Impact of sea-level rise on cross-shore sediment transport on fetch-limited barrier reef island beaches under modal and cyclonic conditions

Baldock, Tom E.; Golshani, Aliasghar; Atkinson, Alexander; Shimamoto, T.; Wu, S.; Callaghan, David P.; Mumby, Peter J.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.06.017

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The presence of rubble and sand was also a strong negative predictor of juvenile coral density. It is well reported that corals experience high post-settlement mortality on unconsolidated surfaces such as sand due to its constant movement with wave energy and ability to smother or crush coral spat (Birrell et al 2005;Risk 2014;Baldock et al 2015). Periodic movement is also thought to prevent post-settlement survival of corals on unconsolidated rubble.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering drivers of juvenile coral density following mass bleaching

et al. 2019

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Thermally induced mass coral bleaching is globally responsible for major losses of coral cover. Coral recovery from mass coral disturbances like the 2016 bleaching event hinges on successful recruitment of new coral colonies to the existing population. Juvenile corals as a life history stage represent survival and growth of new recruits. As such, habitat preferences of juvenile corals and how environmental parameters interact to drive coral recovery following a mass bleaching disturbance are important research areas. To expand our knowledge on this topic, we compared juvenile coral densities from before the 2016 bleaching event with those after the disturbance and identified abiotic and biotic characteristics of 21 reefs in the inner Seychelles that predict juvenile coral densities. Our results show that following the 2016 bleaching event, juvenile coral densities were significantly reduced by about 70%, with a particularly large decline in juvenile Acropora. Macroalgae present a large obstacle to survival of juvenile corals in a post-bleaching setting, but their influence varies as a function of herbivore biomass, reef structure, and reef type. Higher biomass of herbivorous fish weakens the negative effect of macroalgae on juvenile corals, and structural complexity on granitic reefs is a strong positive predictor of juvenile coral density. However, structural complexity on carbonate or patch reefs was negatively related to juvenile coral density, highlighting the importance of considering interactive terms in analyses. Our study emphasises the importance of habitat for juvenile coral abundance at both fine and seascape scales, adding to the literature on drivers of reef rebound potential following severe coral bleaching. Keywords Coral reef recovery Á Recruitment Á Coral bleaching Á Coral reef ecology Á Macroalgae Á Seychelles Topic Editor Morgan S. Pratchett

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering drivers of juvenile coral density following mass bleaching

et al. 2019

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“…This relative vulnerability of reefs in the IO was associated with higher rates of SLR (0.94 mm yr -1 greater, PERMANOVA; p=0.02, Extended Data Tables 2, 3) rather than any biogeographic difference in accretion potential (PERMANOVA; p=0.65, Extended Data Table 4). While IO reefs are generally more resilient than those of the TWA 46 , current ecological trajectories suggest that few coral reef locations will likely maintain sufficiently high coral cover levels to keep pace with future SLR, resulting in greater incident wave energy exposure, and changing spectrum of wave processes, along reef-fronted shorelines 3,6 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Along coral reef fronted coastlines the maintenance of reef surface elevation relative to the rate of sea-level change will critically influence magnitudes of future shoreline change and flooding risk 3,4 . This is because reef structure and water depth modulate acrossreef and nearshore wave energy regimes [5][6][7] . Increases in mean water depths will occur where vertical growth rates lag behind actual or relative (e.g., glacial isostatic adjustment or land subsidence) increases in sea-level 4,8 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Loss of coral reef growth capacity to track future increases in sea level

Perry

Álvarez‐Filip

Graham

et al. 2018

Nature

274

269

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Sea-level rise (SLR) is predicted to elevate water depths above coral reefs and to increase coastal wave exposure as ecological degradation limits vertical reef growth, but projections lack data on interactions between local rates of reef growth and sea level rise. Here we calculate the vertical growth potential of more than 200 tropical western Atlantic and Indian Ocean reefs, and compare these against recent and projected rates of SLR under different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios. Although many reefs retain accretion rates close to recent SLR trends, few will have the capacity to track SLR projections under RCP4.5 scenarios without sustained ecological recovery, and under RCP8.5 scenarios most reefs are predicted to experience mean water depth increases of more than 0.5 m by 2100. Coral cover strongly predicts reef capacity to track SLR, but threshold cover levels that will be necessary to prevent submergence are well above those observed on most reefs. Urgent action is thus needed to mitigate climate, sea-level and future ecological changes in order to limit the magnitude of future reef submergence.

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“…Our research advances previous work by applying a comprehensively evaluated physics-based numerical model 20 , 29 to directly simulate wave overtopping motions resulting from incident wave dissipation and nonlinear surf-zone processes. Our approach builds on previous studies that utilised a wide range of idealised bathymetries and wave conditions to investigate the impacts of SLR on reef coastlines 26 – 28 , 30 . Consequently, we present the first analysis of wave overtopping that is applicable to reef coastlines globally, under present and future SLs by representing 60,000 unique morphology, wave energy and SL scenarios.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting wave overtopping thresholds on coral reef-island shorelines with future sea-level rise

Beetham

Kench

2018

Nat Commun

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Wave-driven flooding is a serious hazard on coral reef-fringed coastlines that will be exacerbated by global sea-level rise. Despite the global awareness of atoll island vulnerability, little is known about the physical processes that control wave induced flooding on reef environments. To resolve the primary controls on wave-driven flooding at present and future sea levels, we present a globally applicable method for calculating wave overtopping thresholds on reef coastlines. A unique dataset of 60,000 fully nonlinear wave transformation simulations representing a wide range of wave energy, morphology and sea levels conditions was analysed to develop a tool for exploring the future trajectory of atoll island vulnerability to sea-level rise. The proposed reef-island overtopping threshold (RIOT) provides a widely applicable first-order assessment of reef-coast vulnerability to wave hazards with sea-level. Future overtopping thresholds identified for different atoll islands reveal marked spatial variability and highlight distinct morphological characteristics that enhance coastal resilience.

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Impact of sea-level rise on cross-shore sediment transport on fetch-limited barrier reef island beaches under modal and cyclonic conditions

Cited by 19 publications

References 45 publications

Uncovering drivers of juvenile coral density following mass bleaching

Uncovering drivers of juvenile coral density following mass bleaching

Loss of coral reef growth capacity to track future increases in sea level

Predicting wave overtopping thresholds on coral reef-island shorelines with future sea-level rise

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