A critical evaluation of benthic phase shift studies on coral reefs
A critical evaluation of benthic phase shift studies on coral reefs
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DOI：
10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105667
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发表时间：
2022-05-30
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Bellwood, David R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Crisp, Samantha K.;Tebbett, Sterling B.;Bellwood, David R.
在过去的二十年里，珊瑚礁的衰退加速了，导致了对“相移”或“政权转移”现象的大量研究。然而，从这项研究中得出的结论各不相同。其中一些差异可能源于方法论，尽管这些因素在多大程度上塑造了我们的理解，但在很大程度上尚未探索。为了验证这一点，我们对文献进行了系统的回顾。在这样做的过程中，我们揭示了用于研究相移的方法的显著变化。值得注意的是，很少有研究明确定义相移的含义。因此，我们开发了一个明确的相移定义，其中明确定义了持久性和优势。这一定义的适用性进行了测试，对大堡礁的几十年底栖生物组成数据。变化的数量在很大程度上取决于所选择的定义，这表明这可能是支撑过去结果可变性的主要原因。
Coral reef decline has accelerated in the last two decades resulting in substantial research into the phenomenon of 'phase shifts' or 'regime shifts'. However, the conclusions drawn from this research have been varied. Some of this variability may stem from methodological approaches, although the extent to which these factors have shaped our understanding remain largely unexplored. To examine this, we conducted a systematic review of the literature. In doing so, we revealed marked variability in the approaches used for studying phase shifts. Notably, very few studies clearly defined what they meant by phase shifts. Therefore, we developed a clarified definition of phase shifts, which specifically defined persistence and dominance. The applicability of this definition was tested on multi-decadal benthic composition data on the Great Barrier Reef. The number of shifts depended critically on the definition selected, suggesting that this may be a primary reason underpinning the variability in past results.