Drivers of region-wide declines in architectural complexity on Caribbean reefs
Drivers of region-wide declines in architectural complexity on Caribbean reefs
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DOI：
10.1007/s00338-011-0795-6
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发表时间：
2011-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Cote, I. M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alvarez-Filip, Lorenzo;Gill, J. A.;Cote, I. M.
据报道，全世界珊瑚礁上的活硬珊瑚覆盖率都在严重下降，在加勒比区域，珊瑚礁的结构复杂性也明显下降。虽然珊瑚覆盖损失的驱动因素相对较好地理解，但对建筑复杂性区域规模下降的驱动因素知之甚少。我们使用了一个数据集的49个时间序列报告珊瑚礁建筑的复杂性，探讨飓风的影响，珊瑚漂白和捕捞对加勒比地区的珊瑚礁复杂性的年变化率。飓风的影响极大地影响了珊瑚礁的复杂性，在调查期间，受影响的地点的复杂性下降速度最快，而未受影响的地点的损失率较低。珊瑚礁建筑的复杂性没有显着改变后，大规模漂白事件（在< 5年的时间框架）或积极的热异常。虽然在建筑复杂性的变化率是类似的海洋保护区（MPAs），复杂性的显着下降，观察到内部，而不是外部的海洋保护区，可能是因为减少捕鱼会导致增加生物侵蚀的草食动物在海洋保护区内。我们的研究结果表明，珊瑚死亡的主要驱动因素，如珊瑚漂白，在短期内（< 5年）不会影响珊瑚礁的建筑复杂性。相反，直接的物理影响和珊瑚礁生物侵蚀似乎是加勒比地区建筑复杂的珊瑚礁广泛丧失的重要驱动因素。
Severe declines in the cover of live hard coral on reefs have been reported worldwide, and in the Caribbean region, the architectural complexity of coral reefs has also declined markedly. While the drivers of coral cover loss are relatively well understood, little is known about the drivers of regional-scale declines in architectural complexity. We have used a dataset of 49 time series reporting reef architectural complexity to explore the effect of hurricanes, coral bleaching and fishing on Caribbean-wide annual rates of change in reef complexity. Hurricane impacts greatly influence reef complexity, with the most rapid rates of decline in complexity occurring at sites impacted during their survey period, and with lower rates of loss occurring at unimpacted sites. Reef architectural complexity did not change significantly following mass bleaching events (in a time frame of < 5 years) or positive thermal anomalies. Although the rates of change in architectural complexity were similar in and out of marine protected areas (MPAs), significant declines in complexity were observed inside but not outside of MPAs, possibly because reductions in fishing can lead to increased bioerosion by herbivores within MPAs. Our findings suggest that major drivers of coral mortality, such as coral bleaching, do not influence reef architectural complexity in the short term (< 5 years). Instead, direct physical impacts and reef bioerosion appear to be important drivers of the widespread loss of architecturally complex reefs in the Caribbean.