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1
Baldock, Tom, and William Ginzo. "MORPHOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF A REEF-FRONTED BEACH TO SEA LEVEL RISE AND REEF DEGRADATION." Coastal Engineering Proceedings, no. 36v (December 28, 2020): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.9753/icce.v36v.sediment.1.
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The morphological response of reef-fronted beaches to sea level rise and reef degradation is investigated by physical modelling. Coral barrier and fringing reefs limit the wave energy reaching sandy beaches, providing protection to many communities worldwide (Ferrario et al., 2014). Sea level rise and loss of reef flat elevation through coral mortality are expected to alter water levels over such reefs in the future. Assessing the morphological response to these processes in the field is very difficult due to the timescale involved, and lack of data for current conditions. Numerical modelling of beach profile response is also poor, even for open coast sandy beaches, and there is limited work modelling of reef fronted beaches, although hydrodynamics can be modelled reasonably well (Buckley et al., 2014). Here, new experiments on beach response to rising water levels and reducing reef flat elevation without tides are presented and compared to a conceptual model that links total sediment transport to the wave height landward of the reef (Baldock et al., 2015). A summary of recent numerical modelling of 2D planform changes for the same scenario will also be presented.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/0ya0UH1Vpsk
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Gordon, Timothy A. C., Harry R. Harding, Kathryn E. Wong, Nathan D. Merchant, Mark G. Meekan, Mark I. McCormick, Andrew N. Radford, and Stephen D. Simpson. "Habitat degradation negatively affects auditory settlement behavior of coral reef fishes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 20 (April 30, 2018): 5193–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1719291115.
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Coral reefs are increasingly degraded by climate-induced bleaching and storm damage. Reef recovery relies on recruitment of young fishes for the replenishment of functionally important taxa. Acoustic cues guide the orientation, habitat selection, and settlement of many fishes, but these processes may be impaired if degradation alters reef soundscapes. Here, we report spatiotemporally matched evidence of soundscapes altered by degradation from recordings taken before and after recent severe damage on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Postdegradation soundscapes were an average of 15 dB re 1 µPa quieter and had significantly reduced acoustic complexity, richness, and rates of invertebrate snaps compared with their predegradation equivalents. We then used these matched recordings in complementary light-trap and patch-reef experiments to assess responses of wild fish larvae under natural conditions. We show that postdegradation soundscapes were 8% less attractive to presettlement larvae and resulted in 40% less settlement of juvenile fishes than predegradation soundscapes; postdegradation soundscapes were no more attractive than open-ocean sound. However, our experimental design does not allow an estimate of how much attraction and settlement to isolated postdegradation soundscapes might change compared with isolated predegradation soundscapes. Reductions in attraction and settlement were qualitatively similar across and within all trophic guilds and taxonomic groups analyzed. These patterns may lead to declines in fish populations, exacerbating degradation. Acoustic changes might therefore trigger a feedback loop that could impair reef resilience. To understand fully the recovery potential of coral reefs, we must learn to listen.
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Carvalho, Susana, Eva Aylagas, Rodrigo Villalobos, Yasser Kattan, Michael Berumen, and John K. Pearman. "Beyond the visual: using metabarcoding to characterize the hidden reef cryptobiome." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286, no. 1896 (February 13, 2019): 20182697. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2697.
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In an era of coral reef degradation, our knowledge of ecological patterns in reefs is biased towards large conspicuous organisms. The majority of biodiversity, however, inhabits small cryptic spaces within the framework of the reef. To assess this biodiverse community, which we term the ‘reef cryptobiome’, we deployed 87 autonomous reef monitoring structures (ARMS), on 22 reefs across 16 degrees latitude of the Red Sea. Combining ARMS with metabarcoding of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene, we reveal a rich community, including the identification of 14 metazoan phyla within 10 416 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). While mobile and sessile subsets were similarly structured along the basin, the main environmental driver was different (particulate organic matter and sea surface temperature, respectively). Distribution patterns of OTUs showed that only 1.5% were present in all reefs, while over half were present in a single reef. On both local and regional scales, the majority of OTUs were rare. The high heterogeneity in community patterns of the reef cryptobiome has implications for reef conservation. Understanding the biodiversity patterns of this critical component of reef functioning will enable a sound knowledge of how coral reefs will respond to future anthropogenic impacts.
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Lirman, Diego, and Stephanie Schopmeyer. "Ecological solutions to reef degradation: optimizing coral reef restoration in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic." PeerJ 4 (October 20, 2016): e2597. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2597.
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Reef restoration activities have proliferated in response to the need to mitigate coral declines and recover lost reef structure, function, and ecosystem services. Here, we describe the recent shift from costly and complex engineering solutions to recover degraded reef structure to more economical and efficient ecological approaches that focus on recovering the living components of reef communities. We review the adoption and expansion of the coral gardening framework in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic where practitioners now grow and outplant 10,000’s of corals onto degraded reefs each year. We detail the steps for establishing a gardening program as well as long-term goals and direct and indirect benefits of this approach in our region. With a strong scientific basis, coral gardening activities now contribute significantly to reef and species recovery, provide important scientific, education, and outreach opportunities, and offer alternate livelihoods to local stakeholders. While challenges still remain, the transition from engineering to ecological solutions for reef degradation has opened the field of coral reef restoration to a wider audience poised to contribute to reef conservation and recovery in regions where coral losses and recruitment bottlenecks hinder natural recovery.
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González-Gómez, Roberto, Patricia Briones-Fourzán, Lorenzo Álvarez-Filip, and Enrique Lozano-Álvarez. "Diversity and abundance of conspicuous macrocrustaceans on coral reefs differing in level of degradation." PeerJ 6 (June 11, 2018): e4922. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4922.
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Coral reefs sustain abundant and diverse macrocrustaceans that perform multiple ecological roles, but coral reefs are undergoing massive degradation that may be driving changes in the species composition and abundance of reef-associated macrocrustaceans. To provide insight into this issue, we used non-destructive visual census techniques to compare the diversity and abundance of conspicuous macrocrustaceans (i.e., those >1 cm and visible without disturbance) between two shallow Caribbean coral reefs similar in size (∼1.5 km in length) and close to each other, but one (“Limones”) characterized by extensive stands of the branching coral Acropora palmata, and the other (“Bonanza”) dominated by macroalgae and relic coral skeletons and rubble (i.e., degraded). We also assessed the structural complexity of each reef and the percent cover of various benthic community components. Given the type of growth of A. palmata, we expected to find a greater structural complexity, a higher cover of live coral, and a lower cover of macroalgae on Limones, and hence a more diverse and abundant macrocrustacean community on this reef compared with Bonanza. Overall, we identified 63 macrocrustacean species (61 Decapoda and two Stomatopoda). Contrary to our expectations, structural complexity did not differ significantly between the back-reef zones of these reefs but varied more broadly on Limones, and the diversity and abundance of macrocrustaceans were higher on Bonanza than on Limones despite live coral cover being higher on Limones and macroalgal cover higher on Bonanza. However, the use of various types of microhabitats by macrocrustaceans differed substantially between reefs. On both reefs, the dominant species were the clinging crab Mithraculus coryphe and the hermit crab Calcinus tibicen, but the former was more abundant on Bonanza and the latter on Limones. M. coryphe occupied a diverse array of microhabitats but mostly coral rubble and relic skeletons, whereas C. tibicen was often, but not always, found associated with colonies of Millepora spp. A small commensal crab of A. palmata, Domecia acanthophora, was far more abundant on Limones, emerging as the main discriminant species between reefs. Our results suggest that local diversity and abundance of reef-associated macrocrustaceans are partially modulated by habitat degradation, the diversity of microhabitat types, and the establishment of different commensal associations rather than by structural complexity alone.
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Rogers, Caroline S. "Coral Reef Resilience through Biodiversity." ISRN Oceanography 2013 (February 17, 2013): 1–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.5402/2013/739034.
