Flattening of Caribbean coral reefs: region-wide declines in architectural complexity
Flattening of Caribbean coral reefs: region-wide declines in architectural complexity
复制标题
DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2009.0339
复制
发表时间：
2009-08-22
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Watkinson, Andrew R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alvarez-Filip, Lorenzo;Dulvy, Nicholas K.;Watkinson, Andrew R.
珊瑚礁具有丰富的生物多样性，在很大程度上是因为它们高度复杂的结构为各种生物提供了庇护所和资源。最近，整个加勒比地区的硬珊瑚覆盖面积迅速减少，但迄今为止，还没有大规模地量化其对珊瑚礁结构的影响。据我们所知，在1969年至2008年期间，我们对200个珊瑚礁进行了近500次调查，首次对珊瑚礁建筑复杂性的变化进行了区域范围的分析。在过去的40年里，随着最复杂的珊瑚礁几乎消失，加勒比海珊瑚礁的建筑复杂性呈非线性下降。到20世纪80年代初，加勒比海珊瑚礁明显变平，随后是1985年至1998年的一段停滞期，然后复杂性恢复下降，直到现在。浅层（20米）珊瑚礁的损失率相似，在所有五个次区域都是一致的。建筑减少的时间模式与近期加勒比生态历史上的关键事件相吻合：结构复杂的Acropora珊瑚的消失，放牧海胆Diadema antillarum的大量死亡以及1998年厄尔尼诺南方涛动引起的全球珊瑚白化事件。对当前建筑复杂性的持续低估计表明区域尺度的珊瑚礁结构退化和均质化。建筑复杂性的广泛丧失可能会对珊瑚礁生物多样性、生态系统功能和相关的环境服务产生严重后果。
Coral reefs are rich in biodiversity, in large part because their highly complex architecture provides shelter and resources for a wide range of organisms. Recent rapid declines in hard coral cover have occurred across the Caribbean region, but the concomitant consequences for reef architecture have not been quantified on a large scale to date. We provide, to our knowledge, the first region-wide analysis of changes in reef architectural complexity, using nearly 500 surveys across 200 reefs, between 1969 and 2008. The architectural complexity of Caribbean reefs has declined nonlinearly with the near disappearance of the most complex reefs over the last 40 years. The flattening of Caribbean reefs was apparent by the early 1980s, followed by a period of stasis between 1985 and 1998 and then a resumption of the decline in complexity to the present. Rates of loss are similar on shallow (20 m) reefs and are consistent across all five subregions. The temporal pattern of declining architecture coincides with key events in recent Caribbean ecological history: the loss of structurally complex Acropora corals, the mass mortality of the grazing urchin Diadema antillarum and the 1998 El Nino Southern Oscillation-induced worldwide coral bleaching event. The consistently low estimates of current architectural complexity suggest regional-scale degradation and homogenization of reef structure. The widespread loss of architectural complexity is likely to have serious consequences for reef biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and associated environmental services.