Coral identity underpins architectural complexity on Caribbean reefs
Coral identity underpins architectural complexity on Caribbean reefs
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DOI：
10.1890/10-1563.1
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发表时间：
2011-09-01
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Gill, Jennifer A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alvarez-Filip, Lorenzo;Dulvy, Nicholas K.;Gill, Jennifer A.
生态系统的结构复杂性会极大地影响其支持生物多样性和提供生态系统服务的能力。了解这种复杂性背后的组成部分有助于制定有效的生态系统保护战略。加勒比海的珊瑚礁支持和保护着数百万人的生计，但最近的人为变化正在将社区转向以抗压珊瑚物种为主的珊瑚礁，这些珊瑚礁的建筑结构往往不那么复杂。随着整个区域珊瑚礁鱼类数量的减少，了解珊瑚礁群落结构和功能的变化变得越来越重要。我们量化了珊瑚组成、多样性和形态功能特征对墨西哥科祖梅尔91个地点珊瑚礁结构复杂性的影响。尽管珊瑚礁结构的复杂性随着珊瑚覆盖率和物种丰富度的增加而增加，但在分类均匀度较低、以形态功能重要的造礁珊瑚属为主的地点，珊瑚礁结构复杂性最高，尤其是Montastraea珊瑚属。珊瑚群落组成相似的地点也往往出现在结构非常复杂的珊瑚礁上，这表明珊瑚礁结构往往由不同地点的相同关键物种决定。我们的发现为优先考虑和保护特定的珊瑚礁类型提供了支持，特别是那些以关键造礁珊瑚为主的珊瑚礁，以提高珊瑚礁的复杂性。
The architectural complexity of ecosystems can greatly influence their capacity to support biodiversity and deliver ecosystem services. Understanding the components underlying this complexity can aid the development of effective strategies for ecosystem conservation. Caribbean coral reefs support and protect millions of livelihoods, but recent anthropogenic change is shifting communities toward reefs dominated by stress-resistant coral species, which are often less architecturally complex. With the regionwide decline in reef fish abundance, it is becoming increasingly important to understand changes in coral reef community structure and function. We quantify the influence of coral composition, diversity, and morpho-functional traits on the architectural complexity of reefs across 91 sites at Cozumel, Mexico. Although reef architectural complexity increases with coral cover and species richness, it is highest on sites that are low in taxonomic evenness and dominated by morpho-functionally important, reef-building coral genera, particularly Montastraea. Sites with similar coral community composition also tend to occur on reefs with very similar architectural complexity, suggesting that reef structure tends to be determined by the same key species across sites. Our findings provide support for prioritizing and protecting particular reef types, especially those dominated by key reef-building corals, in order to enhance reef complexity.