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Irrefutable evidence of coral reef degradation worldwide and increasing pressure from rising seawater temperatures and ocean acidification associated with climate change have led to a focus on reef resilience and a call to “manage” coral reefs for resilience. Ideally, global action to reduce emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will be accompanied by local action. Effective management requires reduction of local stressors, identification of the characteristics of resilient reefs, and design of marine protected area networks that include potentially resilient reefs. Future research is needed on how stressors interact, on how climate change will affect corals, fish, and other reef organisms as well as overall biodiversity, and on basic ecological processes such as connectivity. Not all reef species and reefs will respond similarly to local and global stressors. Because reef-building corals and other organisms have some potential to adapt to environmental changes, coral reefs will likely persist in spite of the unprecedented combination of stressors currently affecting them. The biodiversity of coral reefs is the basis for their remarkable beauty and for the benefits they provide to society. The extraordinary complexity of these ecosystems makes it both more difficult to predict their future and more likely they will have a future.
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Chou, Loke Ming, Shu Qin Sam, Tai Chong Toh, and Chin Soon Lionel Ng. "THE RELEVANCE OF REEF RESTORATION IN THE CONTINUALLY CHANGING MARINE ENVIRONMENT OF SINGAPORE." Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ Biển 18, no. 3 (November 3, 2018): 278–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.15625/1859-3097/18/3/10801.
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Singapore’s marine environment has changed significantly over the past five decades through coastal modification and intense human activities. More than 60% of its coral reefs have been lost to land reclamation and the remaining reefs remain exposed to increased sedimentation. Reef restoration to address habitat loss and degradation is considered viable under the changing environmental conditions based on the persisting annual coral mass spawning events, active recruitment, high species diversity and recovery from mass bleaching impacts. These ecological attributes indicate that reef ecosystem integrity is still functioning and restoration measures are relevant. An analysis of past and ongoing restoration initiatives indicates their effectiveness in improving degraded reefs as well as establishing new reef communities on modified coasts.
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Putra, Singgih Afifa, Indra Ambalika Syari, Helmy Akbar, Iwan Suyatna, and Davin H. E. Setiamarga. "Human activities and persistent coral reef degradation in Gaspar Strait, Bangka Belitung Islands, Indonesia." F1000Research 7 (December 20, 2018): 1962. http://dx.doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.16519.1.
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Background: The aim of the study was to describe the coral reef condition in Bangka Belitung Islands, particularly from Gaspar Strait. This research location is well known for its underwater archaeological discovery and shipwreck sites. Recent increases in mining, fishing and tourism activities in the surrounding islands might have affected the condition of the coral reef. Methods: Nine islands inside the strait were visited (i.e. Langer, Kembung, Piling, Aur, Salma, Pongok, Celagen, Kelapan, and Lepar Island), and a line transect was used to observed coral reef conditions. Results: Coral cover was found to be predominantly in fair conditions (25-50%). Coral mortality index also tended to be high, which indicated that the coral reef ecosystem was in threatened conditions. Previous and recent reports also reported the same condition as found by this study. Conclusion: Degradation of the coral community in Bangka Belitung Islands is likely caused by human activities. This suggests that increasing human activities significantly affects the coral reef condition. Protection of coral reefs with sustainable management for mining activity, tourism and fishing practices are needed.
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Wang, Yu, Jinsheng Sun, Enjun Fang, Biao Guo, Yuanyuan Dai, Yan Gao, Hong Wang, et al. "Impact of artificial reefs on sediment bacterial structure and function in Bohai Bay." Canadian Journal of Microbiology 65, no. 3 (March 2019): 191–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjm-2018-0157.
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Artificial reefs have significantly altered ecological and environmental conditions compared with natural reefs, but how these changes affect sediment bacteria structure and function is unknown. Here, we compared the structure and function of the sediment bacterial community in the artificial reef area, the future artificial reef area, and the control area in Bohai Bay by 16S rRNA genes sequencing. Our results indicated that bacteria communities in the sediment were both taxonomically and functionally different between the reef area and control area. In the artificial reef area, the α-diversity was significantly lower, whereas the β-diversity was significantly higher. Functional genes related to chemo-heterotrophy, nitrate reduction, hydrocarbon degradation, and the human pathogens and human gut were more abundant, whereas genes related to the metabolism of sulfur compounds were less abundant in the artificial reef than in the control area. The differences in bacterial communities were primarily determined by depth in the artificial reef area, and by total organic carbon in the future reef area and control area. This study provides the first overview of molecular ecology to assess the impacts of artificial reefs on the bacteria community.
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Aronson, R. B. "Causes of Coral Reef Degradation." Science 302, no. 5650 (November 28, 2003): 1502b—1504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.302.5650.1502b.
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Büscher, Janina V., Max Wisshak, Armin U. Form, Jürgen Titschack, Kerstin Nachtigall, and Ulf Riebesell. "In situ growth and bioerosion rates of Lophelia pertusa in a Norwegian fjord and open shelf cold-water coral habitat." PeerJ 7 (September 24, 2019): e7586. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7586.
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Coral reef resilience depends on the balance between carbonate precipitation, leading to reef growth, and carbonate degradation, for example, through bioerosion. Changes in environmental conditions are likely to affect the two processes differently, thereby shifting the balance between reef growth and degradation. In cold-water corals estimates of accretion-erosion processes in their natural habitat are scarce and solely live coral growth rates were studied with regard to future environmental changes in the laboratory so far, limiting our ability to assess the potential of cold-water coral reef ecosystems to cope with environmental changes. In the present study, growth rates of the two predominant colour morphotypes of live Lophelia pertusa as well as bioerosion rates of dead coral framework were assessed in different environmental settings in Norwegian cold-water coral reefs in a 1-year in situ experiment. Net growth (in weight gain and linear extension) of live L. pertusa was in the lower range of previous estimates and did not significantly differ between inshore (fjord) and offshore (open shelf) habitats. However, slightly higher net growth rates were obtained inshore. Bioerosion rates were significantly higher on-reef in the fjord compared to off-reef deployments in- and offshore. Besides, on-reef coral fragments yielded a broader range of individual growth and bioerosion rates, indicating higher turnover in live reef structures than off-reef with regard to accretion–bioerosion processes. Moreover, if the higher variation in growth rates represents a greater variance in (genetic) adaptations to natural environmental variability in the fjord, inshore reefs could possibly benefit under future ocean change compared to offshore reefs. Although not significantly different due to high variances between replicates, growth rates of orange branches were consistently higher at all sites, while mortality was statistically significantly lower, potentially indicating higher stress-resistance than the less pigmented white phenotype. Comparing the here measured rates of net accretion of live corals (regardless of colour morphotype) with net erosion of dead coral framework gives a first estimate of the dimensions of both processes in natural cold-water coral habitats, indicating that calcium carbonate loss through bioerosion amounts to one fifth to one sixth of the production rates by coral calcification (disregarding accretion processes of other organisms and proportion of live and dead coral framework in a reef). With regard to likely accelerating bioerosion and diminishing growth rates of corals under ocean acidification, the balance of reef accretion and degradation may be shifted towards higher biogenic dissolution in the future.
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Zeng, X., KR Tanaka, M. Mazur, K. Wang, Y. Chen, and S. Zhang. "Effects of habitat on reef fishes biodiversity and composition in rocky reefs." Aquatic Biology 29 (October 22, 2020): 137–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/ab00731.
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Reef fish are highly valuable to human society—socially, nutritionally and economically. However, they are vulnerable to both overfishing and habitat degradation. Understanding the community structure and habitat associations of reef fish is important for their management and conservation. Using a gillnet survey conducted in a subtropical rocky reef area of Ma’an Archipelago, China, we developed habitat models linking reef fish diversity and community composition with habitat factors. The parsimonious generalized additive model results showed that higher reef fish diversity was associated with southern shallower water, temperature of 25°C, lower levels of dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a, and rock bottom type. The multivariate generalized linear model identified that month, depth, bottom type, and location significantly influenced the local reef fish; these habitat variables explained 18% of the variation in reef fish community composition. However, the lack of strong patterns and correlations between species derived from the joint species distribution model revealed that reefs within our study area are difficult to classify based on habitat-driven patterns in their associated reef fish assemblages. These findings enhance our understanding of the habitat effects on reef fish diversity and community composition and have relevance for the management of reef fish, including habitat zonation and deployment of artificial reefs.
