Impact of two sequential super typhoons on coral reef communities in Palau

Gouezo, Marine; Golbuu, Yimnang; Woesik, Robert van; Rehm, Lincoln; Koshiba, Shirley; Doropoulos, Christopher

doi:10.3354/meps11518

Cited by 35 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The typhoons severely reduced coral cover along the eastern barrier reef and significantly reduced juvenile coral abundances (Gouezo et al. ). Immediately following the first typhoon, a bloom of the red foliose macroalga Liagora lasted for 9 months at reefs with moderate to high wave exposure (Roff et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of coral recruitment to subtle shifts in early community succession

Doropoulos

Roff

Visser

et al. 2017

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Community succession following disturbance depends on positive and negative interactions, the strength of which change along environmental gradients. To investigate how early succession affects coral reef recovery, we conducted an 18-month experiment in Palau, using recruitment tiles and herbivore exclusion cages. One set of reefs has higher wave exposure and had previously undergone a phase shift to macroalgae following a major typhoon, whereas the other set of reefs have lower wave exposure and did not undergo a macroalgal phase shift. Similar successional trajectories were observed at all sites when herbivores were excluded: turf algae dominated early succession, followed by shifts to foliose macroalgae and heterotrophic invertebrates. However, trajectories differed in the presence of herbivores. At low wave exposure reefs, herbivores promoted coralline algae and limited turf and encrusting fleshy algae in crevice microhabitats, facilitating optimal coral recruitment. Under medium wave exposure, relatively higher but still low coverage of turf and encrusting fleshy algae (15-25%) found in crevice microhabitats inhibited coral recruitment, persisting throughout multiple recruitment events. Our results indicate that altered interaction strength in different wave environments following disturbance can drive subtle changes in early succession that cascade to alter secondary succession to coral recruitment and system recovery.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of coral recruitment to subtle shifts in early community succession

Doropoulos

Roff

Visser

et al. 2017

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Black bars represent degree heating weeks (DHW) in 1 July -30 Sept 1998, 2010 and 2014 [40]. Black lines in the eastern outer reef habitat represent two typhoons occurrence (December 2012 and November 2013, [29] Merulinidae SEM showed a poor fit as IGR was not affected by any variable (electronic supplementary material, figure S6). However, juvenile coral density was positively affected by the availability of substrate, which was higher on the outer reefs and at 3 m across all habitats.…”

Section: (C) Coral Taxa Recoverymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout the Palau archipelago, nearly 50% of the live corals were totally bleached by the 1998 El-Niñ o mass coral bleaching event [27], and by 2001 more than 80% of 315 reefs around Palau only had 0-5% Acropora cover [28]. Palauan reefs then experienced 14 years without any major disturbance, until two category-5 (Simpson scale) typhoons inflicted an average 60% loss in live coral cover along its eastern outer reefs in 2012 and 2013 [29]. Between these major disturbances, there was a minor thermal stress event in 2010 that induced little mortality [30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of recovery and reassembly of coral reef communities

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding processes that drive community recovery are needed to predict ecosystem trajectories and manage for impacts under increasing global threats. Yet, the quantification of community recovery in coral reefs has been challenging owing to a paucity of long-term ecological data and high frequency of disturbances. Here we investigate community re-assembly and the bio-physical drivers that determine the capacity of coral reefs to recover following the 1998 bleaching event, using long-term monitoring data across four habitats in Palau. Our study documents that the time needed for coral reefs to recover from bleaching disturbance to coral-dominated state in disturbance-free regimes is at least 9-12 years. Importantly, we show that reefs in two habitats achieve relative stability to a climax community state within that time frame. We then investigated the direct and indirect effects of drivers on the rate of recovery of four dominant coral groups using a structural equation modelling approach. While the rates of recovery differed among coral groups, we found that larval connectivity and juvenile coral density were prominent drivers of recovery for fast growing Acropora but not for the other three groups. Competitive algae and parrotfish had negative and positive effects on coral recovery in general, whereas wave exposure had variable effects related to coral morphology. Overall, the time needed for community re-assembly is habitat specific and drivers of recovery are taxa specific, considerations that require incorporation into planning for ecosystem management under climate change.

show abstract

“…Ocean acidification will increase chemical‐reef erosion of carbonate framework (Doney et al ). Increasing cyclone intensity and shifts in cyclone trajectories will impact the rates of physical‐reef erosion (Gouezo et al ). Increases in human‐population densities, local pollution (Risk et al ) and fishing pressure (Carreiro‐Silva and McClanahan ) will increase biological‐reef erosion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced carbon emissions and fishing pressure are both necessary for equatorial coral reefs to keep up with rising seas

Cacciapaglia

Woesik

2020

Ecography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A rapid increase in sea-level rise is generating vertical accommodation space on modern coral reefs. Yet increases in sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) are reducing the capacity of coral reefs to keep up with sea-level rise. We use ensemble species distribution models of four coral species (Porites rus, Porites lobata, Acropora hyacinthus and Acropora digitifera) to gauge potential geographic differences in gross carbonate production. Net carbonate production was estimated by considering erosional rates of ocean acidification, increasing cyclone intensity, local pollution, fishing pressure and the projected burdens of increases in SSTs (under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5, 6.0 and 8.5) through to the year 2100. Our models predict that only 4 ± 0.1% (~60 000 km 2 ) of Indo-Pacific coral reefs are projected to keep up with sea-level rise by the year 2100 under RCP 8.5 -most of which will be located near the Equator. However, with drastic reductions in emissions (under RCPs 4.5 and 6.0 Wm −2 ), we predict that 15 ± 0.3% (~250 000 km 2 ) (under RCP 4.5 Wm −2 ) and 12 ± 0.7% (~200 000 km 2 ) (under RCP 6.0 Wm −2 ) of Indo-Pacific coral reefs, have the potential to keep up with sea-level rise by the year 2100. Yet the burdens of fishing pressure and its cascading effects are projected to be responsible for substantial reef erosion, nearly halving the number of reefs able to keep up with sea-level rise. If action is taken immediately and emissions are drastically reduced to RCPs 4.5 or 6.0 Wm −2 , and reef management reduces the burdens of local pollution and fishing pressure, then our model predicts that 21-27% (~350 000-470 000 km 2 ) of Indo-Pacific coral reefs -most of which will be located near the Equator -would have the potential to keep up with sea-level rise by the year 2100.

show abstract

Impact of two sequential super typhoons on coral reef communities in Palau

Cited by 35 publications

References 63 publications

Sensitivity of coral recruitment to subtle shifts in early community succession

Sensitivity of coral recruitment to subtle shifts in early community succession

Drivers of recovery and reassembly of coral reef communities

Reduced carbon emissions and fishing pressure are both necessary for equatorial coral reefs to keep up with rising seas

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About