Click
here to close Hello! We notice that
you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Echinobase
and may cause the site to display incorrectly. We suggest using a
current version of Chrome,
FireFox,
or Safari.
Sci Rep
2016 Oct 03;6:34720. doi: 10.1038/srep34720.
Show Gene links
Show Anatomy links
Coral recovery in the central Maldives archipelago since the last major mass-bleaching, in 1998.
Pisapia C
,
Burn D
,
Yoosuf R
,
Najeeb A
,
Anderson KD
,
Pratchett MS
.
???displayArticle.abstract???
Increasing frequency and severity of disturbances is causing global degradation of coral reef ecosystems. This study examined temporal changes in live coral cover and coral composition in the central Maldives from 1997 to 2016, encompassing two bleaching events, a tsunami, and an outbreak of Acanthaster planci. We also examined the contemporary size structure for five dominant coral taxa (tabular Acropora, Acropora muricata, Acropora humilis, Pocillopora spp, and massive Porites). Total coral cover increased throughout the study period, with marked increases following the 1998 mass-bleaching. The relative abundance of key genera has changed through time, where Acropora and Pocillopora (which are highly susceptible to bleaching) were under-represented following 1998 mass-bleaching but increased until outbreaks of A. planci in 2015. The contemporary size-structure for all coral taxa was dominated by larger colonies with peaked distributions suggesting that recent disturbances had a disproportionate impact on smaller colonies, or that recruitment is currently limited. This may suggest that coral resilience has been compromised by recent disturbances, and further bleaching (expected in 2016) could lead to highly protracted recovery times. We showed that Maldivian reefs recovered following the 1998 mass-bleaching event, but it took up to a decade, and ongoing disturbances may be eroding reef resilience.
Figure 1. Variation in mean (±95% CL) coral cover at 5 meters in all study sites.The occurrence of the 1998 and 2010 coral bleaching events, the tsunami in 2004 and outbreaks of A. planci in 2015 is shown with arrows. Data for 2016 were collected during the present study, while historical data on study sites from 1997 to 2013 were extrapolated from62931414246577074757677787980.
Figure 2. Temporal variation in mean percentage live coral cover (±95% CL) of major coral genera Acropora, Pocillopora and Porites at the study sites at 5 m and 10 m depth in 1998, 2009 and 2016.
Figure 3. Log-transformed and untransformed size-frequency distributions of Acropora muricata, tabular Acropora, Acropora humilis, Pocillopora spp and Porites spp.The dark line indicates average partial mortality (%) for each size class.
Bruno,
Regional decline of coral cover in the Indo-Pacific: timing, extent, and subregional comparisons.
2007, Pubmed
Bruno,
Regional decline of coral cover in the Indo-Pacific: timing, extent, and subregional comparisons.
2007,
Pubmed
Connell,
Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs.
1978,
Pubmed
Côté,
Measuring coral reef decline through meta-analyses.
2005,
Pubmed
Darling,
Life histories predict coral community disassembly under multiple stressors.
2013,
Pubmed
De'ath,
The 27-year decline of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef and its causes.
2012,
Pubmed
,
Echinobase
Edwards,
Coral bleaching and mortality on artificial and natural reefs in Maldives in 1998, sea surface temperature anomalies and initial recovery.
2001,
Pubmed
Forsman,
Shape-shifting corals: molecular markers show morphology is evolutionarily plastic in Porites.
2009,
Pubmed
Gardner,
Long-term region-wide declines in Caribbean corals.
2003,
Pubmed
Gilmour,
Recovery of an isolated coral reef system following severe disturbance.
2013,
Pubmed
Goffredo,
Tsunami survey expedition: preliminary investigation of Maldivian coral reefs two weeks after the event.
2007,
Pubmed
Graham,
Predicting climate-driven regime shifts versus rebound potential in coral reefs.
2015,
Pubmed
Highsmith,
Survival of hurricane-generated coral fragments and a disturbance model of reef calcification/growth rates.
1980,
Pubmed
Hughes,
Catastrophes, phase shifts, and large-scale degradation of a Caribbean coral reef.
1994,
Pubmed
Madin,
Ecological consequences of major hydrodynamic disturbances on coral reefs.
2006,
Pubmed
Madin,
Mechanical vulnerability explains size-dependent mortality of reef corals.
2014,
Pubmed
McClanahan,
Community change and evidence for variable warm-water temperature adaptation of corals in Northern Male Atoll, Maldives.
2014,
Pubmed
Morri,
Through bleaching and tsunami: Coral reef recovery in the Maldives.
2015,
Pubmed
Sheppard,
Predicted recurrences of mass coral mortality in the Indian Ocean.
2003,
Pubmed
Tamelander,
Coral recruitment following a mass mortality event.
2002,
Pubmed
Tkachenko,
The northernmost coral frontier of the Maldives: The coral reefs of Ihavandippolu Atoll under long-term environmental change.
2012,
Pubmed
Todd,
Morphological plasticity in scleractinian corals.
2008,
Pubmed
van Mantgem,
Widespread increase of tree mortality rates in the western United States.
2009,
Pubmed