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Martinez, AS, LF Mendes, and TS Leite. "Spatial distribution of epibenthic molluscs on a sandstone reef in the Northeast of Brazil." Brazilian Journal of Biology 72, no. 2 (May 2012): 287–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1519-69842012000200009.
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The present study investigated the distribution and abundance of epibenthic molluscs and their feeding habits associated to substrate features (coverage and rugosity) in a sandstone reef system in the Northeast of Brazil. Rugosity, low coral cover and high coverage of zoanthids and fleshy alga were the variables that influenced a low richness and high abundance of a few molluscan species in the reef habitat. The most abundant species were generalist carnivores, probably associated to a lesser offer and variability of resources in this type of reef system, when compared to the coral reefs. The results found in this study could reflect a normal characteristic of the molluscan community distribution in sandstone reefs, with low coral cover, or could indicate a degradation state of this habitat if it is compared to coral reefs, once that the significantly high coverage of fleshy alga has been recognized as a negative indicator of reef ecosystems health.
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de Lalouvière, Claude la Hausse, Vicente Gracia, Joan Pau Sierra, Jue Lin-Ye, and Manuel García-León. "Impact of Climate Change on Nearshore Waves at a Beach Protected by a Barrier Reef." Water 12, no. 6 (June 12, 2020): 1681. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w12061681.
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Barrier reefs dissipate most incoming wind-generated waves and, as a consequence, regulate the morphodynamics of its inbounded shorelines. The coastal protective capacity of reefs may nevertheless be compromised by climate change effects, such as reef degradation and sea-level rise. To assess the magnitude of these climate change effects, an analysis of the waves propagating across the barrier reef is carried out in Flic-en-Flac beach, Mauritius, based on scenarios of future sea levels and predicted coral reef condition. In the study, both the mean wave climate and extreme event conditions are considered. The results show that lower coral structure complexity jointly with higher water levels allow for higher waves to pass over the reef and, therefore, to reach the shoreline. In addition, modeling for cyclonic conditions showed that nearshore waves would also increase in height, which could lead to major coastal morphodynamic changes. Measures aimed at preserving the coral reef may allow the system to accommodate for the gradual climatic changes forecasted while keeping its coastal protective function.
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Beatty, Deanna S., Jinu Mathew Valayil, Cody S. Clements, Kim B. Ritchie, Frank J. Stewart, and Mark E. Hay. "Variable effects of local management on coral defenses against a thermally regulated bleaching pathogen." Science Advances 5, no. 10 (October 2019): eaay1048. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aay1048.
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Bleaching and disease are decimating coral reefs especially when warming promotes bleaching pathogens, such as Vibrio coralliilyticus. We demonstrate that sterilized washes from three common corals suppress V. coralliilyticus but that this defense is compromised when assays are run at higher temperatures. For a coral within the ecologically critical genus Acropora, inhibition was 75 to 154% greater among colonies from coral-dominated marine protected areas versus adjacent fished areas that were macroalgae-dominated. Acropora microbiomes were more variable within fished areas, suggesting that reef degradation may also perturb coral microbial communities. Defenses of a robust poritid coral and a weedy pocilloporid coral were not affected by reef degradation, and microbiomes were unaltered for these species. For some ecologically critical, but bleaching-susceptible, corals such as Acropora, local management to improve reef state may bolster coral resistance to global change, such as bacteria-induced coral bleaching during warming events.
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Chiarello, Marlène, Jean-Christophe Auguet, Nicholas A. J. Graham, Thomas Claverie, Elliott Sucré, Corinne Bouvier, Fabien Rieuvilleneuve, et al. "Exceptional but vulnerable microbial diversity in coral reef animal surface microbiomes." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287, no. 1927 (May 13, 2020): 20200642. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0642.
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Coral reefs host hundreds of thousands of animal species that are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic disturbances. These animals host microbial communities at their surface, playing crucial roles for their fitness. However, the diversity of such microbiomes is mostly described in a few coral species and still poorly defined in other invertebrates and vertebrates. Given the diversity of animal microbiomes, and the diversity of host species inhabiting coral reefs, the contribution of such microbiomes to the total microbial diversity of coral reefs could be important, yet potentially vulnerable to the loss of animal species. Analysis of the surface microbiome from 74 taxa, including teleost fishes, hard and soft corals, crustaceans, echinoderms, bivalves and sponges, revealed that more than 90% of their prokaryotic phylogenetic richness was specific and not recovered in surrounding plankton. Estimate of the total richness associated with coral reef animal surface microbiomes reached up to 2.5% of current estimates of Earth prokaryotic diversity. Therefore, coral reef animal surfaces should be recognized as a hotspot of marine microbial diversity. Loss of the most vulnerable reef animals expected under present-day scenarios of reef degradation would induce an erosion of 28% of the prokaryotic richness, with unknown consequences on coral reef ecosystem functioning.
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Yap, Helen T. "Another Look at Coral Reef Degradation." Marine Pollution Bulletin 42, no. 7 (July 2001): 527. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0025-326x(01)00134-5.
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Wagner, Elena L. E. S., Dominique G. Roche, Sandra A. Binning, Sharon Wismer, and Redouan Bshary. "Temporal comparison and predictors of fish species abundance and richness on undisturbed coral reef patches." PeerJ 3 (December 1, 2015): e1459. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1459.
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Large disturbances can cause rapid degradation of coral reef communities, but what baseline changes in species assemblages occur on undisturbed reefs through time? We surveyed live coral cover, reef fish abundance and fish species richness in 1997 and again in 2007 on 47 fringing patch reefs of varying size and depth at Mersa Bareika, Ras Mohammed National Park, Egypt. No major human or natural disturbance event occurred between these two survey periods in this remote protected area. In the absence of large disturbances, we found that live coral cover, reef fish abundance and fish species richness did not differ in 1997 compared to 2007. Fish abundance and species richness on patches was largely related to the presence of shelters (caves and/or holes), live coral cover and patch size (volume). The presence of the ectoparasite-eating cleaner wrasse,Labroides dimidiatus, was also positively related to fish species richness. Our results underscore the importance of physical reef characteristics, such as patch size and shelter availability, in addition to biotic characteristics, such as live coral cover and cleaner wrasse abundance, in supporting reef fish species richness and abundance through time in a relatively undisturbed and understudied region.
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Roth, F., F. Saalmann, T. Thomson, D. J. Coker, R. Villalobos, B. H. Jones, C. Wild, and S. Carvalho. "Coral reef degradation affects the potential for reef recovery after disturbance." Marine Environmental Research 142 (November 2018): 48–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2018.09.022.
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Meltvedt, Ariana, and Catherine Jadot. "Progression of the Coral-Algal Phase Shift in the Caribbean: A Case Study in Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean." Marine Technology Society Journal 48, no. 6 (November 1, 2014): 33–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.4031/mtsj.48.6.4.
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AbstractCoral reefs around the globe are subject to environmental and anthropogenic stressors that are causing habitat degradation and a decline in reef resilience. Past studies of Caribbean reefs document a decrease in coral cover with a simultaneous increase in algal cover after significant stress, disturbance, or coral mortality. The long-term shift from coral-dominated reefs to algae-dominated reefs is known as a coral-algal phase shift. This study assessed the progression of a coral-algal phase shift at a fringing reef around Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean, by comparing current coral and algal benthic cover to historical data, from 1997 to 2008, at a site nearby. Research was conducted over a 5-w period from September to October 2012. Twenty 10-m transects were filmed and analyzed through Coral Point Count with Excel extensions software to determine percent live coral and algal cover. Mean coral cover at the study site was 14.3%, and algal cover was 72.4%. In comparison to historical data, a significant increase in the algae-coral ratio indicated a progression of a coral-algal phase shift in Bonaire. This study contributes to the scientific knowledge of coral-algal phase shifts in the Bonaire reef ecosystem and the broader scientific reef conservation.
