Coral Reefs - Science topic

In this study, the multiscale dynamics of 38 oceanic and atmospheric pCO2 time series from fixed Eulerian buoys recorded with 3 h resolution are considered, and their multifractal properties are demonstrated. The difference between these time series, the sea surface temperature data and the sea surface salinity data were also studied. These series...

Marine heatwaves are increasing in intensity and frequency however, responses and survival of reef corals vary geographically. Geographical differences in thermal tolerance may be in part a consequence of intraspecific diversity, where high-diversity localities are more likely to support heat-tolerant alleles that promote survival through thermal s...

Coral reefs experience numerous environmental gradients affecting organismal physiology and species biodiversity, which ultimately impact community metabolism. This study shows that submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), a common natural environmental gradient in coastal ecosystems associated with decreasing temperatures, salinity and pH with incre...

Coral bleaching occurs when symbiotic dinoflagellate algae leave corals due to warming surface waters. Since the early 1980s, the number and intensity of coral bleaching events have significantly risen globally, and many coral reefs are concerned to undergo irreversible phase shifts due to global warming. In this study, we examine spatiotemporal va...

The structural complexity of cold-water corals is threatened by ocean acidification. Increased porosity and thinning in structurally critical parts of the reef framework may lead to rapid physical collapse on an ecosystem scale, reducing their potential for biodiversity support. Understanding the structural-mechanical relationships of reef-forming...

New technology has opened opportunities for research and exploration of deep-water ecosystems, highlighting deep-sea coral reefs as a rich source of novel bioactive natural products. During our ongoing investigation of the chemodiversity of the Irish deep sea and the soft coral Anthothela grandiflora, we report 12 unreported cadinene-like functiona...

The Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster cf. solaris; CoTS) is arguably the most destructive non-human animal to coral reefs, significantly impeding coral survival in the face of the foremost effects of climate change and coral bleaching. Controlling the unprecedented number of CoTS outbreaks and damage on reef systems is vital for the survival of...

Rhodolith beds are biogenic marine habitats formed by aggregations of free‐living crustose coralline algae. New descriptions of rhodolith beds fill the gaps in our understanding of the global distribution and ecological significance of these understudied habitats. We provide the first characterisation of a network of rhodolith beds associated with...

Water temperature is a strong driver of growth, survival, and local adaptation in corals, but our knowledge of the temperatures experienced by corals on reefs worldwide remains limited. While in situ temperature loggers can provide high quality data, they are relatively expensive to place and retrieve. Alternatively, remotely sensed sea surface tem...

Multispecies coral reef fisheries are typically managed by local communities who often lack research and monitoring capacity, which prevents estimation of well‐defined sustainable reference points to perform locally relevant fishery assessments. Recent research modeling coral reef fisheries globally has estimated multispecies sustainable reference...

Coral reefs can mitigate flood damages by providing protection to tropical coastal communities whose populations are dense, growing fast, and have predominantly lower-middle income. This study provides the first fine-scale, regionally modeled valuations of how flood risk reductions associated with hybrid coral reef restoration could benefit people,...

Coral persistence in the Anthropocene depends on interactions among holobiont partners (coral animals and microbial symbionts) and their environment. Cryptic coral lineages—genetically distinct yet morphologically similar groups—are critically important as they often exhibit functional diversity relevant to thermal tolerance. In addition, environme...

Implementation of Sapta Pesona in Raja Ampat Tourism Raja Ampat as one of the most beautiful natural tourist destinations in the world, is known for its stunning coral reefs and marine biodiversity. To maintain the sustainability of this destination, the Sapta Pesona Concept is implemented, which includes safety, orderliness, cleanliness, coolness,...

Land-based inputs, such as runoff, rivers, and submarine groundwater, can alter biologic processes on coral reefs. While the abiotic factors associated with land-based inputs have strong effects on corals, corals are also affected by biotic interactions, including other neighboring corals. The biologic responses of corals to changing environmental...

