Sebastian C. A. Ferse

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• Ph.D.
• Senior Scientist at Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research

Coastal urbanization has significantly degraded coral reef habitats worldwide, often driving shifts from coral to algal dominance. Quantifying fish herbivory, a key ecological process mitigating such transitions, is essential for understanding reef health, functioning, and resilience. This study examined herbivory rates (bites multiplied by fish bi...

The exceptional diversity of shallow‐water marine fishes contributes to the nutrition of millions of people worldwide through coastal wild‐capture fisheries, with different species having diverse nutritional profiles. Fishes in ecosystems are reservoirs of micronutrients with benefits to human health. Yet, the amount of micronutrients contained in...

Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) represent a new frontier in conservation, aiming to acknowledge efforts that contribute to biodiversity beyond marine protected areas (MPAs). Many nations, including Indonesia, are establishing country-specific criteria to define what qualifies as an OECM. However, demonstrating the biodivers...

The amount of ocean protected from fishing and other human impacts has often been used as a metric of conservation progress. However, protection efforts have highly variable outcomes that depend on local conditions, which makes it difficult to quantify what coral reef protection efforts to date have actually achieved at a global scale. Here, we dev...

Interdisciplinary marine research is pivotal for addressing ocean sustainability challenges but may exclude diverse socio-economic, cultural, or identity groups. Drawing on perspectives of marine Early Career Researchers, we highlight the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in advancing interdisciplinary marine science and present...

Mangrove trees occur in a variety of geomorphic and sedimentary settings. Yet, studies investigating their role as habitat providers often focus on the most common biophysical types, such as deltaic, estuarine, open coast or lagoonal mangroves on soft sediments, disregarding less typical environments. Here, we investigated the influence of individu...

Effective ocean governance plays a critical role in managing and coordinating human activities, policies, and institutions to ensure the sustainable use and conservation of marine resources. Recognizing the importance of effective ocean governance, there is a growing awareness that new research approaches are needed to bring together actors from ac...

Interdisciplinary marine research is pivotal for addressing ocean sustainability challenges. While interdisciplinary research brings together a diversity of disciplines, we ask: ‘does it bring together individuals and groups from diverse socio-economic, cultural, or identity backgrounds or does it favour only certain groups?’ This paper draws on th...

In this article, we provide an overview of the different laws and regulations pertaining to coral reef restoration in Indonesia, outlining overlapping legislation and unclear responsibilities as well as potential gaps in implementation, and provide recommendations for improving and streamlining coral reef restoration management in Indonesia.

Corals have many growth forms, creating many nooks and crannies which provide specialized places for marine organisms to shelter, live, and breed. Reef rugosity is a simple surface roughness measurement; a high rugosity value will support fish communities. This research measured the differences in reef rugosities in four islands in Spermonde Archip...

Anticipation of futures using transdisciplinary approaches is critical to provide the basis for appropriate action to cope with current and future risks and to foster sustainability transformations. Coasts in the Global South in particular are subjected to severe environmental and societal challenges exacerbated by climate change. Yet, traditional...

The twenty-first century is seeing multiple and accelerating anthropogenic threats to the Ocean which jeopardize the planetary system and human well-being. Given the urgency of this planetary emergency, ensuring Ocean sustainability and an equitable and just future for humanity and the planet requires unprecedented acceleration and innovation in th...

Introduction Coral bleaching immediately impacts the reef benthos, but effects on fish communities are less well understood because they are often delayed and confounded by anthropogenic interactions. Methods We assessed changes in fish abundance, biomass and community composition before and after the 2015/16 coral bleaching event at Aldabra Atoll...

Sustainably managing fisheries requires regular and reliable evaluation of stock status. However, most multispecies reef fisheries around the globe tend to lack research and monitoring capacity, preventing the estimation of sustainable reference points against which stocks can be assessed. Here, combining fish biomass data for >2000 coral reefs, we...

The Working Group on Social and Economic Dimensions of Aquaculture (WGSEDA) addresses how to balance the negative and positive social and economic consequences of aquaculture development. A particular focus is placed on developing methods and indicators to assess the social and economic trade-offs of aquaculture. In this report, WGSEDA summarizes t...

Fisher-trader relations are influential in many small-scale fisheries worldwide. The ability to influence emergent fishing practices has shifted traders into focus of fisheries policy-making. Formal policies could be more effective if they were complementary to and build on an understanding of the role of traders, their interaction with fishers, an...