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Franklin, Gemma L., Alec Torres-Freyermuth, Gabriela Medellin, María Eugenia Allende-Arandia, and Christian M. Appendini. "The role of the reef–dune system in coastal protection in Puerto Morelos (Mexico)." Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 18, no. 4 (April 27, 2018): 1247–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-1247-2018.
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Abstract. Reefs and sand dunes are critical morphological features providing natural coastal protection. Reefs dissipate around 90 % of the incident wave energy through wave breaking, whereas sand dunes provide the final natural barrier against coastal flooding. The storm impact on coastal areas with these features depends on the relative elevation of the extreme water levels with respect to the sand dune morphology. However, despite the importance of barrier reefs and dunes in coastal protection, poor management practices have degraded these ecosystems, increasing their vulnerability to coastal flooding. The present study aims to theoretically investigate the role of the reef–dune system in coastal protection under current climatic conditions at Puerto Morelos, located in the Mexican Caribbean Sea, using a widely validated nonlinear non-hydrostatic numerical model (SWASH). Wave hindcast information, tidal level, and a measured beach profile of the reef–dune system in Puerto Morelos are employed to estimate extreme runup and the storm impact scale for current and theoretical scenarios. The numerical results show the importance of including the storm surge when predicting extreme water levels and also show that ecosystem degradation has important implications for coastal protection against storms with return periods of less than 10 years. The latter highlights the importance of conservation of the system as a mitigation measure to decrease coastal vulnerability and infrastructure losses in coastal areas in the short to medium term. Furthermore, the results are used to evaluate the applicability of runup parameterisations for beaches to reef environments. Numerical analysis of runup dynamics suggests that runup parameterisations for reef environments can be improved by including the fore reef slope. Therefore, future research to develop runup parameterisations incorporating reef geometry features (e.g. reef crest elevation, reef lagoon width, fore reef slope) is warranted.
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Lesser, Michael P., Marc Slattery, and Curtis D. Mobley. "Biodiversity and Functional Ecology of Mesophotic Coral Reefs." Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 49, no. 1 (November 2, 2018): 49–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110617-062423.
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Mesophotic coral reefs, currently defined as deep reefs between 30 and 150 m, are linked physically and biologically to their shallow water counterparts, have the potential to be refuges for shallow coral reef taxa such as coral and sponges, and might be a source of larvae that could contribute to the resiliency of shallow water reefs. Mesophotic coral reefs are found worldwide, but most are undescribed and understudied. Here, we review our current knowledge of mesophotic coral reefs and their functional ecology as it relates to their geomorphology, changes in the abiotic environment along depth gradients, trophic ecology, their reproduction, and their connectivity to shallow depths. Understanding the ecology of mesophotic coral reefs, and the connectivity between them and their shallow water counterparts, is now a primary focus for many reef studies as the worldwide degradation of shallow coral reefs, and the ecosystem services they provide, continues unabated.
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Natsir, Suhartati M. "THE DISTRIBUTION OF BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA IN DAMAR ISLAND AND JUKUNG ISLAND, SERIBU ISLANDS." Marine Research in Indonesia 35, no. 2 (December 31, 2010): 9. http://dx.doi.org/10.14203/mri.v35i1.10.
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Seribu Islands are archipelago within Jakarta Bay built upon the pleistocene coral formation of the Sunda Shelf. The islands are characterized by unique and high biodiversity such as coral reefs. Since coral reef degradation would lead to a decrease of human prosperity, the determination of the coral reef quality is of high importance. Foraminifera offers an early warning system for the coral reef condition, as exemplified by the FORAM Index, i.e. Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring Index. This study compared the foraminiferal community structure and the FORAM Index of two islands between the Damar Besar and Jukung. Both islands were dominated by symbiont-bearing foraminifera of the genera Amphistegina, Calcarina, Heterostegina, Marginophora, and Operculina. However, the number of benthic foraminifers at Jukung Island was higher than that at Damar Besar Island, having 17 individuals per species on average. Jukung Island was a conducive site to reef growth, as indicated by a FORAM Index (between 6,48 and 6,57), and Damar Besar Island was liable to environmental change.
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Natsir, Suhartati M. "THE DISTRIBUTION OF BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA IN DAMAR ISLAND AND JUKUNG ISLAND, SERIBU ISLANDS." Marine Research in Indonesia 35, no. 2 (December 31, 2010): 9–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.14203/mri.v35i2.10.
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Seribu Islands are archipelago within Jakarta Bay built upon the pleistocene coral formation of the Sunda Shelf. The islands are characterized by unique and high biodiversity such as coral reefs. Since coral reef degradation would lead to a decrease of human prosperity, the determination of the coral reef quality is of high importance. Foraminifera offers an early warning system for the coral reef condition, as exemplified by the FORAM Index, i.e. Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring Index. This study compared the foraminiferal community structure and the FORAM Index of two islands between the Damar Besar and Jukung. Both islands were dominated by symbiont-bearing foraminifera of the genera Amphistegina, Calcarina, Heterostegina, Marginophora, and Operculina. However, the number of benthic foraminifers at Jukung Island was higher than that at Damar Besar Island, having 17 individuals per species on average. Jukung Island was a conducive site to reef growth, as indicated by a FORAM Index (between 6,48 and 6,57), and Damar Besar Island was liable to environmental change.
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Mustaruddin, Lalu R. T. Savalas, and Pandu Saptoriantoro. "DEGRADATION OF REEF FISH CATCH AS AN EFFECT OF TOURISM INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES IN GILI SULAT AND GILI LAWANG WATERS, EAST LOMBOK." Jurnal Ilmu dan Teknologi Kelautan Tropis 8, no. 2 (April 6, 2017): 455–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.29244/jitkt.v8i2.15798.
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The development of tourism activities in industrial scale since 2004 in the region of Gili Sulat and Gili Lawang have caused problem to local fishermen for catching reef fish. The objective of this research was to analyse the preeminent fishing gears of reef fish, the contamination types of tourism industries to fishing ground, and the degradation pattern of reef fish catch as an effect of tourism industry activities. The method used in this research was scoring method, quality standard test of water to fishery activities, and exponential regression model. The results showed that preeminent fishing gears of reef fish in the region of Gili Sulat and Gili Lawang were handline (Fgab = 2.000) and fish trap (Fgab = 1.556). The contamination types of tourism industries which bothering fishing ground of reef fish were total suspended solid (TSS), garbage, detergent, and timbal (Pb). The degradation pattern in quantity of reef fish catch (Y1) by activities of tourism industry (X) was formulated with moel Y1 = 31.574e-0.305X (R2=0.403, p=0.000). The degradation pattern of reef fish catch by activities of tourism industry (X) in the form of value of reef fish catch (Y2) and figuring waste in reef fishing (Y3) was formulated with model Y2=474823e-0.236X (R2=0.206, p=0.012), and Y3=1.296e0.329X (R2=0.071, p=0.156).
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SINGH, ABHINAV, HAO WANG, WENDY MORRISON, and HOWARD WEISS. "MODELING FISH BIOMASS STRUCTURE AT NEAR PRISTINE CORAL REEFS AND DEGRADATION BY FISHING." Journal of Biological Systems 20, no. 01 (March 2012): 21–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/s0218339011500318.