Climate change is imposing multiple stressors on marine life, leading to a restructuring of ecological communities as species exhibit differential sensitivities to these stressors. With the ocean warming and wind patterns shifting, processes that drive thermal variations in coastal regions, such as marine heatwaves and upwelling events, can change...

Background Rising seawater temperatures increasingly threaten coral reefs. The ability of coral larvae to withstand heat is crucial for maintaining reef ecosystems. Although several studies have investigated coral larvae’s genetic responses to thermal stress, most relied on pooled sample sequencing, which provides population-level insights but may...

Since the early 1980s measurements of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) derived from satellite-borne instruments have provided a wide range of global gridded products documenting changes in SST. However, there are many sources of uncertainty in these records and significant differences exist among them. One use of these products is identification of co...

Hydrodynamics and physical processes that occur at various length and time scales strongly influence coral reefs. Therefore, understanding the interactions between reefs, hydrodynamics and other physical processes is crucial for the maintenance and survival of reef systems. Coral reefs around the world are under increasing threat to global climate...

Ocean warming and acidification are among the biggest threats to the persistence of coral reefs. Organismal stress tolerance thresholds are life stage specific, can vary across levels of biological organization, and also depend on natural environmental variability. Here, we exposed the early life stages of Pocillopora acuta in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii,...

The tropics possess a higher level of biodiversity compared to other climatic regions on the Earth. The tropics have diverse ecosystems such as forests, savannas, mountains, wetlands, and coral reefs, which provide habitat for thousands of species of fauna and flora. Tropical forests are one of the important tropical ecosystems with high biodiversi...

Escalating climate and anthropogenic disturbances draw into question how stable large-scale patterns in biological diversity are in the Anthropocene. Here, we analyse how patterns of reef fish diversity have changed from 1995 to 2022 by examining local diversity and species dissimilarity along a large latitudinal gradient of the Great Barrier Reef...

Resumen Los peces loro (Teleostei: Scaridae) como Scarus guacamaia, S. coelestinus y S. coeruleus, se encuentran en peligro de extinción debido a la sobrepesca. Estos peces herbívoros son controladores de las macroalgas y claves para la resiliencia arrecifal. El objetivo de esta investigación fue describir la conducta alimentaria de S. coelestinus...

Coral reefs worldwide are threatened by increasing ocean temperatures because of the sensitivity of the coral‐algal symbiosis to thermal stress. Reef‐building corals form symbiotic relationships with dinoflagellates (family Symbiodiniaceae), including those species which acquire their initial symbiont complement predominately from their parents. Ch...

Florida and Caribbean coral reefs have been in decline for decades due to pollution, overfishing, climate change and disease. In 2014, stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) emerged in Florida and has since spread throughout much of the Caribbean. SCTLD triggers rapid tissue loss and mortality across > 20 coral species, dramatically impacting ecos...

Efforts to restore coral reefs using sexually derived coral recruits are often hindered by their low survivorship and growth, hence scalable interventions to improve these parameters are urgently needed. Here we developed novel settlement substrates that modify the local chemical and hydrodynamic environments and provide local alkalinity enhancemen...

Coral reef ecosystems are severely threatened by human activities and climate change. However, the complexity of the ecosystem can complicate identification of significant ecological interactions between the organisms and the reef system. Thus, this study used a ten-year citizen science reef monitoring dataset by Reef Check Malaysia to identify key...

The effects of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in the Dutch Caribbean, specifically in Bonaire, have not been documented since its first sighting in March 2023. By comparing the results of the 2023 surveys with data from previous surveys conducted over the past 9 years, this study quantifies the overall decline in coral cover and investigat...

Global decline of coral reefs due to climate change calls for effective, nature-based strategies to protect these crucial ecosystems. Developing such strategies requires a thorough understanding of the complex roles and interactions of key inhabitants within coral holobionts. Using a metatranscriptomics approach, we investigated the transcriptional...

As marine heatwaves and mass coral bleaching events rise in frequency and severity, there is an increasing need for high-resolution satellite products that accurately predict reef thermal environments over large spatio-temporal scales. Deciding which global sea surface temperature (SST) dataset to use for research or management depends in part on t...

