without considering heating across ecosystem depths. This study used a unique combination of satellite data, high-resolution in-situ temperature measurements, and sea level anomalies to reveal subsurface MHWs that were paradoxical compared to surface temperature metrics and associated with unexpected coral bleaching.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Florita Flores, Joseane A. Marques, Sven Uthicke, Rebecca Fisher, Frances Patel, Sarit Kaserzon, Andrew P. Negri
Summary: This study found that the Great Barrier Reef is negatively impacted by the combined effects of the contaminant diuron and climate change, particularly affecting the physiological responses of corals, with photosynthesis being significantly affected. It suggests that water quality guideline values may need to be adjusted as climate conditions change.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Antoine Saint-Amand, Jonathan Lambrechts, Christopher J. Thomas, Emmanuel Hanert
Summary: This study assesses the sensitivity of a coastal ocean model's outputs to its spatial resolution when simulating water circulation in the Great Barrier Reef. The results show that coarse-resolution models overestimate current velocity over reefs and underestimate it between reefs. The findings suggest that ocean models for coral reef environments should use finer resolutions than the reef scale to accurately simulate circulation and transport processes.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Cheryl A. Logan, John P. Dunne, James S. Ryan, Marissa L. Baskett, Simon D. Donner
Summary: The study examines the role of algal symbiont shuffling and evolution in coral resilience to global warming and ocean acidification, highlighting that shuffling is more effective than evolution. It also reveals global vulnerability patterns due to the interaction of warming rate and adaptive capacity, emphasizing the importance of considering species' ability to adaptively respond to climate change in conservation decisions.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rachel Alderdice, Gabriela Perna, Anny Cardenas, Benjamin C. C. Hume, Martin Wolf, Michael Kuehl, Mathieu Pernice, David J. Suggett, Christian R. Voolstra
Summary: Exposure to deoxygenation from climate warming and pollution can lower the thermal limit of corals and make them more vulnerable to bleaching under heat stress. It is important to integrate dissolved O-2 measurements into global monitoring programs of coral reefs.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Daniel R. David, Dirk P. Rijnsdorp, Jeff E. Hansen, Ryan J. Lowe, Mark L. Buckley
Summary: This paper compares the predictions of coastal wave farm impacts from a wave-averaged model and a wave-resolving model. The results show that both models predict the largest impacts for large and dense wave farms located close to the shore, and the smallest impacts for small and widely spaced farms at a greater offshore distance. However, the wave-resolving model generally predicts slightly larger impacts, and coupling the wave-averaged model to a flow model results in more realistic downstream predictions than using the wave-averaged model alone.
Article
Oceanography
C. M. Grimaldi, R. J. Lowe, J. A. Benthuysen, R. H. Green, J. Reyns, H. Kernkamp, J. Gilmour
Summary: Waves and tides are the primary driving forces of hydrodynamic processes in coral reefs, and their interactions control the circulation of reefs. The morphology of the reef plays a key role in determining the relative importance of waves and tides. Over longer time scales, tides dominate the reef circulation, but on shorter time scales, wave processes episodically dominate.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nery Contti Neto, Andrew Pomeroy, Ryan Lowe, Marco Ghisalberti
Summary: Seagrass meadows play an important role in global primary production and can significantly alter near-bed hydrodynamics and sediment transport. This study investigates how a seagrass meadow in a low-energy environment modifies near-bed flows and relates to suspended sediment concentration. The results show that near-bed flow velocities within the seagrass canopy are lower and wave velocities are less attenuated compared to above the canopy. A significant correlation is observed between suspended sediment concentration and bed shear stress estimated using near-bed velocities. This study highlights the importance of directly measuring near-bed hydrodynamic processes within seagrass canopies.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Limnology
Camille M. Grimaldi, Ryan J. Lowe, Jessica A. Benthuysen, Michael V. W. Cuttler, Rebecca H. Green, Ben Radford, Nicole Ryan, James Gilmour