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Inverted biomass pyramids (IBPs) seem to be extremely rare in natural communities. Until recently, the only examples have been in freshwater and marine planktonic communities. In 2002 and 2008, investigators documented inverted biomass pyramids for nearly pristine coral reef ecosystems within the NW Hawaiian islands and the Line Islands, where apex predator abundance comprises up to 85% of the fish biomass. Large predator:prey biomass ratio seems to be a signature of nearly pristine coral reefs. While the mechanism responsible for the IBP for homogeneously mixed planktonic communities seems to be well understood, this mechanism is not strictly applicable to nearly pristine coral reefs where much of the prey use coral as refuge and are inaccessible to the predators. We construct a mathematical model with an explicit refuge to illustrate a new biologically plausible mechanism that can explain stable IBPs in nearly pristine coral reefs. New modeling components include a refuge of explicit size, a refuge size dependent functional response, and refuge size dependent prey growth rate. Utilizing realistic life history parameters of coral reef fishes, our model exhibits a stable inverted biomass pyramid. We prove that all fishing decreases the biomass ratio and sufficiently strong fishing transforms the inverted biomass pyramid to be bottom heavy. Finally we use our model to test the conjecture that pristine coral reefs will rebound faster from environmental shocks and find that it is not always true.
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Medina-Valmaseda, Alexis Enrique, Rosa E. Rodríguez-Martínez, Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip, Eric Jordan-Dahlgren, and Paul Blanchon. "The role of geomorphic zonation in long-term changes in coral-community structure on a Caribbean fringing reef." PeerJ 8 (October 22, 2020): e10103. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10103.
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Ecological processes on coral reefs commonly have limited spatial and temporal scales and may not be recorded in their long-term geological history. The widespread degradation of Caribbean coral reefs over the last 40 years therefore provides an opportunity to assess the impact of more significant ecological changes on the geological and geomorphic structure of reefs. Here, we document the changing ecology of communities in a coral reef seascape within the context of its geomorphic zonation. By comparing basic ecological indices between historical and modern data we show that in 35 years the reef-front zone was transformed from a complex coral assemblage with a three-dimensional structure, to a size-homogenized and flattened one that is quasi indistinguishable from the adjacent non-accretional coral-ground zone. Today coral assemblages at Punta Maroma are characterized by the dominance of opportunistic species which are either tolerant to adverse environmental conditions, including sedimentation, or are known to be the first scleractinian species to recruit on disturbed reefs, implying they reflect a post-hurricane stage of adjustment. Despite an increase in similarity in ecological indices, the reef-front and coral-ground geomorphic zones still retain significant differences in coral assemblages and benthic habitat and are not homogeneous. The partial convergence of coral assemblages certainly has important consequences for the ecology and geological viability of the reef and its role in coastal protection, but environmental physical drivers continue to exert a fundamental role in the character and zonation of benthic communities of this reef seascape.
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Raick, Xavier, Lucia Di Iorio, Cédric Gervaise, Julie Lossent, David Lecchini, and Éric Parmentier. "From the Reef to the Ocean: Revealing the Acoustic Range of the Biophony of a Coral Reef (Moorea Island, French Polynesia)." Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 9, no. 4 (April 13, 2021): 420. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse9040420.
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The ability of different marine species to use acoustic cues to locate reefs is known, but the maximal propagation distance of coral reef sounds is still unknown. Using drifting antennas (made of a floater and an autonomous recorder connected to a hydrophone), six transects were realized from the reef crest up to 10 km in the open ocean on Moorea island (French Polynesia). Benthic invertebrates were the major contributors to the ambient noise, producing acoustic mass phenomena (3.5–5.5 kHz) that could propagate at more than 90 km under flat/calm sea conditions and more than 50 km with an average wind regime of 6 knots. However, fish choruses, with frequencies mainly between 200 and 500 Hz would not propagate at distances greater than 2 km. These distances decreased with increasing wind or ship traffic. Using audiograms of different taxa, we estimated that fish post-larvae and invertebrates likely hear the reef at distances up to 0.5 km and some cetaceans would be able to detect reefs up to more than 17 km. These results are an empirically based validation from an example reef and are essential to understanding the effect of soundscape degradation on different zoological groups.
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Alvarez-Filip, Lorenzo, Michelle J. Paddack, Ben Collen, D. Ross Robertson, and Isabelle M. Côté. "Simplification of Caribbean Reef-Fish Assemblages over Decades of Coral Reef Degradation." PLOS ONE 10, no. 4 (April 14, 2015): e0126004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126004.
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Edinger, Evan N., John M. Pandolfi, and Russell A. Kelley. "Community structure of Quaternary coral reefs compared with Recent life and death assemblages." Paleobiology 27, no. 4 (2001): 669–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/0094-8373(2001)027<0669:csoqcr>2.0.co;2.
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This paper assesses the reliability with which fossil reefs record the diversity and community structure of adjacent Recent reefs. The diversity and taxonomic composition of Holocene raised fossil reefs was compared with those of modern reef coral life and death assemblages in adjacent moderate and low-energy shallow reef habitats of Madang Lagoon, Papua New Guinea. Species richness per sample area and Shannon-Wiener diversity (H′) were highest in the fossil reefs, intermediate in the life assemblages, and lowest in the death assemblages. The taxonomic composition of the fossil reefs was most similar to the combination of the life and death assemblages from the modern reefs adjacent to the two fossil reefs. Depth zonation was recorded accurately in the fossil reefs. The Madang fossil reefs represent time-averaged composites of the combined life and death assemblages as they existed at the time the reef was uplifted.Because fossil reefs include overlapping cohorts from the life and death assemblages, lagoonal facies of fossil reefs are dominated by the dominant sediment-producing taxa, which are not necessarily the most abundant in the life assemblage. Rare or slow-growing taxa accumulate more slowly than the encasing sediments and are underrepresented in fossil reef lagoons. Time-averaging dilutes the contribution of rare taxa, rather than concentrating their contribution. Consequently, fidelity indices developed for mollusks in sediments yield low values in coral reef death and fossil assemblages. Branching corals dominate lagoonal facies of fossil reefs because they are abundant, they grow and produce sediment rapidly, and most of the sediment they produce is not exported.Fossil reefs distinguished kilometer-scale variations in community structure more clearly than did the modern life assemblages. This difference implies that fossil reefs may provide a better long-term record of community structure than modern reefs. This difference also suggests that modern kilometer-scale variation in coral reef community structure may have been reduced by anthropogenic degradation, even in the relatively unimpacted reefs of Madang Lagoon. Holocene and Pleistocene fossil reefs provide a time-integrated historical record of community composition and may be used as long-term benchmarks for comparison with modern, degraded, nearshore reefs. Comparisons between fossil reefs and degraded modern reefs display gross changes in community structure more effectively than they demonstrate local extinction of rare taxa.
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Miranda, Ricardo J., Igor C. S. Cruz, and Zelinda M. A. N. Leão. "Coral bleaching in the Caramuanas reef (Todos os Santos Bay, Brazil) during the 2010 El Niño event." Latin American Journal of Aquatic Research 41, no. 2 (May 2, 2017): 351–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.3856/vol41-issue2-fulltext-14.
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Episodes of coral bleaching related to El Niño events have been increasing in frequency and severity. This phenomenon is cited as a major cause of degradation of coral reefs. This study evaluates the effects of coral bleaching on the Caramuanas reef community, which occurred during the southern hemisphere summer of 2009/2010. Within this period the sea surface temperature of 31°C and thermal anomalies up to almost 1°C were recorded. During and after this El Niño event, frequency and severity of bleaching, live coral cover, number of colonies, class size, disease occurrence, and mortality rate were monitored on corals larger than 20 cm in diameter. The samples were taken at twelve fixed transects, in three reef stations. Statistical analysis showed that the severity of bleaching was different between the two periods, during and after the 2010 ENSO event. The Caramuanas reef showed sublethal bleaching effects indicating that this reef is tolerant to bleaching when the temperature anomalies do not exceed 0.75°C within one week.
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Manembu, Indri, Luky Adrianto, Dietriech G. Bengen, and Ferdinan Yulianda. "DISTRIBUSI KARANG DAN IKAN KARANG DI KAWASAN REEF BALL TELUK BUYAT KABUPATEN MINAHASA TENGGARA." JURNAL PERIKANAN DAN KELAUTAN TROPIS 8, no. 1 (August 5, 2012): 28. http://dx.doi.org/10.35800/jpkt.8.1.2012.342.
