Environmental Limits to Coral Reef Development: Where Do We Draw the Line?

Kleypas, Joan A.; McManus, John; Meñez, Lambert Anthony B.

doi:10.1093/icb/39.1.146

Cited by 834 publications

(791 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Reefs in the TEP experience more frequent subaerial exposure during La Niña than at other times, which can result in high levels of coral mortality 41,42 . Additionally, enhanced rainfall during La Niña events in some parts of the TEP, including Pacific Panamá [36][37][38] , can lead to highly turbid conditions because of enhanced coastal runoff 41 , potentially resulting in limited light availability and reduced coral growth 43 . Finally, La Niña is associated with a strengthening of the northeast trade winds, which increases upwelling in some parts of the TEP 30,44 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic and biotic thresholds of coral-reef shutdown

et al. 2015

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Climate change is now the leading cause of coral-reef degradation and is altering the adaptive landscape of coral populations 1,2 . Increasing sea temperatures and declining carbonate saturation states are inhibiting short-term rates of coral calcification, carbonate precipitation and submarine cementation [3][4][5] . A critical challenge to coral-reef conservation is understanding the mechanisms by which environmental perturbations scale up to influence long-term rates of reef-framework construction and ecosystem function 6,7 . Here we reconstruct climatic and oceanographic variability using corals sampled from a 6,750-year core from Pacific Panamá. Simultaneous reconstructions of coral palaeophysiology and reef accretion allowed us to identify the climatic and biotic thresholds associated with a 2,500-year hiatus in vertical accretion beginning ∼4,100 years ago 8 . Stronger upwelling, cooler sea temperatures and greater precipitation-indicators of La Niña-like conditions-were closely associated with abrupt reef shutdown. The physiological condition of the corals deteriorated at the onset of the hiatus, corroborating theoretical predictions that the tipping points of radical ecosystem transitions should be manifested sublethally in the biotic constituents 9 . Future climate change could cause similar threshold behaviours, leading to another shutdown in reef development in the tropical eastern Pacific.Climatic and oceanographic variability have played a dominant role in the development of reefs throughout the Phanerozoic eon 10 , and the recent past is no exception. In Panamá and several other locations in the Pacific, coral reefs stopped accreting vertically for 2,500 years, beginning ∼4,100 cal yr BP (ref. 8; calibrated 14 C calendar years before 1950; Fig. 1a). Correlations with regional palaeoclimate proxies suggest that enhanced variability of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was the ultimate cause of reef shutdown in the tropical eastern Pacific 8 (TEP). Climatic shifts at that time led to environmental and cultural impacts on a global scale 11,12 .In this study we investigated the long-term impacts of environmental variability on coral physiology and reef development in the TEP to ascertain the climatic, oceanographic and biotic controls on ecosystem state in the past. We quantified the range of environmental conditions that corals experienced during the past ∼6,750 years to determine whether significant changes in climate or oceanography were associated with changes in coral physiology or reef accretion. We then evaluated the environmental and physiological thresholds that characterized the catastrophic phase shift to the hiatus.In Pacific Panamá, El Niño-like periods are characterized by a warm, dry climate and a reduction in seasonal upwelling. Those conditions are reversed during La Niña-like periods (Supplementary Discussion and Supplementary Fig. 1). Contemporary environmental variability is high at Contadora Island, a site in Pacific Panamá that is exposed to intense seasonal upwelling and ...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climatic and biotic thresholds of coral-reef shutdown

et al. 2015

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“…While the global distribution of coral reefs is governed by light availability, temperature, nutrients and X ar (Kleypas et al 1999), at the local scale, the conditions that determine coral reef calcification, distribution and community composition are much more complicated. Coral reefs experience high rates of metabolic activity and calcification is influenced by hydrodynamics (e.g., circulation), geomorphology, light, temperature, nutrients and benthic composition (Grigg 1982;Bates et al 2001;Suzuki and Kawahata 2003;Anthony et al 2011;Albright et al 2013;Falter et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Assessment of CO2–Carbonic Acid System Dynamics in a Pristine Coral Reef Ecosystem, French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

et al. 2017

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Observations of surface seawater fugacity of carbon dioxide (fCO 2 ) and pH were collected over a period of several days at French Frigate Shoals (FFS) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) in order to gain an understanding of the natural spatiotemporal variability of the marine inorganic carbon system in a pristine coral reef ecosystem. These data show clear island-to-open ocean gradients in fCO 2 and total alkalinity that can be measured 10-20 km offshore, indicating that metabolic processes influence the CO 2 -carbonic acid system over large areas of ocean surrounding FFS and by implication the islands and atolls of the NWHI. The magnitude and extent of this spatial gradient may be driven by a combination of physical and biogeochemical processes including reef water residence time, hydrodynamic forcing of currents and tidal flow, and metabolic processes that occur both on the reef and within the lagoon.

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“…The Solitary Islands contain the last diverse coral assemblages on the east Australian coast with ~115 scleractinian species (Harriott et al 1994), and Lord Howe Island has the southernmost fringing reef in the Pacific with ~65 species in 33 genera (Veron 1993). High latitude corals experience lower mean annual sea surface temperatures (SST) and lower aragonite saturation states, both of which are likely to result in reduced growth and fecundity (Kleypas et al 1999, Harriott & Banks 2002, potentially making these populations reliant on recolonization by larvae from tropical waters (Veron & Done 1979). However, corals at high latitudes do reproduce (see summary in Fellegara et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The reproductive biology of the scleractinian coral Plesiastrea versipora in Sydney Harbour, Australia

Madsen¹,

Madin²,

Tan³

et al. 2014

Sex. Early. Dev. Aquat. Org.

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The scleractinian coral Plesiastrea versipora occurs throughout most of the IndoPacific; however, the species is only abundant in temperate regions, including Sydney Harbour, in New South Wales, Australia, where it can be the dominant sessile organism over small spatial scales. Population genetics indicates that the Sydney Harbour population is highly isolated, suggesting long-term persistence will depend upon on the local production of recruits. To determine the potential role of sexual reproduction in population persistence, we examined a number of features of the reproductive biology of P. versipora for the first time, including the sexual system, the length of the gametogenetic cycles and size-specific fecundity. P. versipora was gonochoric, supporting recent molecular work removing the species from the Family Merulinidae, in which the species are exclusively hermaphroditic. The oogenic cycle was between 13 and 14 mo and the spermatogenetic cycle between 7 and 8 mo, with broadcast spawning inferred to occur in either January or February. Colony sex was strongly influenced by colony size: the probability of being male increased with colony area. The longer oogenic cycle suggests that females are investing energy in reproduction rather than growth, and consequently, males are on average larger for a given age. Alternatively, colonies may change sex from female to male as they grow. In contrast, per polyp fecundity did not vary with colony size. We conclude that the Sydney Harbour population is reproductively active and therefore has the potential to maintain current levels of abundance even without an external supply of propagules.

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Environmental Limits to Coral Reef Development: Where Do We Draw the Line?

Cited by 834 publications

References 38 publications

Climatic and biotic thresholds of coral-reef shutdown

Climatic and biotic thresholds of coral-reef shutdown

Spatiotemporal Assessment of CO2–Carbonic Acid System Dynamics in a Pristine Coral Reef Ecosystem, French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

The reproductive biology of the scleractinian coral Plesiastrea versipora in Sydney Harbour, Australia

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