The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence

Abstract When Caribbean long-spined sea urchins, Diadema antillarum, are stable at high population densities, their grazing facilitates scleractinian coral dominance. Today, populations remain suppressed after a mass mortality in 1983–1984 caused a loss of their ecosystem functions, and led to wides...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	M. D. V. Bodmer, P. M. Wheeler, P. Anand, S. E. Cameron, Sanni Hintikka, W. Cai, A. O. Borcsok, D. A. Exton
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6a716dfd91ee4f63b78cbb8d49039a71
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:6a716dfd91ee4f63b78cbb8d49039a71
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6a716dfd91ee4f63b78cbb8d49039a712021-12-02T13:40:51ZThe ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence10.1038/s41598-021-87232-92045-2322https://doaj.org/article/6a716dfd91ee4f63b78cbb8d49039a712021-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87232-9https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract When Caribbean long-spined sea urchins, Diadema antillarum, are stable at high population densities, their grazing facilitates scleractinian coral dominance. Today, populations remain suppressed after a mass mortality in 1983–1984 caused a loss of their ecosystem functions, and led to widespread declines in ecosystem health. This study provides three lines of evidence to support the assertion that a lack of habitat complexity on Caribbean coral reefs contributes to their recovery failure. Firstly, we extracted fractal dimension (D) measurements, used as a proxy for habitat complexity, from 3D models to demonstrate that urchins preferentially inhabit areas of above average complexity at ecologically relevant spatial scales. Secondly, controlled behaviour experiments showed that an energetically expensive predator avoidance behaviour is reduced by 52% in complex habitats, potentially enabling increased resource allocation to reproduction. Thirdly, we deployed a network of simple and cost-effective artificial structures on a heavily degraded reef system in Honduras. Over a 24-month period the adult D. antillarum population around the artificial reefs increased by 320% from 0.05 ± 0.01 to 0.21 ± 0.04 m−2 and the juvenile D. antillarum population increased by 750% from 0.08 ± 0.02 to 0.68 ± 0.07 m−2. This study emphasises the important role of habitat structure in the ecology of D. antillarum and as a barrier to its widespread recovery.M. D. V. BodmerP. M. WheelerP. AnandS. E. CameronSanni HintikkaW. CaiA. O. BorcsokD. A. ExtonNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q M. D. V. Bodmer P. M. Wheeler P. Anand S. E. Cameron Sanni Hintikka W. Cai A. O. Borcsok D. A. Exton The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence
description	Abstract When Caribbean long-spined sea urchins, Diadema antillarum, are stable at high population densities, their grazing facilitates scleractinian coral dominance. Today, populations remain suppressed after a mass mortality in 1983–1984 caused a loss of their ecosystem functions, and led to widespread declines in ecosystem health. This study provides three lines of evidence to support the assertion that a lack of habitat complexity on Caribbean coral reefs contributes to their recovery failure. Firstly, we extracted fractal dimension (D) measurements, used as a proxy for habitat complexity, from 3D models to demonstrate that urchins preferentially inhabit areas of above average complexity at ecologically relevant spatial scales. Secondly, controlled behaviour experiments showed that an energetically expensive predator avoidance behaviour is reduced by 52% in complex habitats, potentially enabling increased resource allocation to reproduction. Thirdly, we deployed a network of simple and cost-effective artificial structures on a heavily degraded reef system in Honduras. Over a 24-month period the adult D. antillarum population around the artificial reefs increased by 320% from 0.05 ± 0.01 to 0.21 ± 0.04 m−2 and the juvenile D. antillarum population increased by 750% from 0.08 ± 0.02 to 0.68 ± 0.07 m−2. This study emphasises the important role of habitat structure in the ecology of D. antillarum and as a barrier to its widespread recovery.
format	article
author	M. D. V. Bodmer P. M. Wheeler P. Anand S. E. Cameron Sanni Hintikka W. Cai A. O. Borcsok D. A. Exton
author_facet	M. D. V. Bodmer P. M. Wheeler P. Anand S. E. Cameron Sanni Hintikka W. Cai A. O. Borcsok D. A. Exton
author_sort	M. D. V. Bodmer
title	The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence
title_short	The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence
title_full	The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence
title_fullStr	The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence
title_full_unstemmed	The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence
title_sort	ecological importance of habitat complexity to the caribbean coral reef herbivore diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/6a716dfd91ee4f63b78cbb8d49039a71
work_keys_str_mv	AT mdvbodmer theecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT pmwheeler theecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT panand theecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT secameron theecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT sannihintikka theecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT wcai theecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT aoborcsok theecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT daexton theecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT mdvbodmer ecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT pmwheeler ecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT panand ecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT secameron ecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT sannihintikka ecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT wcai ecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT aoborcsok ecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence AT daexton ecologicalimportanceofhabitatcomplexitytothecaribbeancoralreefherbivorediademaantillarumthreelinesofevidence
_version_	1718392620302991360

The ecological importance of habitat complexity to the Caribbean coral reef herbivore Diadema antillarum: three lines of evidence

Ejemplares similares