Effects of suspended sediments and nutrient enrichment on juvenile corals

Humanes, Adriana; Fink, Artur; Willis, Bette L.; Fabricius, Katharina; Beer, Dirk de; Negri, Andrew P.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.08.003

Cited by 41 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Thus, high suspended sediments in regions where Ω ar is low would further reduce CCA and CJ and increase MA. These observed responses also agree with known biological mechanisms, for example, high levels of suspended sediments reduce CJ survivorship and growth and are energetically costly for young corals (Humanes et al, 2017), sedimentation is associated with low CCA cover in the GBR (Fabricius & De'ath, 2001), and MA are known to increase with declining Secchi depth in the GBR (De'ath & Fabricius, 2010).…”

Section: Mitigation Of Coastal Acidification Through Water Quality supporting

confidence: 82%

Shifts in coralline algae, macroalgae, and coral juveniles in the Great Barrier Reef associated with present‐day ocean acidification

Smith

Mongin

Thompson

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Seawater acidification from increasing CO2 is often enhanced in coastal waters due to elevated nutrients and sedimentation. Our understanding of the effects of ocean and coastal acidification on present‐day ecosystems is limited. Here we use data from three independent large‐scale reef monitoring programs to assess coral reef responses associated with changes in mean aragonite saturation state (Ωar) in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBR). Spatial declines in mean Ωar are associated with monotonic declines in crustose coralline algae (up to 3.1‐fold) and coral juvenile densities (1.3‐fold), while non‐calcifying macroalgae greatly increase (up to 3.2‐fold), additionally to their natural changes across and along the GBR. These three key groups of organisms are important proxies for coral reef health. Our data suggest a tipping point at Ωar 3.5–3.6 for these coral reef health indicators. Suspended sediments acted as an additive stressor. The latter suggests that effective water quality management to reduce suspended sediments might locally and temporarily reduce the pressure from ocean acidification on these organisms.

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Section: Mitigation Of Coastal Acidification Through Water Quality supporting

confidence: 82%

Shifts in coralline algae, macroalgae, and coral juveniles in the Great Barrier Reef associated with present‐day ocean acidification

Smith

Mongin

Thompson

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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“…This is mainly based on data showing that more and more coral species are being found in relatively high-latitude coral reefs. However, these potential refuges are also under stress (Morgan, Perry, Smithers, Johnson, & Daniell, 2016;Morgan, Perry, Smithers, Johnson, & Gulliver, 2016), mainly caused by widespread local anthropogenic pressures such as sediment load (e.g., Bessell-Browne, Negri, Fisher, Clode, Duckworth, & Jones, 2017;Bessell-Browne et al, 2017a;Bessell-Browne et al, 2017b), overfishing (e.g., Cramer et al, 2012;Jackson et al, 2001;Tebbett et al, 2018), eutrophication (e.g., Bruno et al, 2010;Humanes et al, 2017), and mass-bleaching caused by anthropogenic actions (e.g., Bellwood et al, 2004;Carpenter et al, 2008;Hughes et al, 2017Hughes et al, , 2018.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Intergeneric Variation in Physiological Indicators of Corals in the South China Sea: Insights Into Their Current State and Their Adaptability to Environmental Stress

Qin

Wang

et al. 2019

JGR Oceans

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It is well known that coral thermal bleaching is mainly caused by abnormally high temperatures, but the spatial/intergeneric variation in coral‐algal symbiosis and its linkage to coral bleaching susceptibility is not well understood. In this study, 654 coral samples were collected from six coral reef regions (CRRs) in the South China Sea (SCS), between the Nansha Islands (~10°N) and Daya Bay (22°50′N). They were analyzed to explore how geographical/environmental variation affects coral bleaching susceptibility. The results showed significant spatial and intergeneric variation in zooxanthellae density, Chl a content, and tissue biomass. Massive corals generally showed higher values than branching corals for all three parameters across CRRs. Spatial analysis showed that these parameters were lowest in the Nansha Islands and highest in Daya Bay, indicating increases with latitude. Several factors may have accounted for this trend, with the most important being sea surface temperature and nutrients. Additionally, we observed a relationship between physiological parameters and bleaching susceptibility, which was that branching corals had greater bleaching susceptibility than massive corals. Coral community composition and live coral cover data showing increasing dominance of massive corals in the SCS support the above inference. Relatively high‐latitude areas have been proposed as potential refuges for corals under continued global warming and the physiological parameters in the present study seem to support this. However, in spite of the aforementioned results, the smallest live coral cover was found in the northern CRRs. This suggests that this refuge function is currently compromised, mainly due to increasing destructive anthropogenic actions.

