Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates
The reduction in coral cover on many contemporary tropical reefs suggests a different set of coral community assemblages will dominate future reefs. To evaluate the capacity of reef corals to persist over various time scales, we examined coral community dynamics in contemporary, fossil, and simulate...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Public Library of Science
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11693 |
| _version_ | 1848747874087600128 |
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| author | Edmunds, P. Adjeroud, M. Baskett, M. Baums, I. Budd, A. Carpenter, R. Fabina, N. Fan, T. Franklin, E. Gross, K. Han, X. Jacobson, L. Klaus, J. McClanahan, T. O'Leary, J. Van Oppen, M. Pochon, X. Putnam, H. Smith, T. Stat, Michael Sweatman, H. Van Woesik, R. Gates, R. |
| author_facet | Edmunds, P. Adjeroud, M. Baskett, M. Baums, I. Budd, A. Carpenter, R. Fabina, N. Fan, T. Franklin, E. Gross, K. Han, X. Jacobson, L. Klaus, J. McClanahan, T. O'Leary, J. Van Oppen, M. Pochon, X. Putnam, H. Smith, T. Stat, Michael Sweatman, H. Van Woesik, R. Gates, R. |
| author_sort | Edmunds, P. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The reduction in coral cover on many contemporary tropical reefs suggests a different set of coral community assemblages will dominate future reefs. To evaluate the capacity of reef corals to persist over various time scales, we examined coral community dynamics in contemporary, fossil, and simulated future coral reef ecosystems. Based on studies between 1987 and 2012 at two locations in the Caribbean, and between 1981 and 2013 at five locations in the Indo-Pacific, we show that many coral genera declined in abundance, some showed no change in abundance, and a few coral genera increased in abundance. Whether the abundance of a genus declined, increased, or was conserved, was independent of coral family. An analysis of fossil-reef communities in the Caribbean revealed changes in numerical dominance and relative abundances of coral genera, and demonstrated that neither dominance nor taxon was associated with persistence. As coral family was a poor predictor of performance on contemporary reefs, a trait-based, dynamic, multi-patch model was developed to explore the phenotypic basis of ecological performance in a warmer future. Sensitivity analyses revealed that upon exposure to thermal stress, thermal tolerance, growth rate, and longevity were the most important predictors of coral persistence. Together, our results underscore the high variation in the rates and direction of change in coral abundances on contemporary and fossil reefs. Given this variation, it remains possible that coral reefs will be populated by a subset of the present coral fauna in a future that is warmer than the recent past. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:56:04Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-11693 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:56:04Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-116932017-09-13T14:59:19Z Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates Edmunds, P. Adjeroud, M. Baskett, M. Baums, I. Budd, A. Carpenter, R. Fabina, N. Fan, T. Franklin, E. Gross, K. Han, X. Jacobson, L. Klaus, J. McClanahan, T. O'Leary, J. Van Oppen, M. Pochon, X. Putnam, H. Smith, T. Stat, Michael Sweatman, H. Van Woesik, R. Gates, R. The reduction in coral cover on many contemporary tropical reefs suggests a different set of coral community assemblages will dominate future reefs. To evaluate the capacity of reef corals to persist over various time scales, we examined coral community dynamics in contemporary, fossil, and simulated future coral reef ecosystems. Based on studies between 1987 and 2012 at two locations in the Caribbean, and between 1981 and 2013 at five locations in the Indo-Pacific, we show that many coral genera declined in abundance, some showed no change in abundance, and a few coral genera increased in abundance. Whether the abundance of a genus declined, increased, or was conserved, was independent of coral family. An analysis of fossil-reef communities in the Caribbean revealed changes in numerical dominance and relative abundances of coral genera, and demonstrated that neither dominance nor taxon was associated with persistence. As coral family was a poor predictor of performance on contemporary reefs, a trait-based, dynamic, multi-patch model was developed to explore the phenotypic basis of ecological performance in a warmer future. Sensitivity analyses revealed that upon exposure to thermal stress, thermal tolerance, growth rate, and longevity were the most important predictors of coral persistence. Together, our results underscore the high variation in the rates and direction of change in coral abundances on contemporary and fossil reefs. Given this variation, it remains possible that coral reefs will be populated by a subset of the present coral fauna in a future that is warmer than the recent past. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11693 10.1371/journal.pone.0107525 Public Library of Science unknown |
| spellingShingle | Edmunds, P. Adjeroud, M. Baskett, M. Baums, I. Budd, A. Carpenter, R. Fabina, N. Fan, T. Franklin, E. Gross, K. Han, X. Jacobson, L. Klaus, J. McClanahan, T. O'Leary, J. Van Oppen, M. Pochon, X. Putnam, H. Smith, T. Stat, Michael Sweatman, H. Van Woesik, R. Gates, R. Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates |
| title | Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates |
| title_full | Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates |
| title_fullStr | Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates |
| title_full_unstemmed | Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates |
| title_short | Persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates |
| title_sort | persistence and change in community composition of reef corals through present, past, and future climates |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11693 |