Coral Literature Annotated Bibliography

CORAL LITERATURE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

April 2013

Abele, L. G. & Patton, W. K. (1976). The size of coral heads and the community biology of associated

decapod\crustaceans Journal of Biogeography, 35-47.

Fifty-five species of decapod crustaceans are associated with live coral heads of Pocillopora damicornis in the Gulf of Panama. Both numbers of species and indivi- duals of decapods are highly correlated with the area of the coral heads. Small coral heads have fewer species, smaller individual species population sizes and a slightly higher total interspecific density than large coral heads. Area influences species numbers apparently by regulating population sizes of most species. Population sizes of the majority of the species are positively correlated with area, but some are area-independent and one is inversely correlated with area. There are fewer congeneric species than expected on each coral head, possibly because of interspecific interference. Knowledge of frequency of occurrence allows predictions of species numbers on two small as opposed to one large coral head. Predictions of species numbers on coral heads based on rarefaction are consistently and significantly higher than the observed species numbers.

Acosta, C. A. (1999). Benthic Dispersal of Caribbean Spiny Lobsters Among Insular Habitats: Implications for the Conservation of Exploited Marine Species. Conservation Biology, 13.

Understanding how populations of target species interact with their habitats is necessary for developing an effective conservation strategy. During its complex life history, the Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) uses a variety of benthic marine habitats, but how habitat characteristics affect their dispersal is unclear. To assess how habitat insularity affects the benthic dispersal of spiny lobsters, I compared lobster abundance, size class structure, and migration among insular mangrove and coral reef habitats that were surrounded by bare rubble fields or by seagrass meadows. Lobsters were significantly more abundant on mangrove and coral islands surrounded by seagrass. The size-class distributions of lobsters in these habitats had higher proportions of juveniles, whereas islands surrounded by sand and rubble had skewed distributions dominated by adult lobsters. Seagrass is known to serve as settlement habitat for larval recruits and is likely associated with the higher abundances of lobsters found in seagrass-isolated habitats. Immigration and emigration rates were three to four times higher on seagrass-isolated islands than on rubble-isolated islands, reflected in the significantly greater number of juveniles moving into and from seagrass-isolated islands. Rubble fields appeared to function as a barrier to benthic dispersal for all lobsters except adults. Vegetated substrates may function as movement corridors for juvenile lobsters and may facilitate dispersal to areas containing new resources. The effects of insularity on a population may be lessened by the nature of the surrounding habitats if those habitats have important functional roles as larval settlement areas, foraging grounds, or movement corridors. Protection of insular habitats like coral reefs may be ineffective if related habitats like seagrass meadows are left unprotected. Conservation strategies for mobile benthic species need to incorporate the protection of areas with heterogeneous habitats that are important to meet the changing habitat requirements in complex life cycles.

Adam, T. C. & et al (2011). Herbivory, connectivity, and ecosystem resilience: Response of a coral reef to a

large-scale perturbation. PLoS ONE, 6.

Coral reefs world-wide are threatened by escalating local and global impacts, and some impacted reefs have shifted from coral dominance to a state dominated by macroalgae. Therefore, there is a growing need to understand the processes that affect the capacity of these ecosystems to return to coral dominance following disturbances, including those that prevent the establishment of persistent stands of macroalgae. Unlike many reefs in the Caribbean, over the last several decades, reefs around the Indo-Pacific island of Moorea, French Polynesia have consistently returned to coral dominance following major perturbations without shifting to a macroalgae-dominated state. Here, we present evidence of a rapid increase in populations of herbivorous fishes following the most recent perturbation, and show that grazing by these herbivores has prevented the establishment of macroalgae following near complete loss of coral on offshore reefs. Importantly, we found the positive response of herbivorous fishes to increased benthic primary productivity associated with coral loss was driven largely by parrotfishes that initially recruit to stable nursery habitat within the lagoons before moving to offshore reefs later in life. These results underscore the importance of connectivity between the lagoon and offshore reefs for preventing the establishment of macroalgae following disturbances, and indicate that protecting nearshore nursery habitat of herbivorous fishes is critical for maintaining reef resilience.

Adams, A. J., Dahlgren, C. P., Kellison, G., Kendall, M. S., Layman, C. A., Ley, J. A. et al. (2006). Nursery

function of tropical back-reef systems. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 318.