The fisheries of the South Pacific remain a critical component of local livelihoods, national and regional economies, and global fish supplies. SOCPacific aimed at broadening research pathways toward a more comprehensive understanding and a better recognition of the multi-faceted aspects of both oceanic/offshore and coastal/inshore fisheries in the...

Post-industrial society is driving global environmental change, which is a challenge for all generations, current and future. The Anthropocene is the geological epoch in which humans dominate and it is rooted in the past, present, and future. Future sustainability is building on the momentum of the fundamental importance of studying human dynamics...

Anthropogenic pressures are restructuring coral reefs globally. Sound predictions of the expected changes in key reef functions require adequate knowledge of their drivers. Here we investigate the determinants of a poorly-studied yet relevant biogeochemical function sustained by marine bony fishes: the excretion of intestinal carbonates. Compiling...

Thailand’s coral reefs not only attract a wealth of tourists, contributing to the national economy but also provide a significant revenue through the fisheries sector, as well as playing an important social, economic and nutritional role for local coastal communities. However, as with most coral reefs around the world, these are being severely degr...

While the countries covered in the presented cases differ in their political settings, state of socio-economic development, history, connectedness to the global market, and many other characteristics, they all have in common multiple stakeholder interests in the use of the coastal area and its resources, and most feature very high population densit...

The process of Marine Protected Area (MPA) establishment in Indonesia entered a new stage with the shift of the political regime in the late 1990s that marked the transition from a centralized, authoritarian regime to a more democratic, decentralized one. New legislation on MPAs has become more representative and democratic and includes provisions...

This book focuses on tropical coasts, which are highly vulnerable due to a multitude of stressors. Population growth is substantial, habitats are lost and biodiversity is reduced at an alarming rate, severely affecting many ecosystem services. This situation calls for sound coastal management and the effective engagement of all relevant stakeholder...

The Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen, Germany, has three decades of experience in collaborative research projects in close partnership with institutions in the Global South. With its mission to provide the scientific basis for the sustainable use and management of tropical marine resources, it has a unique position with a...

The Copernicus Ocean State Report is an annual publication of the Copernicus Marine Service, established in 2014 by the European Commission for Copernicus 1 and renewed in 2021 for Copernicus 2. The report provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art, scientific overview on the current conditions, natural variations, and ongoing changes in the global...

Sustainably managing fisheries requires regular and reliable evaluation of stock status. However, most multispecies reef fisheries around the globe tend to be data-poor and lack research and monitoring capacity (e.g., long-term fishery data), preventing the estimation of sustainable reference points against which stocks can be assessed. Here, combi...

Healthy and protected coral reefs help island systems in the tropics thrive and survive. Reef passages link the open ocean to lagoon and coastal areas in these ecosystems and are home to an exceptionally diverse and abundant marine life, hosting emblematic species and fish spawning aggregations. Their multiple benefits for the islands and their peo...

Soft corals of the genus Clavularia (Blainville 1830) have complex and difficult to distinguish morphological characteristics, making them rather difficult to identify. A paucity of information exists for Indonesian coral reefs, a complex biogeographic region at the confluence of the Pacific and Indian Ocean that covers an extensive geographic area...

Knowledge co-production involving researchers and non-academic actors is becoming increasingly important for tackling sustainability issues. Coastal and marine social-ecological systems are one example where knowledge co-production is important, yet also particularly challenging due to their unique characteristics. Early-Career Researchers (ECRs) o...

Effective solutions to the ongoing “coral reef crisis” will remain limited until the underlying drivers of coral reef degradation are better understood. Here, we conduct a global-scale study of how four key metrics of ecosystem states and processes on coral reefs (top predator presence, reef fish biomass, trait diversity, and parrotfish scraping po...

Coral reefs host exceptionally diverse and abundant marine life. Connecting coasts and sheltered lagoons to the open ocean, reef passages are important yet poorly studied components of these ecosystems. Abiotic and biotic elements ‘pass’ through these reef passages, supporting critical ecological processes (e.g. fish spawning). Reef passages provid...

In a marine environment that is rapidly changing due to anthropogenic activities and climate change, area-based management tools are often used to mitigate threats and conserve biodiversity. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are amongst the most widespread and recognized marine conservation tools worldwide, however, MPAs alone are inadequate to address...