One approach to improve long-term coral restoration success utilizes naturally stress-tolerant corals from the wild. While the focus has primarily been on thermal stress, low oxygen is a growing threat to coral reefs and restoration efforts should also consider hypoxia tolerance. Here we determine if Siderastrea siderea and Agaricia tenuifolia popu...

Understanding connectivity in high impact corallivores is crucial for coral reef management. The obligate corallivorous Drupella cornus (Röding, 1798) has caused extensive damage to some Indian Ocean coral reef areas in the last four decades. This study used novel and previously published Cytochrome Oxidase I ( COI ) sequences to reveal patterns of...

Persistent shifts to undesired ecological states, such as shifts from coral to macroalgae, are becoming more common. This highlights the need to understand processes that can help restore affected ecosystems. Herbivory on coral reefs is widely recognized as a key interaction that can keep macroalgae from outcompeting coral. Most attention has been...

Identifying processes that promote coral reef recovery and resilience is crucial as ocean warming becomes more frequent and severe. Sexual reproduction is essential for the replenishment of coral populations and maintenance of genetic diversity; however, the ability for corals to reproduce may be impaired by marine heatwaves that cause coral bleach...

Sediments are a main component of the coral reef framework, which are composed by calcareous bioclasts, non-skeletal carbonates, and terrigenous siliciclasts. Extensive work has been done to determine the bioclast composition of the coral reefs in the Western Tropical Atlantic. Notwithstanding, the sediment composition of coral reefs in the Southwe...

Over the past decades, human impacts have changed the structure of tropical benthic reef communities towards coral depletion and macroalgal proliferation. However, how these changes have modified chemical and microbial waterscapes is poorly known. Here, we assessed how the experimental removal of macroalgal assemblages influences the chemical and m...

Octocorals have increased in abundance on many Caribbean coral reefs, and at some sites "octocoral forest" may be a better community descriptor than "coral reef." Implicit to the concept of a forest is that structural elements, trees, colonies, etc., alter the environment in ways that affect the structural elements themselves and the organisms that...

The pollution of marine environments with plastics, particularly microplastic (MP, i.e., plastic particles <5 mm), is a major threat to marine biota, including corals. While the effects of MPs are increasingly well understood, knowledge of how different concentrations of naturally occurring MP mixtures affect reef-building corals is still limited....

Background Evolutionary tradeoffs between life-history strategies are important in animal evolution. Because microbes can influence multiple aspects of host physiology, including growth rate and susceptibility to disease or stress, changes in animal-microbial symbioses have the potential to mediate life-history tradeoffs. Scleractinian corals provi...

Efficient management of marine and coastal resources, particularly in shallow areas with sensitive ecosystems such as coral reefs and seagrass meadows, requires continuous and rapid monitoring. These ecosystems, which provide critical habitats, are increasingly vulnerable to climate change, highlighting the need for non-invasive, systematic assessm...

This study addresses the need to understand the hydrodynamic behavior of artificial coral reefs, inspired by natural coral formations such as brain, cauliflower, lace, dome, digitate, and organ pipe corals, which are found in our oceans. The selected natural coral reef designs underwent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to replicate th...

Ecosystems are substantially changing in response to ongoing climate change. For example, coral reefs have declined in coral dominance, with some reefs undergoing regime shifts to non‐coral states. However, reef responses may vary through multiple heat stress events, with the rarity of long‐term ecological datasets rendering such understanding unce...

The Mandeh region is one of the favorite tourist destinations in West Sumatra, rich in natural and cultural resources but vulnerable to environmental degradation caused by pollution, overexploitation, and climate change. Government policies through environmental laws have been implemented to address these issues, but their impact on society, partic...

This study explores the coral communities in Del Carmen, Siargao Islands, Surigao del Norte, Philippines, focusing on the identification, classification, description, and comparison of coral species in various locations within the municipality. Using the point intercept transect method, the researchers surveyed four areas: Kauhagan, Sugba, Ponias I...

