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Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral Mussismilia braziliensis (Verril, 1867)

Most coral reefs have recently experienced acute changes in benthic community structure, generally involving dominance shifts from slow-growing hard corals to fast-growing benthic invertebrates and fleshy photosynthesizers. Besides overfishing, increased nutrification and sedimentation are important...

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Autores principales: Ribeiro, Felipe V., Sá, João A., Fistarol, Giovana O., Salomon, Paulo S., Pereira, Renato C., Souza, Maria Luiza A.M., Neves, Leonardo M., Amado-Filho, Gilberto M., Francini-Filho, Ronaldo B., Salgado, Leonardo T., Bastos, Alex C., Pereira-Filho, Guilherme H., Moraes, Fernando C., Moura, Rodrigo L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6089213/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30128199
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5419
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author Ribeiro, Felipe V.
Sá, João A.
Fistarol, Giovana O.
Salomon, Paulo S.
Pereira, Renato C.
Souza, Maria Luiza A.M.
Neves, Leonardo M.
Amado-Filho, Gilberto M.
Francini-Filho, Ronaldo B.
Salgado, Leonardo T.
Bastos, Alex C.
Pereira-Filho, Guilherme H.
Moraes, Fernando C.
Moura, Rodrigo L.
author_facet Ribeiro, Felipe V.
Sá, João A.
Fistarol, Giovana O.
Salomon, Paulo S.
Pereira, Renato C.
Souza, Maria Luiza A.M.
Neves, Leonardo M.
Amado-Filho, Gilberto M.
Francini-Filho, Ronaldo B.
Salgado, Leonardo T.
Bastos, Alex C.
Pereira-Filho, Guilherme H.
Moraes, Fernando C.
Moura, Rodrigo L.
author_sort Ribeiro, Felipe V.
collection PubMed
description Most coral reefs have recently experienced acute changes in benthic community structure, generally involving dominance shifts from slow-growing hard corals to fast-growing benthic invertebrates and fleshy photosynthesizers. Besides overfishing, increased nutrification and sedimentation are important drivers of this process, which is well documented at landscape scales in the Caribbean and in the Indo-Pacific. However, small-scale processes that occur at the level of individual organisms remain poorly explored. In addition, the generality of coral reef decline models still needs to be verified on the vast realm of turbid-zone reefs. Here, we documented the outcome of interactions between an endangered Brazilian-endemic coral (Mussismilia braziliensis) and its most abundant contacting organisms (turf, cyanobacteria, corals, crustose coralline algae and foliose macroalgae). Our study was based on a long (2006–2016) series of high resolution data (fixed photoquadrats) acquired along a cross-shelf gradient that includes coastal unprotected reefs and offshore protected sites. The study region (Abrolhos Bank) comprises the largest and richest coralline complex in the South Atlantic, and a foremost example of a turbid-zone reef system with low diversity and expressive coral cover. Coral growth was significantly different between reefs. Coral-algae contacts predominated inshore, while cyanobacteria and turf contacts dominated offshore. An overall trend in positive coral growth was detected from 2009 onward in the inshore reef, whereas retraction in live coral tissue was observed offshore during this period. Turbidity (+) and cyanobacteria (−) were the best predictors of coral growth. Complimentary incubation experiments, in which treatments of Symbiodinium spp. from M. braziliensis colonies were subjected to cyanobacterial exudates, showed a negative effect of the exudate on the symbionts, demonstrating that cyanobacteria play an important role in coral tissue necrosis. Negative effects of cyanobacteria on living coral tissue may remain undetected from percent cover estimates gathered at larger spatial scales, as these ephemeral organisms tend to be rapidly replaced by longer-living macroalgae, or complex turf-like consortia. The cross-shelf trend of decreasing turbidity and macroalgae abundance suggests either a direct positive effect of turbidity on coral growth, or an indirect effect related to the higher inshore cover of foliose macroalgae, constraining cyanobacterial abundance. It is unclear whether the higher inshore macroalgal abundance (10–20% of reef cover) is a stable phase related to a long-standing high turbidity background, or a contemporary response to anthropogenic stress. Our results challenge the idea that high macroalgal cover is always associated with compromised coral health, as the baselines for turbid zone reefs may derive sharply from those of coral-dominated reefs that dwell under oligotrophic conditions.