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Penempatan reef ball di perairan Teluk Buyat dan sekitarnya telah dilakukan pada tahun 1999 oleh PT. Newmont Minahasa Raya. Tujuan penempatan reef ball untuk membangun habitat berbagai biota yang berasosiasi dengan karang sehingga dapat meningkatkan populasi ikan ekonomis penting. Kehadiran ikan karang pada reef ball sangat penting secara ekologis dan ekonomis. Penurunan kualitas terumbu berarti hilangnya nilai ekonomi barang dan jasa, serta hilangnya jaminan makanan dan pekerjaan untuk masyarakat pesisir, yang umumnya hidup dalam kemiskinan. Secara keseluruan, komposisi spesies ikan yang ditemukan di reef ball terdiri dari 19 famili, 34 genus, 50 spesies dan 290 individu, yang tertinggi dihuni oleh jenis dari famili Mullidae. Seiring dengan bertambahnya waktu dan usia reef ball, beberapa spesies terlihat sudah menetap seperti Lutjanus kasmira, dan beberapa spesies dari famili Acanthuridae. Keberadaan reef ball membantu terbentuknya ekosistem terumbu karang yang baru dan meningkatkan kesuburan perairan, sehingga lebih meningkatkan keberadaan komposisi ikan karang, yang pada akhirnya meningkatkan pendapatan nelayan dari hasil tangkapan ikan karang.Kata kunci: Reef ball, karang batu, ikan karang Distribution of Coral Reefs and Fish in Buyat Bay Area Reef Ball Southeast Minahasa Regency The placement of reef ball in Buyat Bay and surrounding areas have been carried out since 1999 by PT. Newmont Minahasa Raya. The goal of this placement was to build a habitat for many biota associated with reef thus may improve economically important fish populations. The presence of reef fish on the reef ball is indispensable ecologically and economically. Furthermore, the degradation of reefs might cause the disappearance of economic value of goods and services, as well as the disappearance of food security and employment for coastal communities, who generally live in poverty. Overall, the composition of fish species found in the reef ball consists of 19 families, 34 genera, 50 species and 290 individuals, the highest inhabited by species of the family Mullidae. As time went by and the increase of reef ball age, some species seem have settled down such as Lutjanus kasmira, and several species of the Acanthuridae family. In addition, the presence of reef ball helps the formation of a new coral reef ecosystem and increase the fertility of waters, therefore enhancing the presence of reef fish composition, which might increases the income of fishermen. Keywords: Reef ball, coral reef, reef fish
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Sabilla, Kanetasya. "Environmental Degradation and Poverty Nexus: Evidence from Coral Reef Destruction in Indonesia." Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities 7, no. 2 (December 28, 2017): 81–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.14203/jissh.v7i2.143.
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In a rural area, environmental degradation and poverty nexus focuses on the high-dependency of poor people to natural resources-based livelihood. Arguably, limited assets of poor people cause them to be unable to cope with natural resources degradation and to undertake sustainable practice in their livelihood activities. This study attempts to find the nexus between environmental degradation and poverty in the case of coral reef destruction in Indonesia by applying secondary research as a methodology. A sustainable livelihood framework is applied to analyze small-scale fisher people's vulnerability and capacity to destruct. This study finds that small-scale fisher-people have limited assets to cope with coral reef destruction; however, the same condition leads them to destruct coral reef by doing the destructive fishing practice. This condition causes them to be trapped in the downward spiral of environmental degradation and poverty. Moreover, small-scale fisher-people can overcome this problem by developing self-governance common pool resources to conserve coral reef and increase their livelihood sustainability.
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Rogers, Alice, Julia L. Blanchard, and Peter J. Mumby. "Fisheries productivity under progressive coral reef degradation." Journal of Applied Ecology 55, no. 3 (December 18, 2017): 1041–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13051.
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Yates, Kimberly K., David G. Zawada, Nathan A. Smiley, and Ginger Tiling-Range. "Divergence of seafloor elevation and sea level rise in coral reef ecosystems." Biogeosciences 14, no. 6 (April 20, 2017): 1739–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-1739-2017.
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Abstract. Coral reefs serve as natural barriers that protect adjacent shorelines from coastal hazards such as storms, waves, and erosion. Projections indicate global degradation of coral reefs due to anthropogenic impacts and climate change will cause a transition to net erosion by mid-century. Here, we provide a comprehensive assessment of the combined effect of all of the processes affecting seafloor accretion and erosion by measuring changes in seafloor elevation and volume for five coral reef ecosystems in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Caribbean over the last several decades. Regional-scale mean elevation and volume losses were observed at all five study sites and in 77 % of the 60 individual habitats that we examined across all study sites. Mean seafloor elevation losses for whole coral reef ecosystems in our study ranged from −0.09 to −0.8 m, corresponding to net volume losses ranging from 3.4 × 106 to 80.5 × 106 m3 for all study sites. Erosion of both coral-dominated substrate and non-coral substrate suggests that the current rate of carbonate production is no longer sufficient to support net accretion of coral reefs or adjacent habitats. We show that regional-scale loss of seafloor elevation and volume has accelerated the rate of relative sea level rise in these regions. Current water depths have increased to levels not predicted until near the year 2100, placing these ecosystems and nearby communities at elevated and accelerating risk to coastal hazards. Our results set a new baseline for projecting future impacts to coastal communities resulting from degradation of coral reef systems and associated losses of natural and socioeconomic resources.
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Dongeren, Ap van. "WAVES ON REEFS: HOW CORAL REEFS TRANSFORM OCEAN WAVES AND HELP PROTECT COASTS." Coastal Engineering Proceedings, no. 36v (December 31, 2020): 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.9753/icce.v36v.keynote.5.
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Coral reefs help protect tropical islands and coasts against wave-induced flooding. Because ongoing population growth in coastal zones, sea level rise and coral reef degradation, flooding and subsequent damages will likely increase in the future. In this presentation we discuss our current knowledge of the physics of wave transformation on reefs derived from observations and modelling. We will also discuss research questions and data needs.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/JvTmDnoy8E0
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McCormick, Mark I., Douglas P. Chivers, Maud C. O. Ferrari, Makeely I. Blandford, Gerrit B. Nanninga, Celia Richardson, Eric P. Fakan, George Vamvounis, Alexandra M. Gulizia, and Bridie J. M. Allan. "Microplastic exposure interacts with habitat degradation to affect behaviour and survival of juvenile fish in the field." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287, no. 1937 (October 28, 2020): 20201947. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1947.
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Coral reefs are degrading globally due to increased environmental stressors including warming and elevated levels of pollutants. These stressors affect not only habitat-forming organisms, such as corals, but they may also directly affect the organisms that inhabit these ecosystems. Here, we explore how the dual threat of habitat degradation and microplastic exposure may affect the behaviour and survival of coral reef fish in the field. Fish were caught prior to settlement and pulse-fed polystyrene microplastics six times over 4 days, then placed in the field on live or dead-degraded coral patches. Exposure to microplastics or dead coral led fish to be bolder, more active and stray further from shelter compared to control fish. Effect sizes indicated that plastic exposure had a greater effect on behaviour than degraded habitat, and we found no evidence of synergistic effects. This pattern was also displayed in their survival in the field. Our results highlight that attaining low concentrations of microplastic in the environment will be a useful management strategy, since minimizing microplastic intake by fishes may work concurrently with reef restoration strategies to enhance the resilience of coral reef populations.
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Idris, Idris, Neviaty P. Zamani, Suharsono Suharsono, and Fakhrurrozi Fakhrurrozi. "Coral Reef Degradation Due to ‘Ship Grounding’ in Indonesia: Case Study of Ship Aground in Bangka-Belitung Waters by Mother Vessel MV Lyric Poet." Jurnal Ilmiah Perikanan dan Kelautan 12, no. 2 (September 30, 2020): 263. http://dx.doi.org/10.20473/jipk.v12i2.17947.