Clavularia inflata was first described from Ternate Island, Indonesia in 1896 and later reported appeared from Japan and Taiwan in 1953.Clavularia (Blainville 1830) soft corals exhibit complex morphological traits that are difficult to differentiate, thus complicating their identification. DNA barcoding has been envisioned and actively pushed as a...

Makoko, a coastal fishing community in Lagos, Nigeria, aptly described as the "Venice of Africa", is also known as the world’s largest floating slum. Contributions of women fisherfolk in artisanal fisheries are seldom appreciated despite the fact that in most coastal communities, women are the pillars and de facto household- heads, having to provid...

The rapid development of Indonesia over the past 20 years and also its increasing negative impact on the environment are by far best to be seen at the metropolitan area and the corresponding coastal ecosystems of Jakarta. All the information and facts reported in this chapter regarding the environmental state of Jakarta Bay demonstrate impressively...

Ecological and social processes of the Spermonde Archipelago, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, have been intensively studied during the Science for the Protection of Indonesian Coastal Ecosystems (SPICE) program. The archipelago is of specific interest to better understand how intensive exploitation of marine resources results in the degradation of reef...

Human–nature interactions are at the root of sustainability problems worldwide. For the Indonesian coastal and marine realm, this chapter asks: How does governance affect, and how might it transform, human, and societal behavior in the coastal and marine realm toward greater ecological and social sustainability? Equipped with definitions of key soc...

Nowadays, researchers from different disciplines are expected more and more to collaborate as well as with relevant stakeholders. We must move away from business-as-usual basic research to more applied and transdisciplinary research and the integration of different knowledge. Working across scientific disciplines, regions and societal groups requir...

Coral recruitment and successive growth are essential for post-disturbance reef recovery. As coral recruit and juvenile abundances vary across locations and under different environmental regimes, their assessment at remote, undisturbed reefs improves our understanding of early life stage dynamics of corals. Here, we first explored changes in coral...

Ecological regime shifts in the marine realm have been recorded from a variety of systems and locations around the world. Coral reefs have been especially affected, with their benthic habitat changing from a dominance of stony corals to a dominance of other organisms such as fleshy algae. To detect changes in the benthic habitat of coral reefs, sim...

This co-design guidance was drafted for the purpose of inspiring and guiding MeerWissen applicants in planning new transdisciplinary research projects attuned to local needs and from a foundation of a strong partnership of equals. Informed by both a discussion paper on co-design elaborated within the MeerWissen community and by participants’ inputs...

this document is the work of a team assembled by the International Coral Reef Society (ICRS). The mission of ICRS is to promote the acquisition and dissemination of scientific knowledge to secure the future of coral reefs, including via relevant policy frameworks and decision-making processes. This document seeks to highlight the urgency of taking...

Coral transplantation has been used in reef restoration for several decades, but information on the type of projects, their scope, scale, and success is mostly limited to published scientific studies and technical reports. Many practitioners do not have the capacity to share their progress in peer-reviewed literature, yet likely have a wealth of in...

Coral reef resilience is greatly influenced by herbivory. There is a need to identify key fish species fulfilling this critical function in biogeographically distinct regions. This experimental in situ study investigated fish herbivory in coral reefs of the lower Gulf of Thailand characterized by a considerably low herbivorous fish biomass and dive...

The Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) is one of the most isolated and least studied regions in the world. This particularly applies to the coast of El Salvador, where the only reef between Guatemala and Nicaragua, called Los Cóbanos reef, is located. There is very little published information about the reef’s biodiversity, and to our knowledge, no res...

In recent decades, international assessments of the ocean have evolved from specialized, technical evaluations of the state of the marine environment to more integrated and thematically extensive science-policy platforms. As assessment programmes such as the UN Regular Process blossom on the global stage and subsume responsibility for tracking prog...

The global accelerating loss of biodiversity is having immediate repercussions for ecosystems and human wellbeing, particularly in areas where people depend intimately on their natural environment for their livelihoods. Dovetailing this loss is the demise of local/traditional knowledge systems resulting from factors such as changing lifestyle and t...

