Archipelago-wide coral recovery patterns since 1998 in the Chagos Archipelago, central Indian Ocean

Sheppard, Charles; Harris, Anna; Sheppard, Anne

doi:10.3354/meps07436

Cited by 114 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Recovery post-1998 occurred within about 10-12 yr (Pisapia et al 2016), a trend replicated at other remote Indian Ocean sites (e.g. Chagos; Sheppard et al 2008). In other areas of the Indian Ocean, recovery trajectories post-1998 were more divergent, with some reefs recovering successfully and others undergoing phase shifts to states with lower coral cover and diminished carbonate budgets (Graham et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Post-bleaching coral community change on southern Maldivian reefs: is there potential for rapid recovery?

Perry

Morgan

2017

Coral Reefs

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Given the severity of the 2016 global bleaching event, there are major questions about how quickly reef communities will recover. Here, we explore the ecological and physical structural changes that occurred across five atoll interior reefs in the southern Maldives using data collected at 6 and 12 months post-bleaching. Following initial severe coral mortality, further minor coral mortality had occurred by 12 months post-bleaching, and coral cover is now low (\6%). In contrast, reef rugosity has continued to decline over time, and our observations suggest transitions to rubble-dominated states will occur in the near future. Juvenile coral densities in shallow fore-reef habitats are also exceptionally low (\6 individuals m -2 ), well below those measured 9-12 months following the 1998 bleaching event, and below recovery thresholds identified on other Indian Ocean reefs. Our findings suggest that the physical structure of these reefs will need to decline further before effective recruitment and recovery can begin.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Post-bleaching coral community change on southern Maldivian reefs: is there potential for rapid recovery?

Perry

Morgan

2017

Coral Reefs

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“…Of these factors, SST is not likely to have been markedly different to that on reefs in adjacent areas with low human population where much better coral cover and fish populations remain. It is being repeatedly shown that even where warming is causing reef deterioration, recovery can be rapid where there are minimal direct impacts, and that recovery may not occur at all where there is also pollution and overfishing Sheppard et al, 2008;Hagan et al, 2008). In the Grand Récif, it is more likely that the rapid rise of discharged, untreated sewage from the growing city is very important, along with the rapid rise in human population with its associated artisanal fishery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demise of Madagascar's once great barrier reef : changes in coral reef conditions over 40 years

Harris¹,

Manahira²,

Sheppard³

et al. 2010

Atoll Research Bulletin

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In the 1960s and 1970s the biology and geology of the Grand Récif of Tuléar, (now Toliara) in southwestern Madagascar, was thoroughly studied and reported. Toliara is the largest city in the south of the country, and the Grand Récif offshore provides both artisanal fisheries and coastal protection to the growing regional capital. Substantial research on the comparatively pristine reef was described in a volume of Atoll Research Bulletin in 1978. Since then, published scientific study of this reef has been largely lacking. The present study compares the condition of the Grand Récif of circa 40 years ago, with that seen in a brief resurvey undertaken in 2008, on transects corresponding to some of those documented previously. The trend has been of severe degradation; hard coral cover on the fore-reef slopes has declined substantially, and there has been a near total loss of the "architectural species" in particular. Coral has been replaced to great extent by fleshy algae. Observations also indicate severe decline on the broad reef flat, back reef and lagoon areas. Perhaps most seriously for the local fisheries and human communities, is that the fore reef is almost depleted in reef fish today.Comparisons are made of coral cover, coral morphological types and fish trophic structure with other reefs in southern Madagascar, which are not located near large human populations. Although a rise in mean sea surface temperature has occurred throughout the region of approximately 1 o C over this 40 year period, which is probably a contributing cause of decline throughout, the Grand Récif is in much worse condition than most of the more remote reefs with which it is compared. It is suggested that the main reasons for the substantial decline in the Grand Récif over the past 40 years lies in the fact that the region's population has grown substantially, there is a complete lack of any resources management, heavy overfishing, and no pollution control, resulting in massively increased discharges of sewage, sediments and other pollutants.Reef condition today is unrecognisable from that described in the 1970s. Unless far-reaching and effective management interventions are adopted to safeguard the Grand Récif the remaining ecosystem services upon which Toliara and its population depend will soon all but disappear. ________________________ 1 Blue Ventures Conservation, 22-24 Highbury Grove,

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“…Several studies of coral populations of the Indian and Pacific Ocean have described the 1998 post-bleaching coral recovery as a result of life history traits and recruitment dynamics (Arthur et al 2006, Golbuu et al 2007, Sheppard et al 2008. Montastraea annularis is a species with low recruitment rates (Hughes and Jackson 1985, Szmant et al 1997, Hughes and Tanner 2000, Edmunds and Elahi 2007.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demographics of bleaching in a major Caribbean reef-building coral:Montastraea annularis

Hernández‐Pacheco¹,

Hernández-Delgado²,

Sabat³

2011

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Mass bleaching events have become a major cause of coral decline at a global scale. In the summer/fall of 2005 the northeastern Caribbean experienced a record-breaking sea surface warming that resulted in a prolonged mass bleaching event and significant percent coral cover decline of the principal Caribbean reef-building coral Montastraea annularis. In this study, we measured changes in the vital rates of a M. annularis population before, during, and after the 2005 mass bleaching event; stochastically projected the population with different bleaching regimes using a 100 year horizon; and quantified the population level effect of the bleaching event using a life table response experiment. Size-based transition matrices from 2001-2009 were constructed following 399 colonies through time in 17 permanent photo-transects located in Culebra Island, Puerto Rico. Temporal variation in the population growth rate indicates the population (1) was in demographic equilibrium before the event (k ' 1.0), (2) suffered a significant decline in growth rate for two consecutive years after the event (k , 1.0), and (3) demographically recovered three years after the event (k ' 1.0). Partial tissue mortality due to bleaching caused dramatic colony fragmentation that resulted in a population made up almost entirely of small colonies by 2007 (97% were ,50 cm 2 ). The stochastic simulation indicates that an annual probability of bleaching in excess of 6% would result in a decreasing population (k s , 1.0) with a reduction of more than 54% in colony abundance after 100 years of projection. The life table response experiments reveal that most of the effect that bleaching had on the population growth rate comes from changes in the survivorship of small colonies. Recent trends in population decline, as well as the life history traits of M. annularis, suggest that recovery of affected populations by sexual recruitment alone is unlikely. Our findings indicate that survival of small colonies will determine the viability of the M. annularis populations within the context of rising sea surface temperatures. We conclude that the demography of M. annularis is highly susceptible to bleaching and that its viability is seriously compromised under the predicted global warming scenarios.

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Archipelago-wide coral recovery patterns since 1998 in the Chagos Archipelago, central Indian Ocean

Cited by 114 publications

References 20 publications

Post-bleaching coral community change on southern Maldivian reefs: is there potential for rapid recovery?

Post-bleaching coral community change on southern Maldivian reefs: is there potential for rapid recovery?

Demise of Madagascar's once great barrier reef : changes in coral reef conditions over 40 years

Demographics of bleaching in a major Caribbean reef-building coral:Montastraea annularis

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