27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore
Coral cover on reefs is declining globally due to coastal development, overfishing and climate change. Reefs isolated from direct human influence can recover from natural acute disturbances, but little is known about long term recovery of reefs experiencing chronic human disturbances. Here we invest...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2016
|
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40061/ |
| _version_ | 1848795976245968896 |
|---|---|
| author | Guest, J.R. Tun, K. Vergés, A. Marzinelli, E.M. Campbell, A.H. Bauman, A.G. Feary, D.A. Chou, L.M. Steinberg, P.D. |
| author_facet | Guest, J.R. Tun, K. Vergés, A. Marzinelli, E.M. Campbell, A.H. Bauman, A.G. Feary, D.A. Chou, L.M. Steinberg, P.D. |
| author_sort | Guest, J.R. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Coral cover on reefs is declining globally due to coastal development, overfishing and climate change. Reefs isolated from direct human influence can recover from natural acute disturbances, but little is known about long term recovery of reefs experiencing chronic human disturbances. Here we investigate responses to acute bleaching disturbances on turbid reefs off Singapore, at two depths over a period of 27 years. Coral cover declined and there were marked changes in coral and benthic community structure during the first decade of monitoring at both depths. At shallower reef crest sites (3–4 m), benthic community structure recovered towards pre-disturbance states within a decade. In contrast, there was a net decline in coral cover and continuing shifts in community structure at deeper reef slope sites (6–7 m). There was no evidence of phase shifts to macroalgal dominance but coral habitats at deeper sites were replaced by unstable substrata such as fine sediments and rubble. The persistence of coral dominance at chronically disturbed shallow sites is likely due to an abundance of coral taxa which are tolerant to environmental stress. In addition, high turbidity may interact antagonistically with other disturbances to reduce the impact of thermal stress and limit macroalgal growth rates. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:40:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-40061 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:40:38Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-400612020-05-04T18:22:00Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40061/ 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore Guest, J.R. Tun, K. Vergés, A. Marzinelli, E.M. Campbell, A.H. Bauman, A.G. Feary, D.A. Chou, L.M. Steinberg, P.D. Coral cover on reefs is declining globally due to coastal development, overfishing and climate change. Reefs isolated from direct human influence can recover from natural acute disturbances, but little is known about long term recovery of reefs experiencing chronic human disturbances. Here we investigate responses to acute bleaching disturbances on turbid reefs off Singapore, at two depths over a period of 27 years. Coral cover declined and there were marked changes in coral and benthic community structure during the first decade of monitoring at both depths. At shallower reef crest sites (3–4 m), benthic community structure recovered towards pre-disturbance states within a decade. In contrast, there was a net decline in coral cover and continuing shifts in community structure at deeper reef slope sites (6–7 m). There was no evidence of phase shifts to macroalgal dominance but coral habitats at deeper sites were replaced by unstable substrata such as fine sediments and rubble. The persistence of coral dominance at chronically disturbed shallow sites is likely due to an abundance of coral taxa which are tolerant to environmental stress. In addition, high turbidity may interact antagonistically with other disturbances to reduce the impact of thermal stress and limit macroalgal growth rates. Nature Publishing Group 2016-11-08 Article PeerReviewed Guest, J.R., Tun, K., Vergés, A., Marzinelli, E.M., Campbell, A.H., Bauman, A.G., Feary, D.A., Chou, L.M. and Steinberg, P.D. (2016) 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore. Scientific Reports, 6 . 36260/1-36260/10. ISSN 2045-2322 http://www.nature.com/articles/srep36260 doi:10.1038/srep36260 doi:10.1038/srep36260 |
| spellingShingle | Guest, J.R. Tun, K. Vergés, A. Marzinelli, E.M. Campbell, A.H. Bauman, A.G. Feary, D.A. Chou, L.M. Steinberg, P.D. 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore |
| title | 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore |
| title_full | 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore |
| title_fullStr | 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore |
| title_full_unstemmed | 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore |
| title_short | 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore |
| title_sort | 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off singapore |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40061/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40061/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40061/ |