Stories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a Mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession
Understanding the mechanisms that allow the permanence of coral reefs and the constancy of their characteristics is necessary to alleviate the effects of chronic environmental changes. After a disturbance, healthy coral reefs display trajectories that allow regaining coral cover and the establishment of framework building corals. Through a comparative approach, in a patch reef partially affected by a ship grounding, we analyzed the successional trajectories in affected and unaffected sectors. Fleshy algae (which do not promote the recruitment of corals) dominated the reef surface irrespective of the impact of the ship grounding incident. Acropora species had near-zero contributions to community structure, whereas non-framework building corals like Porites sp. had a slightly higher recruitment. Cover of coral and calcareous crustose algae decreased over time, and neither the latter nor adult coral colonies had any effect on the occurrence probabilities of small corals. Sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) densities were generally low, and thus unlikely to contribute to reverting algal dominance. The successional trajectories of the community in the impacted and non-impacted sectors of the coral patch reef agree with the inhibition successional model, leading to the development of a degraded state dominated by fleshy algae. It is probable that the stability and resilience of this degraded state are high due to the ability of fleshy algae to monopolize space, along with low coral recovery potential.
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| Subjects: | Arrecifes de coral, Algas carnosas, Erizos de mar, Degradación ambiental, Artfrosur, |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14680 |
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KOHA-OAI-ECOSUR:633522024-03-12T12:42:01ZStories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a Mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession Victoria Salazar, Isael Doctor autor 19758 González, Edgar J. autor Meave, Jorge A. autor 12600 Ruiz Zárate, Miguel Ángel Doctor autor 13308 Hernández Arana, Héctor Abuid Doctor autor 2053 textengUnderstanding the mechanisms that allow the permanence of coral reefs and the constancy of their characteristics is necessary to alleviate the effects of chronic environmental changes. After a disturbance, healthy coral reefs display trajectories that allow regaining coral cover and the establishment of framework building corals. Through a comparative approach, in a patch reef partially affected by a ship grounding, we analyzed the successional trajectories in affected and unaffected sectors. Fleshy algae (which do not promote the recruitment of corals) dominated the reef surface irrespective of the impact of the ship grounding incident. Acropora species had near-zero contributions to community structure, whereas non-framework building corals like Porites sp. had a slightly higher recruitment. Cover of coral and calcareous crustose algae decreased over time, and neither the latter nor adult coral colonies had any effect on the occurrence probabilities of small corals. Sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) densities were generally low, and thus unlikely to contribute to reverting algal dominance. The successional trajectories of the community in the impacted and non-impacted sectors of the coral patch reef agree with the inhibition successional model, leading to the development of a degraded state dominated by fleshy algae. It is probable that the stability and resilience of this degraded state are high due to the ability of fleshy algae to monopolize space, along with low coral recovery potential.Understanding the mechanisms that allow the permanence of coral reefs and the constancy of their characteristics is necessary to alleviate the effects of chronic environmental changes. After a disturbance, healthy coral reefs display trajectories that allow regaining coral cover and the establishment of framework building corals. Through a comparative approach, in a patch reef partially affected by a ship grounding, we analyzed the successional trajectories in affected and unaffected sectors. Fleshy algae (which do not promote the recruitment of corals) dominated the reef surface irrespective of the impact of the ship grounding incident. Acropora species had near-zero contributions to community structure, whereas non-framework building corals like Porites sp. had a slightly higher recruitment. Cover of coral and calcareous crustose algae decreased over time, and neither the latter nor adult coral colonies had any effect on the occurrence probabilities of small corals. Sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) densities were generally low, and thus unlikely to contribute to reverting algal dominance. The successional trajectories of the community in the impacted and non-impacted sectors of the coral patch reef agree with the inhibition successional model, leading to the development of a degraded state dominated by fleshy algae. It is probable that the stability and resilience of this degraded state are high due to the ability of fleshy algae to monopolize space, along with low coral recovery potential.Arrecifes de coralAlgas carnosasErizos de marDegradación ambientalArtfrosurPeerJhttps://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14680Acceso en línea sin restricciones |
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Arrecifes de coral Algas carnosas Erizos de mar Degradación ambiental Artfrosur Arrecifes de coral Algas carnosas Erizos de mar Degradación ambiental Artfrosur |
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Arrecifes de coral Algas carnosas Erizos de mar Degradación ambiental Artfrosur Arrecifes de coral Algas carnosas Erizos de mar Degradación ambiental Artfrosur Victoria Salazar, Isael Doctor autor 19758 González, Edgar J. autor Meave, Jorge A. autor 12600 Ruiz Zárate, Miguel Ángel Doctor autor 13308 Hernández Arana, Héctor Abuid Doctor autor 2053 Stories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a Mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession |
| description |
Understanding the mechanisms that allow the permanence of coral reefs and the constancy of their characteristics is necessary to alleviate the effects of chronic environmental changes. After a disturbance, healthy coral reefs display trajectories that allow regaining coral cover and the establishment of framework building corals. Through a comparative approach, in a patch reef partially affected by a ship grounding, we analyzed the successional trajectories in affected and unaffected sectors. Fleshy algae (which do not promote the recruitment of corals) dominated the reef surface irrespective of the impact of the ship grounding incident. Acropora species had near-zero contributions to community structure, whereas non-framework building corals like Porites sp. had a slightly higher recruitment. Cover of coral and calcareous crustose algae decreased over time, and neither the latter nor adult coral colonies had any effect on the occurrence probabilities of small corals. Sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) densities were generally low, and thus unlikely to contribute to reverting algal dominance. The successional trajectories of the community in the impacted and non-impacted sectors of the coral patch reef agree with the inhibition successional model, leading to the development of a degraded state dominated by fleshy algae. It is probable that the stability and resilience of this degraded state are high due to the ability of fleshy algae to monopolize space, along with low coral recovery potential. |
| format |
Texto |
| topic_facet |
Arrecifes de coral Algas carnosas Erizos de mar Degradación ambiental Artfrosur |
| author |
Victoria Salazar, Isael Doctor autor 19758 González, Edgar J. autor Meave, Jorge A. autor 12600 Ruiz Zárate, Miguel Ángel Doctor autor 13308 Hernández Arana, Héctor Abuid Doctor autor 2053 |
| author_facet |
Victoria Salazar, Isael Doctor autor 19758 González, Edgar J. autor Meave, Jorge A. autor 12600 Ruiz Zárate, Miguel Ángel Doctor autor 13308 Hernández Arana, Héctor Abuid Doctor autor 2053 |
| author_sort |
Victoria Salazar, Isael Doctor autor 19758 |
| title |
Stories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a Mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession |
| title_short |
Stories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a Mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession |
| title_full |
Stories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a Mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession |
| title_fullStr |
Stories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a Mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Stories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a Mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession |
| title_sort |
stories told by corals, algae, and sea-urchins in a mesoamerican coral reef degradation trumps succession |
| url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14680 |
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