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“…Suspended sediment in the pelagic domain can lead to serious physical damage associated with sediment abrasion, clogging of feeding mechanisms, tissue injuries and necrosis (Erftemeijer, Riegl, Hoeksema, & Todd, ; Fabricius, ; Rogers, ). Deposition of increased amounts of sediment on the seafloor causes smothering after burial by sediments (Fabricius & Wolanski, ; Humanes, Fink, et al, ; Liu et al, ). With an increase in suspended sediment concentration and deposition, alterations of the physical and chemical environment can reduce the suitability of habitats, resulting in physical displacement of organisms or forcing them to migrate to other areas (Barletta et al, ; Pulfrich & Branch, ; Waycott et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, the expansion of shipping and port activities requires an increase in dredging services (e.g., Barletta, Cysneiros, & Lima, 2016;Fraser et al, 2017;Jones, Bessell-Browne, Fisher, Klonowski, & Slivkoff, 2016), which also cause episodic events of elevated turbidity associated with the dumping of dredged sediments over coastal waters. Given the extended degradation of marine ecosystems as a consequence of increased inputs of sediments (Bessell-Browne, Negri, et al, 2017;De'ath & Fabricius, 2010;Eyre & Ferguson, 2006;Humanes, Fink, et al, 2017;Wilber & Clarke, 2001), the number of studies exploring the impacts of sediment pollution has proliferated considerably in recent years (Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Deposition of increased amounts of sediment on the seafloor causes smothering after burial by sediments (Fabricius & Wolanski, 2000;Humanes, Fink, et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2015). With an increase in suspended sediment concentration and deposition, alterations of the physical and chemical environment can reduce the suitability of habitats, resulting in physical displacement of organisms or forcing them to migrate to other areas (Barletta et al, 2016;Pulfrich & Branch, 2014;Waycott et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A meta‐analysis reveals global patterns of sediment effects on marine biodiversity

Magris

Ban

2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Sediment disturbances are important threats affecting marine biodiversity, but the variety of biological responses has not yet been synthesized. Here, we collate all available information to compare the extent of impacts across different taxonomic groups, habitat types and pathways of impact (light attenuation, suspended sediment and sedimentation). Location Global. Time period Data collected from 1979 to 2017. Major taxa studied Corals, fishes, seagrasses, sponges, macroalgae, ascidians, bryozoans, crustaceans, echinoderms, molluscs and polychaetes. Methods We used meta‐analyses to evaluate the effects of sediments across 842 observations found in 110 publications. We also evaluated some of the biological and methodological factors that could explain the variable effects observed in different studies. Results We found a significant negative effect of sediments on behavioural responses of species, reproduction and recruitment processes, the morphology of organisms, physiology, community abundance and diversity, and species interactions. In contrast, the overall effect on the abundance of individual species was statistically non‐significant and there was a strong positive effect on abundance for sponge and polychaete species. Many individual studies described physiological effects on coral reefs, but the effects on the diversity of soft‐bottom and coral reef communities were particularly detrimental. Phototrophic species were generally more negatively impacted by sediments than heterotrophs, driven by strong physiological responses in crustose coralline algae and seagrasses. Additionally, species with limited mobility were more vulnerable to sediment disturbances than highly mobile species. Sedimentation alone triggered more consistently negative effects on most biological responses than light depletion and suspended sediments. We found evidence for increased impacts on community diversity when more than one pathway of impact was present, indicating that these disturbances can disrupt whole ecosystems. Main conclusions Our meta‐analysis provided, for the first time, strong quantitative support of negative effects of sediments on marine biodiversity. Taxonomic groups, habitat types and life‐history characteristics were most influential in determining the biological responses to sediment disturbances, highlighting the importance of an ecosystem‐based approach when fully accounting for the impacts of sediments.

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Effects of suspended sediments and nutrient enrichment on juvenile corals

Cited by 41 publications

References 88 publications

Shifts in coralline algae, macroalgae, and coral juveniles in the Great Barrier Reef associated with present‐day ocean acidification

Shifts in coralline algae, macroalgae, and coral juveniles in the Great Barrier Reef associated with present‐day ocean acidification

Spatial and Intergeneric Variation in Physiological Indicators of Corals in the South China Sea: Insights Into Their Current State and Their Adaptability to Environmental Stress

A meta‐analysis reveals global patterns of sediment effects on marine biodiversity

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