Competition between corals and macroalgae is frequently observed on reefs with the outcome of these interactions affecting the relative abundance of reef organisms and therefore reef health. Anthropogenic activities have resulted in increased atmospheric CO 2 levels and a subsequent rise in ocean temperatures. In addition to increasing water temper...

Human activities are changing ecosystems at an unprecedented rate, yet large-scale studies into how local human impacts alter natural systems and interact with other aspects of global change are still lacking. Here we provide empirical evidence that local human impacts fundamentally alter relationships between ecological communities and environment...

A complex landscape for reef management Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse systems in the ocean, and they provide both food and ecological services. They are also highly threatened by climate change and human pressure. Cinner et al. looked at how best to maximize three key components of reef use and health: fish biomass, parrotfish grazing,...

Feeding wild animals is a regular habit in ecotourism worldwide with poorly known consequences for ecosystem functioning. This study investigates how effective bread feeding is at attracting coral reef fish in the South Pacific, which feeding groups of fish are most attracted, and how natural foraging rates of an omnivorous and a grazing-detritivor...

Coral reef ecosystems have suffered an unprecedented loss of habitat-forming hard corals in recent decades. While marine conservation has historically focused on passive habitat protection, demand for and interest in active restoration has been growing in recent decades. However, a disconnect between coral restoration practitioners, coral reef mana...

Securing ecosystem functions is challenging, yet common priority in conservation efforts. While marine parks aim to meet this challenge by regulating fishing through zoning plans, their effectiveness hinges on compliance levels and may respond to changes in fishing practices. Here we use a speciose assemblage of nominally herbivorous reef fish in K...

This study aims to get an overview of the intensity of predation on mangrove ecosystem in five marine protected areas (MPA), namely Tumbak, Basaan, Blongko, Bahoi and Tambun. The research method was carried out by installing Squidpops bait within one hour and calculating the number of lost bait during the exposure of baits in high tide. Fish specie...

Epilithic algae are a ubiquitous component of coral reefs. Components of the epilithic algal matrix (EAM) can have a significant influence on coral settlement and benthic feeding by fishes. We employed a herbivore exclusion experiment on a fringing reef in Viti Levu, Fiji, to investigate the functional role of herbivorous fishes in affecting the EA...

Coral reefs are subject to multiple stressors. Global stressors include climate change and ocean acidification, while local stressors include overfishing and eutrophication. Some stressors stem from land-based activities, like intensive agriculture or sewage production, while others are sea-based, like fishing or diving. Processes that aim to tackl...

The main effects of El Niño and La Niña on fish are increases in mortality rates, abundance and recruitment variation, and expansion/restriction in the range of distribution and spawning areas. Potentially, the interactions with seasonal effects can further exacerbate or dampen fluctuations in these parameters. The objective of this work, therefore...

Observations of coral–algal competition can provide valuable information about the state of coral reef ecosystems. Here, we report contact rates and apparent competition states for six shallow lagoonal reefs in Fiji. A total of 81.4% of examined coral perimeters were found to be in contact with algae, with turf algae (54.7%) and macroalgae of the g...

Coral reefs are threatened by numerous global and local stressors. In the face of predicted large-scale coral degradation over the coming decades, the importance of long-term monitoring of stress-induced ecosystem changes has been widely recognised. In areas where sustained funding is unavailable, citizen science monitoring has the potential to be...

Statistically significant zero-inflated negative binomial generalized linear mixed effect models for the relationship between species’ abundance and hard coral cover for each year separately (solid grey lines) and mean of all years (solid black line) with the mean confidence intervals (dashed black lines): A) Acanthuridae, B) Anthinae, C) Balistida...

Summary of zero-inflated negative binomial generalized linear mixed effect model showing the effect of hard coral cover and year on fish family abundance. The table shows the best-selected model indicating parameter means with standard errors for fixed effects mean (FEM), and variance terms with standard deviation for random effects variance (REV)....

Summary of zero-inflated negative binomial generalized linear mixed effect model showing the effect of hard coral cover and year on fish abundance. The table shows the best-selected model indicating parameter means with standard errors for fixed effects (FEM), and variance terms with standard deviation for random effects (REV). Hard coral cover is...