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HighlightDamage to coral reefs by ship aground is twice the area of a football fieldFound four zones of damage including runoff, dune, blow and dispersalMortality of live coral and other benthic biota ranges from 75-100% in the affected locationThe form of damaged live coral growth is predominantly slow growing.Eight hard coral species were found on the IUCN-Redlist list with a vulnerable status.AbstractShip grounding on coral reefs often results in physical and biological damage, including dislodging and removal of corals from reefs, destruction of coral skeletons, erosion and removal of sediment deposits, and loss of three-dimensional complexity. Indonesia, as an archipelagic country, is very vulnerable to various pressures; for example, the case of ship grounding is a great concern of scientists, managers, divers, and sailors themselves. Most of the damage is very severe. The purpose of the research conducted is to identify the condition of the live coral cover, mapping the type and extent of coral reef damage, affected coral species, their conservation status, and to quantify the extent of the area of coral reef damage. Measuring the extent of damage to coral reef ecosystems using the fishbone method, while the level of damage and its impact was measured using the Underwater Photo Transect (UPT) and belt transect method. The event of the grounding of the MV Lyric Poet on the Bangka Waters, Bangka-Belitung Province, has caused damage to the coral reef ecosystem. There are four damage zones identified, i.e., trajectory, mound, propeller, and dispersion zone. Corals are damaged with a total area of 13.540m2; equivalent to twice that of an international football field. Diversity of hard coral found as many as 49 species included in the CITES-Appendix II. A total of eight protected species are included in the IUCN Red List with extinction-prone status.
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Guo, Jing, Kefu Yu, Yinghui Wang, Ruijie Zhang, Xueyong Huang, and Zhenjun Qin. "Potential impacts of anthropogenic nutrient enrichment on coral reefs in the South China Sea: evidence from nutrient and chlorophyll a levels in seawater." Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 21, no. 10 (2019): 1745–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9em00331b.
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Chou, Loke-Ming, and Danwei Huang. "Towards Coral Reef Resilience." Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 8, no. 8 (July 27, 2020): 563. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse8080563.
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Coral reef habitats provide valuable ecosystem services which have benefitted human society for millennia, but intense anthropogenic pressure, especially in the latter part of the last century, has resulted in widespread habitat degradation and loss of ecosystem services with severe environmental and societal consequences [...]
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Chivers, D. P., M. I. McCormick, E. P. Fakan, R. P. Barry, J. W. Edmiston, and M. C. O. Ferrari. "Coral degradation alters predator odour signatures and influences prey learning and survival." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286, no. 1903 (May 29, 2019): 20190562. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0562.
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Habitat degradation is a key factor leading to the global loss of biodiversity. This problem is particularly acute in coral reef ecosystems. We investigated whether recognition of predator odours by damselfish was influenced by coral degradation and whether these changes altered survival in the wild. We taught whitespot damselfish to recognize the odour of a predator in the presence of live/healthy coral or dead/degraded coral. Fish were tested for a response to predator odours in environments that matched their conditioning environment or in environments that were mismatched. Next, we taught blue damselfish to recognize the odour of three common reef predators in live and degraded coral environments and then stocked them onto live or degraded patch reefs, where we monitored their subsequent response to predator odour along with their survival. Damselfish learned to recognize predator odours in both coral environments, but the intensity of their antipredator response was much greater when the conditioning and test environments matched. Fish released on degraded coral had about 50% higher survival if they had been trained in the presence of degraded coral rather than live coral. Altering the intensity of antipredator responses could have rather profound consequences on population growth.
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Côté, I. M., J. A. Gill, T. A. Gardner, and A. R. Watkinson. "Measuring coral reef decline through meta-analyses." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 360, no. 1454 (February 28, 2005): 385–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1591.
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Coral reef ecosystems are in decline worldwide, owing to a variety of anthropogenic and natural causes. One of the most obvious signals of reef degradation is a reduction in live coral cover. Past and current rates of loss of coral are known for many individual reefs; however, until recently, no large-scale estimate was available. In this paper, we show how meta-analysis can be used to integrate existing small-scale estimates of change in coral and macroalgal cover, derived from in situ surveys of reefs, to generate a robust assessment of long-term patterns of large-scale ecological change. Using a large dataset from Caribbean reefs, we examine the possible biases inherent in meta-analytical studies and the sensitivity of the method to patchiness in data availability. Despite the fact that our meta-analysis included studies that used a variety of sampling methods, the regional estimate of change in coral cover we obtained is similar to that generated by a standardized survey programme that was implemented in 1991 in the Caribbean. We argue that for habitat types that are regularly and reasonably well surveyed in the course of ecological or conservation research, meta-analysis offers a cost-effective and rapid method for generating robust estimates of past and current states.
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Tortolero-Langarica, J. J. Adolfo, Alma P. Rodríguez-Troncoso, Amílcar L. Cupul-Magaña, and Baruch Rinkevich. "Micro-Fragmentation as an Effective and Applied Tool to Restore Remote Reefs in the Eastern Tropical Pacific." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 18 (September 9, 2020): 6574. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186574.
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Coral reef ecosystems are continuously degraded by anthropogenic and climate change drivers, causing a widespread decline in reef biodiversity and associated goods and services. In response, active restoration methodologies and practices have been developed globally to compensate for losses due to reef degradation. Yet, most activities employ the gardening concept that uses coral nurseries, and are centered in easily-accessible reefs, with existing infrastructure, and impractical for coral reefs in remote locations. Here we evaluate the effectiveness of direct outplanting of coral micro-fragments (Pavona clavus and Pocillopora spp.) as a novel approach to restore remote reefs in the Islas Marías archipelago in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Coral growth (height-width-tissue cover), survival percentage, extension rates (cm year−1), skeletal density (g cm−3) and calcification rates (g cm−2 year−1) were assessed over 13 months of restoration. In spite of detrimental effects of Hurricane Willa, transplants showed a greater-than-twofold increase in all growth metrics, with ~58–61% survival rate and fast self-attachment (within ~3.9 months) for studied species, with Pocilloporids exhibiting higher extension, skeletal density, and calcification rates than Pavona. While comprehensive long-term studies are required, direct transplantation methodologies of coral micro-fragments are emerging as time-effective and affordable restoration tools to mitigate anthropogenic and climate change impacts in remote and marginal reefs.
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Flynn, Rebecca L., and Graham E. Forrester. "Boat anchoring contributes substantially to coral reef degradation in the British Virgin Islands." PeerJ 7 (May 23, 2019): e7010. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7010.
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Community decline is often linked to anthropogenic activities. Coral reef declines, for example, have been linked to overfishing and climate change, but impacts of coastal development, pollution, and tourism have received increasing attention. Here, we isolated the impact of one little-studied aspect of recreational activity on coral reefs—damage from boat anchoring—by performing a survey of 24 sites in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) subject to varying levels of anchoring activity. The percent cover of hard corals and sea fans was reduced by a factor of ∼1.7 and ∼2.6 respectively at highly anchored sites. Hard coral colonies were 40% smaller in surface area and ∼60% less dense at sites experiencing high anchoring frequency. In addition, highly anchored sites supported only ∼60% of the species richness of little anchored sites. Frequently anchored sites were ∼60% as structurally complex and supported less than half as many fish as those rarely anchored, with 5 of 7 fish functional groups affected. Roughly 24% of BVI coral reef by area appears suitable for anchoring, suggesting that impacts associated with boat anchoring may be both locally severe and more pervasive than previously appreciated.
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Brodie, J., C. Christie, M. Devlin, D. Haynes, S. Morris, M. Ramsay, J. Waterhouse, and H. Yorkston. "Catchment management and the Great Barrier Reef." Water Science and Technology 43, no. 9 (May 1, 2001): 203–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2001.0540.