Background In the context of global change, coral reefs and their associated biodiversity are under threat. Several conservation strategies using population genetics have been explored to protect them. However, some components of this ecosystem are understudied, such as hydrozoans, an important class of benthic organisms worldwide. A comprehensive...

Restoration and artificial reefs can assist the recovery of degraded reefs but are limited in scalability and climate resilience. The Mineral Accretion Technique (MAT) subjects metal artificial reefs to a low-voltage electrical current, thereby creating a calcium-carbonate coating. It has been suggested that corals on MAT structures experience enha...

Global coral reefs face severe threats from climate change and human activities, including marine heatwaves and overfishing of reef-associated fish species, heightens the risk of ecological phase shifts. However, significant uncertainty persists regarding the ecological health thresholds and dynamic evolutionary trends of coral reef ecosystems unde...

Coral reefs are patchy and connected ecosystems that experience heterogenous environmental conditions, disturbances, and coral population recovery patterns. Connectivity and population growth rates between reef patches can vary at local to subregional (1–100 km) scales, but current coral population models do not bridge the spatial gap between metap...

Climate change poses significant threats to biodiversity in coastal ecosystems, resulting in habitat degradation, species migration, population declines, and reduced ecosystem services. This study examines the impacts of rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and temperature fluctuations on mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass meadows, which serve...

Between 1962 and 2003 significant coral species changes within reef assemblages at Todos os Santos Bay (TSB), Bahia (Brazil) have taken place, following what appears to have been a 400 year contraction of coral reefs from the inner, landward reaches of the bay. The last 40 years in particular encompassed rapid and extensive urban and industrial dev...

The world beneath the waves has always fascinated and mystified us. The oceans, covering more than two-thirds of our planet, remain a realm largely unexplored and unknown. Yet, as technology advances, we are beginning to unveil the secrets of the deep, and one of the key tools in this exploration is the underwater sensor network. This note is a jo...

Ocean warming is the greatest threat to coral reefs, prompting a need to accurately monitor in situ temperatures. Advancements in sensing technologies have led to a proliferation of temperature loggers being deployed globally. However, appropriate deployment of loggers–essential for measurement accuracy in an ecosystem where changes of 1ºC can caus...

Understanding the demographic structure, recruitment patterns, and habitat association of reef fish communities is important for the management of coral reefs. This study assessed spatial recruitment patterns of Chaetodon butterflyfishes (species richness and abundance). The study was conducted across 532 transects of the 72 study sites laid parall...

The benefits that people obtain from marine and coastal ecosystems are numerous and complex. Although marine ecosystem service approaches are increasing in prominence, relatively little is known about how marine ecosystem service provision relates to individual habitat types at the level at which they are typically considered in management and poli...

Benthic habitats are important for the quality of life and global climate. Systematic and efficient information is important for the monitoring, mapping, and recording of aquatic bottom habitats, thus providing a habitat database. In the last decade, object-based image analysis (OBIA) has been accepted as an effective method for extracting and clas...

Underwater photogrammetry is routinely used to monitor large areas of complex and heterogeneous ecosystems, such as coral reefs. However, deriving data on benthic components (i.e. sand, rubble, coral and algae) from photogrammetry products has remained challenging due to the highly time‐consuming process of manual data extraction. We developed a ma...

As marine equipment advances from shallow to deep‐sea environments, the demand for high‐performance antifouling materials continues to increase. The lionfish, a species inhabiting both deep‐sea and shallow coral reefs, prevents fouling organism adhesion via its smooth, mucus‐covered skin, which contains antimicrobial peptides. Inspired by lionfish...

The current study investigated the morphological dietary preferences of an outbreaking population of corallivorous crown-of-thorn sea stars (Acanthaster sp.) in Koh Tao, situated in the Gulf of Thailand. The local effects of such populations deemed to be in outbreak are currently poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigat...

Australia holds some of the most unique, diverse and vulnerable ecosystems in the world, ranging from marine, coral reefs, to the arid and semi-arid outback, to tropical rainforests. Young children’s perceptions of, and attitudes to their environment carry with them into adulthood, determining their capacity to learn about and interact with their w...