Yearly changes per transect in mean fish community abundance and mean cover of hard coral, algae, soft coral and abiotic benthos (vertical lines represent standard error). Occurrence of one Degree Heating Month (DHM) displayed for each corresponding year. (DOCX)

Zero-inflated negative binomial generalized linear mixed effect models fitted to the relationship between fish families’ abundance and hard coral cover for each year separately (solid grey lines) and mean of all years (solid black line) and confidence intervals of the mean (dashed black lines): A) Nemipteridae, B) Pomacanthidae, C) Pomacentridae, D...

Negative binomial generalized linear mixed effect model fitted to the relationship between fish community a) abundance and b) species richness and hard coral cover for each year separately (solid grey lines) and mean of all years (solid black line) and confidence intervals of the mean (dashed black lines). Grey circles represent data points. (DOCX)

Zero-inflated negative binomial generalized linear mixed effect models fitted to the relationship between fish families’ abundance and hard coral cover for each year separately (solid grey lines) and mean of all years (solid black line) and confidence intervals of the mean (dashed black lines): A) Acanthuridae, B) Anthiinae, C) Balistidae, D) Chaet...

In most coastal communities throughout the South Pacific customary rights to regulate access to vital and scarce resources evolved a long time ago. In many places, these systems have formed the basis of community-based marine management efforts. At the same time, national (fisheries and environmental) legislation regulates various aspects regarding...

Women play an important role within small-scale fishing communities in the South Pacific, contributing to food security and income. Yet, decisions on the management of coastal fisheries are mostly taken by male community leaders. Given that women and men interact with marine spaces differently, there is a need to further analyze women’s and men’s d...

Determining whether many functionally complementary species or only a subset of key species are necessary to maintain ecosystem functioning and services is a critical question in community ecology and biodiversity conservation. Identifying such key species remains challenging, especially in the tropics where many species co-occur and can potentiall...

The poster presents my master research conducted on Heron Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef. I investigated the impact of ocean acidification and warming according to the RCP scenario 2.6 on the interaction between the coral Porites lobata and the macroalgae Chlorodesmis fastigiata.

Significance Marine reserves that prohibit fishing are a critical tool for sustaining coral reef ecosystems, yet it remains unclear how human impacts in surrounding areas affect the capacity of marine reserves to deliver key conservation benefits. Our global study found that only marine reserves in areas of low human impact consistently sustained t...

Sea cucumbers play an important role in the recycling and remineralization of organic matter (OM) in reef sands through feeding, excretion, and bioturbation processes. Growing demand from Asian markets has driven the overexploitation of these animals globally. The implications of sea cucumber fisheries for shallow coastal ecosystems and their manag...

Predation is a key ecosystem function, especially in high diversity systems such as coral reefs. Not only is predation one of the strongest top-down controls of prey population density, but it also is a strong driver of prey behaviour and function through non-lethal effects. We ask whether predation risk influences sheltering behaviour of damselfis...

This study investigated the length-weight relationship and movement rates of the sea cucumber Holothuria scabra, and reports on two in situ H. scabra spawning events at a site with relatively healthy stocks in Vanua Levu, Fiji. A length-weight equation was established − weight = 0.1878 × length2.5807 − which explained 90% of the variance for H. sca...

This study investigated the length-weight relationship and movement rates of the sea cucumber Holothuria scabra, and reports on two in situ H. scabra spawning events at a site with relatively healthy stocks in Vanua Levu, Fiji. A length-weight equation was established − weight = 0.1878 × length2.5807− which explained 90% of the variance for H. scab...

The Spermonde Archipelago is a complex of ~70 mostly populated islands off Southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia, in the center of the Coral Triangle. The reefs in this area are exposed to a high level of anthropogenic disturbances. Previous studies have shown that variation in the benthos is strongly linked to water quality and distance from the mainland....

Habitat modification of coral reefs is becoming increasingly common due to increases in coastal urban populations. Coral reef fish are highly dependent on benthic habitat; however, information on species-specific responses to habitat change, in particular with regard to trophic strategies, remains scarce. This study identifies variation in the trop...

Pollution, fishing, and outbreaks of predators can heavily impact coastal coral reef ecosystems, leading to decreased water quality and benthic community shifts. To determine the main environmental drivers of coral reef status in the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia, we monitored environmental variables and coral reef benthic community structure al...

Strong resilience of a system usually enables the protection of a status quo. Most resilience studies assume that resilience-building is the central objective of sustainability work. Even though transformation has become a central theme in development and social-ecological debates, questions surrounding the weakening resilience of undesired system...