Similar to nearshore systems in temperate latitudes, the nursery paradigm for tropical back-reef systems is that they provide a habitat for juveniles of species that subsequently make ontogenetic shifts to adult populations on coral reefs (we refer to this as the nursery function of back-reef systems). Nevertheless, we lack a full understanding of the importance of the nursery function of back-reef systems to the maintenance of coral reef fishes and invertebrate populations; the few studies that have examined the nursery function of multiple habitats indicate that the relationship between juvenile production in back-reef habitats and their subsequent contribution to adult populations on reefs remain poorly understood. In this synopsis we (1) synthesize current knowledge of life history, ecological and habitat influences on juvenile distribution patterns and nursery function within back-reef systems; (2) outline a research strategy for assessing the nursery function of various habitat types in back-reef systems; and (3) discuss management recommendations, particularly in regard to how improved knowledge of the nursery function of back-reef systems can be used in fisheries and ecosystem management, including habitat conservation and restoration decisions. The research strategy builds on research recommendations for assessing the nursery function of temperate habitats and includes 4 levels of research: (1) building conceptual models to guide research and management; (2) identifying juvenile habitat use patterns; (3) measuring connectivity of juvenile and adult populations between habitats; and (4) examining ecological processes that may influence patterns assessed in Level 2 and Level 3 research. Research and modeling output from Levels 1 to 4 will provide an improved ecological understanding of the degree and importance of interconnections between coral reef and adjacent back-reef systems, and will provide information to managers that will facilitate wise decisions pertaining to habitat conservation, habitat restoration, and ecosystem-based management, and the maintenance of sustainable fisheries.

Aguilar, C. and J. A. Sanchez. 2007. Molecular morphometrics: contribution of ITS2 sequences and predicted

RNA secondary structures to octocoral systematics. Bulletin of Marine Science 81(3): 335-349.

Octocorals are among the largest and most diverse invertebrates on seamounts
and in deep water but most of their systematics remains misunderstood. Molecular
studies have produced new insights at higher levels. Unfortunately, most DNA sequences
from both mitochondrial and nuclear genes have exhibited much conservation,
preventing their use for closely related species. The internal transcribed spacers
(ITSs) from the nuclear ribosomal-DNA have shown considerable variation among
octocorals, and the ITS2 sequence has turned out to be a promising region. Here
we provide new sequences and predicted RNA secondary structures for the ITS2
of fourteen octocorals. The sequences exhibited the highly conserved six-helicoidal
ring-model structure found in yeast, insects, and vertebrates. A molecular morphometrics
approach of 14 octocoral species produced 49 characters and 15 equally
parsimonious trees. Consensus trees retained most of the relationships found with
conserved mtDNA sequences. For instance, the node grouping Alaskagorgia aleutiana
Sanchez and Cairns, 2004 with Muricea muricata (Pallas, 1766) was highly
supported, which comprises independent support for the placement of this recently
described deep-water species with the Plexauridae, in spite of having poor affinities
according to morphology. Molecular morphometrics skips the issue of dealing with
multiple insertions and deletions, and saturation in the primary information from
sequence alignments. Nonetheless, the reliability and phylogenetic signal of ITS2 is
better for intrageneric studies.

Ahlfeld, T. E., G. S. Boland, and J. J. Kendall. 2007. Protection of deep-water corals with the development of oil and gas resources in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico: an adaptive approach. Bulletin of Marine Science 81(Supplement 1): 59-64.

The occurrence of Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus, 1758) in the northern Gulf of Mexico
(GOM) was first documented by Louis de Pourtalès in the late 1860s. The coral specimens
were found in dredge samples collected during U.S. Coast Survey cruises conducted
in the Straits of Florida and between the Dry Tortugas and the Campeche Bank
(Smith, 1954). An extensive deep-water reef in the GOM was discovered in the 1950s
approximately 74 km east of the Mississippi River Delta (Moore and Bullis, 1960). This
reef, in water depths of 420–512 m, was reported as being composed largely of L. pertusa
with the largest portion of the reef extending to a width of 55 m and length of over
305 m (Moore and Bullis, 1960). These habitats have since been shown to be much more
extensive and important to the support of diverse communities of associated fauna than
previously known in the GOM. Schroeder (2002) reported observations of L. pertusa on
the upper De Soto Slope in the northeastern GOM.

Albright, R. & Langdon, C. (2011). Ocean acidification impacts multiple early life history processes of the

Caribbean coral Porites astreoides. Global Change Biology1, 7, 2478-2487.