Summary: Accurate representation of physical and biological processes is crucial for understanding larval dispersal pathways and connectivity in coral reefs. A study in Mermaid Reef, Australia, reveals that hydrodynamic forcings greatly affect larval retention rates. Wave and tidal currents play a significant role in larval transport within the reef, while extreme hydrodynamic conditions caused by tropical cyclones can generate different connectivity pathways.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Oceanography
Mark L. Buckley, Ryan J. Lowe, Jeff E. Hansen, Ap R. van Dongeren, Andrew Pomeroy, Curt D. Storlazzi, Dirk P. Rijnsdorp, Renan F. da Silva, Stephanie Contardo, Rebecca H. Green
Summary: Wave breaking on steep fore-reef slopes can dissipate incident waves, but wave setup and infragravity waves contribute to wave-driven water levels. Laboratory experiments and numerical models show that fore-reef slope controls wave runup on reef-fronted beaches, while beach slope controls wave runup on plane beaches. The presence of tall roughness elements on reef flats can significantly reduce wave runup.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
(2022)
Article
Oceanography
Stephanie Contardo, Ryan J. Lowe, Francois Dufois, Jeffe Hansen, Mark Buckley, Graham Symonds
Summary: Long waves are important for coastal inundation and erosion, and understanding their evolution in nearshore regions is crucial. A new approach that accounts for partial reflections in wave propagation has been proposed, which provides an analytical solution for the free wave linear shallow-water equations. The approach is supported by numerical modeling and extends the classic solution to arbitrary bathymetry profiles, decomposing it into incoming and outgoing wave components. The model predicts a reflection coefficient that is correlated with the bed slope, revealing the dependence of wave amplitudes on partial reflections.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
M. Conde-Frias, M. Ghisalberti, R. J. Lowe, M. Abdolahpour, V. Etminan
Summary: This study investigates the near-bed mean and turbulent flow properties within aquatic vegetation and finds that vegetation density strongly influences the thickness of the bottom boundary layer (BBL) and bed shear stress. A model based on near-bed turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is developed to predict the BBL thickness and bed shear stress.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alex S. J. Wyatt, James J. Leichter, Libe Washburn, Li Kui, Peter J. Edmunds, Scott C. Burgess
Summary: Marine heatwaves hidden beneath the surface, induced by ocean eddies and internal waves, pose a threat to coastal ecosystems by causing unexpected heating and severe coral bleaching and mortality. Previous assessments of marine heatwaves (MHWs) have mainly relied on sea-surface temperature data, without considering heating across ecosystem depths. This study used a unique combination of satellite data, high-resolution in-situ temperature measurements, and sea level anomalies to reveal subsurface MHWs that were paradoxical compared to surface temperature metrics and associated with unexpected coral bleaching.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Paula J. Cartwright, Nicola K. Browne, David Belton, Iain Parnum, Michael O'Leary, Jurgen Valckenaere, Peter Fearns, Ryan Lowe
Summary: Globally, coral reefs are facing threats, such as degradation and algal dominance, due to marine heatwaves and other disturbance events. Marginal coral reefs in extreme environments, like turbid water reefs, may be more resilient and provide insights into future reefs under climate change. This study examined benthic habitats in the Exmouth Gulf region of north Western Australia to understand the influence of environmental drivers, such as turbidity and temperature, on benthic communities and coral morphology. The results showed that long-term turbidity and temperature variability were connected to macroalgal colonization, while coral cover was negatively associated with temperature variability and positively associated with depth and wave power. Coral morphology diversity was positively associated with turbidity. Moderate turbidity appeared to raise the threshold for coral bleaching and macroalgal dominance, while regions with higher temperature variability had already reached this threshold. The least turbid and temperature variable region experienced severe coral bleaching from a recent heatwave, suggesting that moderate levels of these variables may confer resilience to coral reefs.
