Recovery of Diadema antillarum reduces macroalgal cover and increases abundance of juvenile corals on a Caribbean reef
Recovery of Diadema antillarum reduces macroalgal cover and increases abundance of juvenile corals on a Caribbean reef
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.071524598
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发表时间：
2001-04-24
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Carpenter, RC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Edmunds, PJ;Carpenter, RC
20多年来，许多加勒比海珊瑚礁从珊瑚礁向大型藻类占优势的转变一直是珊瑚礁生态学中的一个突出问题。另一种稳定状态理论预测，这些变化是可逆的，但到目前为止，几乎没有迹象表明这种变化已经发生。在这里，我们提出了在牙买加开始这种逆转的证据，那里沿8公里海岸线的5个地点的浅礁现在的特征是平均宽度为60m的海胆放牧区。与海藻带相比，海胆带中的大型藻类很少，那里Diadema antillarum的密度是10倍，幼珊瑚的密度是11倍。这些人口密度接近20世纪70年代末和80年代初的记录，与Diadema和sacacactinians长达十年的招募失败形成鲜明对比。如果这些趋势继续下去，并在空间上扩张。整个加勒比海的珊瑚礁可能会再次被珊瑚和藻类草皮占据。
The transition of many Caribbean reefs from coral to macroalgal dominance has been a prominent issue in coral reef ecology for more than 20 years. Alternative stable state theory predicts that these changes are reversible but, to date, there is little indication of this having occurred. Here we present evidence of the initiation of such a reversal in Jamaica, where shallow reefs at five sites along 8 km of coastline now are characterized by a sea urchin-grazed zone with a mean width of 60 m. In comparison to the seaward algal zone, macroalgae are rare in the urchin zone, where the density of Diadema antillarum is 10 times higher and the density of juvenile corals is up to 11 times higher. These densities are close to those recorded in the late 1970s and early 1980s and are in striking contrast to the decade-long recruitment failure for both Diadema and scleractinians. If these trends continue and expand spatially. reefs throughout the Caribbean may again become dominated by corals and algal turf.