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spelling pubmed-60892132018-08-20 Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral Mussismilia braziliensis (Verril, 1867) Ribeiro, Felipe V. Sá, João A. Fistarol, Giovana O. Salomon, Paulo S. Pereira, Renato C. Souza, Maria Luiza A.M. Neves, Leonardo M. Amado-Filho, Gilberto M. Francini-Filho, Ronaldo B. Salgado, Leonardo T. Bastos, Alex C. Pereira-Filho, Guilherme H. Moraes, Fernando C. Moura, Rodrigo L. PeerJ Ecology Most coral reefs have recently experienced acute changes in benthic community structure, generally involving dominance shifts from slow-growing hard corals to fast-growing benthic invertebrates and fleshy photosynthesizers. Besides overfishing, increased nutrification and sedimentation are important drivers of this process, which is well documented at landscape scales in the Caribbean and in the Indo-Pacific. However, small-scale processes that occur at the level of individual organisms remain poorly explored. In addition, the generality of coral reef decline models still needs to be verified on the vast realm of turbid-zone reefs. Here, we documented the outcome of interactions between an endangered Brazilian-endemic coral (Mussismilia braziliensis) and its most abundant contacting organisms (turf, cyanobacteria, corals, crustose coralline algae and foliose macroalgae). Our study was based on a long (2006–2016) series of high resolution data (fixed photoquadrats) acquired along a cross-shelf gradient that includes coastal unprotected reefs and offshore protected sites. The study region (Abrolhos Bank) comprises the largest and richest coralline complex in the South Atlantic, and a foremost example of a turbid-zone reef system with low diversity and expressive coral cover. Coral growth was significantly different between reefs. Coral-algae contacts predominated inshore, while cyanobacteria and turf contacts dominated offshore. An overall trend in positive coral growth was detected from 2009 onward in the inshore reef, whereas retraction in live coral tissue was observed offshore during this period. Turbidity (+) and cyanobacteria (−) were the best predictors of coral growth. Complimentary incubation experiments, in which treatments of Symbiodinium spp. from M. braziliensis colonies were subjected to cyanobacterial exudates, showed a negative effect of the exudate on the symbionts, demonstrating that cyanobacteria play an important role in coral tissue necrosis. Negative effects of cyanobacteria on living coral tissue may remain undetected from percent cover estimates gathered at larger spatial scales, as these ephemeral organisms tend to be rapidly replaced by longer-living macroalgae, or complex turf-like consortia. The cross-shelf trend of decreasing turbidity and macroalgae abundance suggests either a direct positive effect of turbidity on coral growth, or an indirect effect related to the higher inshore cover of foliose macroalgae, constraining cyanobacterial abundance. It is unclear whether the higher inshore macroalgal abundance (10–20% of reef cover) is a stable phase related to a long-standing high turbidity background, or a contemporary response to anthropogenic stress. Our results challenge the idea that high macroalgal cover is always associated with compromised coral health, as the baselines for turbid zone reefs may derive sharply from those of coral-dominated reefs that dwell under oligotrophic conditions. PeerJ Inc. 2018-08-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6089213/ /pubmed/30128199 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5419 Text en ©2018 Ribeiro et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Ecology
Ribeiro, Felipe V.
Sá, João A.
Fistarol, Giovana O.
Salomon, Paulo S.
Pereira, Renato C.
Souza, Maria Luiza A.M.
Neves, Leonardo M.
Amado-Filho, Gilberto M.
Francini-Filho, Ronaldo B.
Salgado, Leonardo T.
Bastos, Alex C.
Pereira-Filho, Guilherme H.
Moraes, Fernando C.
Moura, Rodrigo L.
Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral Mussismilia braziliensis (Verril, 1867)
title Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral Mussismilia braziliensis (Verril, 1867)
title_full Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral Mussismilia braziliensis (Verril, 1867)
title_fullStr Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral Mussismilia braziliensis (Verril, 1867)
title_full_unstemmed Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral Mussismilia braziliensis (Verril, 1867)
title_short Long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral Mussismilia braziliensis (Verril, 1867)
title_sort long-term effects of competition and environmental drivers on the growth of the endangered coral mussismilia braziliensis (verril, 1867)
topic Ecology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6089213/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30128199
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5419
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