Coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Much research on coral reefs has documented differential declines in coral and associated organisms. In order to contextualise this general degradation, research on community composition is necessary in the context of varied disturbance histories and the biological processes and physical features th...

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Autores principales:	Nicholas A J Graham, Karen M Chong-Seng, Cindy Huchery, Fraser A Januchowski-Hartley, Kirsty L Nash
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6f94e4a6b28a4f308db4d963264b3694
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6f94e4a6b28a4f308db4d963264b36942021-11-25T06:10:09ZCoral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0101204https://doaj.org/article/6f94e4a6b28a4f308db4d963264b36942014-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24983747/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Much research on coral reefs has documented differential declines in coral and associated organisms. In order to contextualise this general degradation, research on community composition is necessary in the context of varied disturbance histories and the biological processes and physical features thought to retard or promote recovery. We conducted a spatial assessment of coral reef communities across five reefs of the central Great Barrier Reef, Australia, with known disturbance histories, and assessed patterns of coral cover and community composition related to a range of other variables thought to be important for reef dynamics. Two of the reefs had not been extensively disturbed for at least 15 years prior to the surveys. Three of the reefs had been severely impacted by crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and coral bleaching approximately a decade before the surveys, from which only one of them was showing signs of recovery based on independent surveys. We incorporated wave exposure (sheltered and exposed) and reef zone (slope, crest and flat) into our design, providing a comprehensive assessment of the spatial patterns in community composition on these reefs. Categorising corals into life history groupings, we document major coral community differences in the unrecovered reefs, compared to the composition and covers found on the undisturbed reefs. The recovered reef, despite having similar coral cover, had a different community composition from the undisturbed reefs, which may indicate slow successional processes, or a different natural community dominance pattern due to hydrology and other oceanographic factors. The variables that best correlated with patterns in the coral community among sites included the density of juvenile corals, herbivore fish biomass, fish species richness and the cover of macroalgae. Given increasing impacts to the Great Barrier Reef, efforts to mitigate local stressors will be imperative to encouraging coral communities to persist into the future.Nicholas A J GrahamKaren M Chong-SengCindy HucheryFraser A Januchowski-HartleyKirsty L NashPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 7, p e101204 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Nicholas A J Graham Karen M Chong-Seng Cindy Huchery Fraser A Januchowski-Hartley Kirsty L Nash Coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
description	Much research on coral reefs has documented differential declines in coral and associated organisms. In order to contextualise this general degradation, research on community composition is necessary in the context of varied disturbance histories and the biological processes and physical features thought to retard or promote recovery. We conducted a spatial assessment of coral reef communities across five reefs of the central Great Barrier Reef, Australia, with known disturbance histories, and assessed patterns of coral cover and community composition related to a range of other variables thought to be important for reef dynamics. Two of the reefs had not been extensively disturbed for at least 15 years prior to the surveys. Three of the reefs had been severely impacted by crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and coral bleaching approximately a decade before the surveys, from which only one of them was showing signs of recovery based on independent surveys. We incorporated wave exposure (sheltered and exposed) and reef zone (slope, crest and flat) into our design, providing a comprehensive assessment of the spatial patterns in community composition on these reefs. Categorising corals into life history groupings, we document major coral community differences in the unrecovered reefs, compared to the composition and covers found on the undisturbed reefs. The recovered reef, despite having similar coral cover, had a different community composition from the undisturbed reefs, which may indicate slow successional processes, or a different natural community dominance pattern due to hydrology and other oceanographic factors. The variables that best correlated with patterns in the coral community among sites included the density of juvenile corals, herbivore fish biomass, fish species richness and the cover of macroalgae. Given increasing impacts to the Great Barrier Reef, efforts to mitigate local stressors will be imperative to encouraging coral communities to persist into the future.
format	article
author	Nicholas A J Graham Karen M Chong-Seng Cindy Huchery Fraser A Januchowski-Hartley Kirsty L Nash
author_facet	Nicholas A J Graham Karen M Chong-Seng Cindy Huchery Fraser A Januchowski-Hartley Kirsty L Nash
author_sort	Nicholas A J Graham
title	Coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
title_short	Coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
title_full	Coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
title_fullStr	Coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
title_full_unstemmed	Coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
title_sort	coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the great barrier reef, australia.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/6f94e4a6b28a4f308db4d963264b3694
work_keys_str_mv	AT nicholasajgraham coralreefcommunitycompositioninthecontextofdisturbancehistoryonthegreatbarrierreefaustralia AT karenmchongseng coralreefcommunitycompositioninthecontextofdisturbancehistoryonthegreatbarrierreefaustralia AT cindyhuchery coralreefcommunitycompositioninthecontextofdisturbancehistoryonthegreatbarrierreefaustralia AT fraserajanuchowskihartley coralreefcommunitycompositioninthecontextofdisturbancehistoryonthegreatbarrierreefaustralia AT kirstylnash coralreefcommunitycompositioninthecontextofdisturbancehistoryonthegreatbarrierreefaustralia
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Coral reef community composition in the context of disturbance history on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

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