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Macroalgal cover on coral reefs: Spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the Great Barrier Reef

Macroalgae are an important component of coral reef ecosystems. We identified spatial patterns, environmental drivers and long-term trends of total cover of upright fleshy and calcareous coral reef inhabiting macroalgae in the Great Barrier Reef. The spatial study comprised of one-off surveys of 125...

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Autores principales: Fabricius, Katharina E., Crossman, Kerryn, Jonker, Michelle, Mongin, Mathieu, Thompson, Angus
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9858843/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36662876
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279699
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author Fabricius, Katharina E.
Crossman, Kerryn
Jonker, Michelle
Mongin, Mathieu
Thompson, Angus
author_facet Fabricius, Katharina E.
Crossman, Kerryn
Jonker, Michelle
Mongin, Mathieu
Thompson, Angus
author_sort Fabricius, Katharina E.
collection PubMed
description Macroalgae are an important component of coral reef ecosystems. We identified spatial patterns, environmental drivers and long-term trends of total cover of upright fleshy and calcareous coral reef inhabiting macroalgae in the Great Barrier Reef. The spatial study comprised of one-off surveys of 1257 sites (latitude 11–24°S, coastal to offshore, 0–18 m depth), while the temporal trends analysis was based on 26 years of long-term monitoring data from 93 reefs. Environmental predictors were obtained from in situ data and from the coupled hydrodynamic-biochemical model eReefs. Macroalgae dominated the benthos (≥50% cover) on at least one site of 40.4% of surveyed inshore reefs. Spatially, macroalgal cover increased steeply towards the coast, with latitude away from the equator, and towards shallow (≤3 m) depth. Environmental conditions associated with macroalgal dominance were: high tidal range, wave exposure and irradiance, and low aragonite saturation state, Secchi depth, total alkalinity and temperature. Evidence of space competition between macroalgal cover and hard coral cover was restricted to shallow inshore sites. Temporally, macroalgal cover on inshore and mid-shelf reefs showed some fluctuations, but unlike hard corals they showed no systematic trends. Our extensive empirical data may serve to parameterize ecosystem models, and to refine reef condition indices based on macroalgal data for Pacific coral reefs.
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spelling pubmed-98588432023-01-21 Macroalgal cover on coral reefs: Spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the Great Barrier Reef Fabricius, Katharina E. Crossman, Kerryn Jonker, Michelle Mongin, Mathieu Thompson, Angus PLoS One Research Article Macroalgae are an important component of coral reef ecosystems. We identified spatial patterns, environmental drivers and long-term trends of total cover of upright fleshy and calcareous coral reef inhabiting macroalgae in the Great Barrier Reef. The spatial study comprised of one-off surveys of 1257 sites (latitude 11–24°S, coastal to offshore, 0–18 m depth), while the temporal trends analysis was based on 26 years of long-term monitoring data from 93 reefs. Environmental predictors were obtained from in situ data and from the coupled hydrodynamic-biochemical model eReefs. Macroalgae dominated the benthos (≥50% cover) on at least one site of 40.4% of surveyed inshore reefs. Spatially, macroalgal cover increased steeply towards the coast, with latitude away from the equator, and towards shallow (≤3 m) depth. Environmental conditions associated with macroalgal dominance were: high tidal range, wave exposure and irradiance, and low aragonite saturation state, Secchi depth, total alkalinity and temperature. Evidence of space competition between macroalgal cover and hard coral cover was restricted to shallow inshore sites. Temporally, macroalgal cover on inshore and mid-shelf reefs showed some fluctuations, but unlike hard corals they showed no systematic trends. Our extensive empirical data may serve to parameterize ecosystem models, and to refine reef condition indices based on macroalgal data for Pacific coral reefs. Public Library of Science 2023-01-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9858843/ /pubmed/36662876 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279699 Text en © 2023 Fabricius et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Fabricius, Katharina E.
Crossman, Kerryn
Jonker, Michelle
Mongin, Mathieu
Thompson, Angus
Macroalgal cover on coral reefs: Spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the Great Barrier Reef
title Macroalgal cover on coral reefs: Spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the Great Barrier Reef
title_full Macroalgal cover on coral reefs: Spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the Great Barrier Reef
title_fullStr Macroalgal cover on coral reefs: Spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the Great Barrier Reef
title_full_unstemmed Macroalgal cover on coral reefs: Spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the Great Barrier Reef
title_short Macroalgal cover on coral reefs: Spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the Great Barrier Reef
title_sort macroalgal cover on coral reefs: spatial and environmental predictors, and decadal trends in the great barrier reef
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9858843/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36662876
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279699
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