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Pollution of coastal regions of the Great Barrier Reef is dominated by runoff from the adjacent catchment. Catchment land-use is dominated by beef grazing and cropping, largely sugarcane cultivation, with relatively minor urban development. Runoff of sediment, nutrients and pesticides is increasing and for nitrogen is now four times the natural amount discharged 150 years ago. Significant effects and potential threats are now evident on inshore reefs, seagrasses and marine animals. There is no effective legislation or processes in place to manage agricultural pollution. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act does not provide effective jurisdiction on the catchment. Queensland legislation relies on voluntary codes and there is no assessment of the effectiveness of the codes. Integrated catchment management strategies, also voluntary, provide some positive outcomes but are of limited success. Pollutant loads are predicted to continue to increase and it is unlikely that current management regimes will prevent this. New mechanisms to prevent continued degradation of inshore ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area are urgently needed.
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Rizmaadi, Mada, Johannes Riter, Siti Fatimah, Riyan Rifaldi, Arditho Yoga, Fikri Ramadhan, and Ambariyanto Ambariyanto. "Community Structure Of Coral Reefs In Saebus Island, Sumenep District, East Java." E3S Web of Conferences 31 (2018): 08013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20183108013.
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Increasing degradation coral reefs ecosystem has created many concerns. Reduction of this damage can only be done with good and proper management of coral reef ecosystem based on existing condition. The condition of coral reef ecosystem can be determined by assessing its community structure. This study investigates community structure of coral reef ecosystems around Saebus Island, Sumenep District, East Java, by using satellite imagery analysis and field observations. Satellite imagery analysis by Lyzenga methods was used to determine the observation stations and substrate distribution. Field observations were done by using Line Intercept Transect method at 4 stations, at the depth of 3 and 10 meters. The results showed that the percentage of coral reef coverage at the depth of 3 and 10 meters were 64.36% and 59.29%, respectively, and included in fine coverage category. This study found in total 25 genera from 13 families of corals at all stations. The most common species found were Acropora, Porites, and Pocillopora, while the least common species were Favites and Montastrea. Average value of Diversity, Uniformity and Dominancy indices were 2.94, 0.8 and 0.18 which include as medium, high, and low category, respectively. These results suggest that coral reef ecosystems around Saebus Island is in a good condition.
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Alvarado-Rodríguez, J. F., H. Nava, and J. L. Carballo. "Spatio-temporal variation in rate of carbonate deposition by encrusting organisms in different reef microhabitats from Eastern Pacific coral reefs." Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 99, no. 7 (August 5, 2019): 1495–505. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315419000638.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractReef encrusting calcifiers (non-scleractinian species) constitute assemblages that participate in the carbon cycle at coral reefs. Despite their apparent secondary role in building the reef framework, they contribute to the reef consolidation binding sediments and inducing larval recruitment from other epilithic invertebrates. The contribution of encrusting calcifiers on reef accretion was examined by the assessment of their rate of carbonate deposition on four different simulated reef microhabitats using calcification accretion units (CAUs) during 12 months at Playa Las Gatas and Islote Zacatoso, two coral communities from the coast of the Mexican Pacific. Encrusting calcifiers from Playa Las Gatas, the most impacted site, showed a rate of carbonate deposition (mean ± SD) four times higher than at Islote Zacatoso (10.02 ± 3.22 g CaCO3 m−2 d−1vs 2.48 ± 1.01 g CaCO3 m−2 d−1). Overall, the rate of carbonate deposition on surfaces protected from sedimentation and light was up to 1.8 times higher than on exposed ones (11.40 ± 4.35 g CaCO3 m−2 d−1vs 6.18 ± 3.13 g CaCO3 m−2 d−1). Carbonate deposition by calcareous algae was higher on the well-lit exposed surfaces while filter-feeding invertebrates showed the major contribution on the shaded cryptic surfaces. Although rate of carbonate deposition by encrusting calcifiers seems to be lower than hermatypic corals, it seems to be relevant on coral reefs affected by anthropogenic impacts where coral calcification is low. Under global demise of coral reefs by environmental degradation and climate change, encrusting calcifiers may become relevant for the process of carbonate deposition.
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Killam, Daniel, Tariq Al-Najjar, and Matthew Clapham. "Giant clam growth in the Gulf of Aqaba is accelerated compared to fossil populations." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 288, no. 1957 (August 25, 2021): 20210991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0991.
Full textAbstract:
The health of reef-building corals has declined due to climate change and pollution. However, less is known about whether giant clams, reef-dwelling bivalves with a photosymbiotic partnership similar to that found in reef-building corals, are also threatened by environmental degradation. To compare giant clam health against a prehistoric baseline, we collected fossil and modern Tridacna shells from the Gulf of Aqaba, Northern Red Sea. After calibrating daily/twice-daily growth lines from the outer shell layer, we determined that modern individuals of all three species ( Tridacna maxima , T. squamosa and T. squamosina ) grew faster than Holocene and Pleistocene specimens. Modern specimens also show median shell organic δ 15 N values 4.2‰ lower than fossil specimens, which we propose is most likely due to increased deposition of isotopically light nitrate aerosols in the modern era. Nitrate fertilization accelerates growth in cultured Tridacna , so nitrate aerosol deposition may contribute to faster growth in modern wild populations. Furthermore, colder winter temperatures and past summer monsoons may have depressed fossil giant clam growth. Giant clams can serve as sentinels of reef environmental change, both to determine their individual health and the health of the reefs they inhabit.
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Coppock, Amy G., Naomi M. Gardiner, and Geoffrey P. Jones. "Olfactory responses of coral-reef fishes to coral degradation and crown-of-thorns (Acanthaster planci)." Marine and Freshwater Research 67, no. 5 (2016): 605. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/mf14424.
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Coral degradation is a major threat towards the biodiversity of coral-reef ecosystems, either through the physical effects of environmental change, or biological agents such as crown-of-thorns (Acanthaster planci). Coral loss is leading to significant declines in reef-fish assemblages, particularly those dependent on live coral as settlement sites. Most reef fishes use olfactory stimuli at settlement; however, their ability to detect chemical stimuli from degraded corals or A. planci is unknown. Here, olfactory responses of juvenile reef fishes to the presence of stressed corals and A. planci were tested. Juveniles of eight common coral-associated species were subjected to a series of pair-wise choice tests, where the period of time spent in two differing water sources was noted. All species demonstrated a significant attraction towards healthy coral (≥76%), avoiding cues emitted by stressed coral colonies. When given the choice between a control water (untreated reef water) and water containing chemical cues from A. planci, most species elicited no response. Finally, when given the choice between chemical cues derived from feeding A. planci or the control, all species avoided A. planci (≥70%). Our results indicated that juvenile reef fish are capable of distinguishing the state of coral health, but not directly from disturbance agents.
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Seemann, Janina, Alexandra Yingst, Rick D. Stuart-Smith, Graham J. Edgar, and Andrew H. Altieri. "The importance of sponges and mangroves in supporting fish communities on degraded coral reefs in Caribbean Panama." PeerJ 6 (March 29, 2018): e4455. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4455.
Full textAbstract:
Fish communities associated with coral reefs worldwide are threatened by habitat degradation and overexploitation. We assessed coral reefs, mangrove fringes, and seagrass meadows on the Caribbean coast of Panama to explore the influences of their proximity to one another, habitat cover, and environmental characteristics in sustaining biomass, species richness and trophic structure of fish communities in a degraded tropical ecosystem. We found 94% of all fish across all habitat types were of small body size (≤10 cm), with communities dominated by fishes that usually live in habitats of low complexity, such as Pomacentridae (damselfishes) and Gobiidae (gobies). Total fish biomass was very low, with the trend of small fishes from low trophic levels over-represented, and top predators under-represented, relative to coral reefs elsewhere in the Caribbean. For example, herbivorous fishes comprised 27% of total fish biomass in Panama relative to 10% in the wider Caribbean, and the small parrotfishScarus isericomprised 72% of the parrotfish biomass. We found evidence that non-coral biogenic habitats support reef-associated fish communities. In particular, the abundance of sponges on a given reef and proximity of mangroves were found to be important positive correlates of reef fish species richness, biomass, abundance and trophic structure. Our study indicates that a diverse fish community can persist on degraded coral reefs, and that the availability and arrangement within the seascape of other habitat-forming organisms, including sponges and mangroves, is critical to the maintenance of functional processes in such ecosystems.