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
C. M. Grimaldi, R. J. Lowe, J. A. Benthuysen, M. V. W. Cuttler, R. H. Green, J. P. Gilmour
Summary: This study examines the role of surface and advective heat fluxes in driving spatial patterns of temperature variability within a coral reef atoll. It shows that advection of heat is dominant across all sites and surface heating is more important in shallow areas or areas of low net exchange. Tidal flows contribute to short term variability in heat transport, while wave-driven advection has a significant influence on persistent temperature anomalies over longer timescales.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Graeme S. Cumming, Maja Adamska, Michele L. Barnes, Jon Barnett, David R. Bellwood, Joshua E. Cinner, Philippa J. Cohen, Jennifer M. Donelson, Katharina Fabricius, R. Quentin Grafton, Alana Grech, Georgina G. Gurney, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Andrew S. Hoey, Mia O. Hoogenboom, Jacqueline Lau, Catherine E. Lovelock, Ryan Lowe, David J. Miller, Tiffany H. Morrison, Peter J. Mumby, Martin Nakata, John M. Pandolfi, Garry D. Peterson, Morgan S. Pratchett, Timothy Ravasi, Cynthia Riginos, Jodie L. Rummer, Britta Schaffelke, Thomas Wernberg, Shaun K. Wilson
Summary: SDG 14 aims to secure marine sustainability by 2030, and understanding the changing seascape, global actions, and the collaboration between science and society are vital for achieving this goal in the Asia-Pacific region. Through a horizon scan, researchers identified nine emerging research priorities that can contribute to marine sustainability, including understanding seascape evolution, drivers of change, and the costs and benefits to people. Researchers can contribute by developing interdisciplinary understandings, emphasizing equity and justice, and improving knowledge of cross-scale processes.
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Oceanography
Renan F. da Silva, Jeff E. Hansen, Ryan J. Lowe, Dirk P. Rijnsdorp, Mark L. Buckley
Summary: Nearshore rocky reefs of 10-100 m scale commonly exist along coastlines worldwide and have significant influences on wave-driven hydrodynamics and shoreline morphology. The interaction between waves and these reefs leads to either two or four-cell mean circulation systems (2CC and 4CC), characterized by diverging or converging flows at the shoreline. Through analyzing wave-flow dynamics using a phase-resolving model, we found that the 2CC or 4CC patterns are primarily driven by alongshore pressure gradients towards the exposed or reef-fronted beach. Reef roughness, distance to the shoreline, and beach slope were identified as the key parameters affecting the transition between 2CC and 4CC flow patterns.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Carly E. Portch, Michael V. W. Cuttler, Mark L. Buckley, Jeff E. Hansen, Ryan J. Lowe
Summary: This study aims to provide a method for quantifying the relationship between beach slope and wave runup and inundation, as well as the impact of different hydrodynamic mechanisms on runup under different beach states. Through an 8-month field study on a beach in southwestern Australia, an approximately linear relationship between inundation and runup was identified by considering beach slope. It was found that swash dominated runup in the infragravity band when the beach was accreted, while setup dominated runup when the beach was exposed.
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
M. Soondur, R. Boojhawon, R. Lowe, D. Kaullysing, B. E. Casareto, Y. Suzuki, R. Bhagooli
Summary: This study investigates the effects of rainfall-driven nutrient loading on the microphytoplankton dynamics in the shallow water at Trou aux Biches lagoon on the northwest coast of Mauritius. The findings show that rainfall events led to an increase in microphytoplankton density and estimated productivity, and a change in its diversity.
AFRICAN JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Todd S. Bridges, Jane McKee Smith, Jeffrey K. King, Jonathan D. Simm, Maria Dillard, Jurre deVries, Denise Reed, Candice D. Piercy, Boris van Zanten, Katie Arkema, Todd Swannack, Harry de Looff, Quirijn Lodder, Claire Jeuken, Nigel Ponte, Joseph Z. Gailani, Paula Whitfield, Enda Murphy, Ryan J. Lowe, Elizabeth McLeod, Safra Altman, Colette Cairns, Burton C. Suedel, Larissa A. Naylor
Summary: Natural and nature-based features (NNBF) play a significant role in coastal protection, and their application has increased in recent years. The International Guidelines provide comprehensive guidance for the use, design, and implementation of different types of NNBF, as well as principles and management approaches.
FRONTIERS IN BUILT ENVIRONMENT
(2022)