Ocean acidification (OA) refers to the increase in acidity (decrease in pH) of the ocean's surface waters resulting from oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Mounting experimental evidence suggests that OA threatens numerous marine organisms, including reef-building corals. Coral recruitment is critical to the persistence and resilience of coral reefs and is regulated by several early life processes, including: larval availability (gamete production, fertilization, etc.), larval settlement, postsettlement growth, and survival. Environmental factors that disrupt these early life processes can result in compromised or failed recruitment and profoundly affect future population dynamics. To evaluate the effects of OA on the sexual recruitment of corals, we tested larval metabolism, larval settlement, and postsettlement growth of the common Caribbean coral Porites astreoides at three pCO2 levels: ambient seawater (380 ?atm) and two pCO2 scenarios that are projected to occur by the middle (560 ?atm) and end (800 ?atm) of the century. Our results show that larval metabolism is depressed by 27% and 63% at 560 and 800 ?atm, respectively, compared with controls. Settlement was reduced by 42-45% at 560 ?atm and 55-60% at 800 ?atm, relative to controls. Results indicate that OA primarily affects settlement via indirect pathways, whereby acidified seawater alters the substrate community composition, limiting the availability of settlement cues. Postsettlement growth decreased by 16% and 35% at 560 and 800 ?atm, respectively, relative to controls. This study demonstrates that OA has the potential to negatively impact multiple early life history processes of P. astreoides and may contribute to substantial declines in sexual recruitment that are felt at the community and/or ecosystem scale.

Albright, R. (2011). Reviewing the effects of ocean acidification on sexual reproduction and early life history stages of reef-building corals.Journal of Marine Biology, 2011, 1-14.

Ocean acidification (OA) is a relatively young yet rapidly developing scientific field. Assessing the potential response(s) of marine organisms to projected near-future OA scenarios has been at the forefront of scientific research, with a focus on ecosystems (e.g., coral reefs) and processes (e.g., calcification) that are deemed particularly vulnerable. Recently, a heightened emphasis has been placed on evaluating early life history stages as these stages are generally perceived to be more sensitive to environmental change. The number of acidification-related studies focused on early life stages has risen dramatically over the last several years. While early life history stages of corals have been understudied compared to other marine invertebrate taxa (e.g., echinoderms, mollusks), numerous studies exist to contribute to our status of knowledge regarding the potential impacts of OA on coral recruitment dynamics. To synthesize this information, the present paper reviews the primary literature on the effects of acidification on sexual reproduction and early stages of corals, incorporating lessons learned from more thoroughly studied taxa to both assess our current understanding of the potential impacts of OA on coral recruitment and to inform and guide future research in this area.

Allison, G.W. Lubchenko, J., Carr. M.H. (1998) Marine reserves are necessary but not sufficient for marine conservation. Ecological Applications. 8(I) Supplement. pp. S79-S92.

The intensity of human pressure on marine systems has led to a push for stronger marine conservation efforts. Recently, marine reserves have become one highly advocated form of marine conservation, and the number of newly designated reserves has increased dramatically. Reserves will be essential for conservation efforts because they can provide unique protection for critical areas, they can provide a spatial escape for intenselyexploited species, and they can potentially act as buffers against some management miscalculationsand unforeseen or unusual conditions. Reserve design and effectiveness can be dramatically improved by better use of existing scientific understanding. Reserves are insufficient protection alone, however, because they are not isolated from all critical impacts.Communities residing within marine reserves are strongly influenced by the highly variableconditions of the water masses that continuously flow through them.

Almany, G. R., Berumen, M. L., Thorrold, S. R., Planes, S., & Jones, G. P. (2007). Local Replenishment of Coral Reef Fish Populations in a Marine Reserve. Science, 316.

The scale of larval dispersal of marine organisms is important for the design of networks of marine protected areas. We examined the fate of coral reef fish larvae produced at a small island reserve, using a mass-marking method based on maternal transmission of stable isotopes to offspring. Approximately 60% of settled juveniles were spawned at the island, for species with both short (<2 weeks) and long (>1 month) pelagic larval durations. If natal homing of larvae is a common life-history strategy, the appropriate spatial scales for the management and conservation of coral reefs are likely to be much smaller than previously assumed.

Althaus, F., Williams, A., Schlacher, T. A., & et al (2009). Impacts of bottom trawling on deep-coral ecosystems of seamounts are long-lasting. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 397, 279-294.
Complex biogenic habitats formed by corals are important components of the megabenthos
of seamounts, but their fragility makes them susceptible to damage by bottom trawling. Here we
examine changes to stony corals and associated megabenthic assemblages on seamounts off Tasmania
(Australia) with different histories of bottom-contact trawling by analysing 64 504 video frames
(25 seamounts) and 704 high-resolution images (7 seamounts). Trawling had a dramatic impact on the
seamount benthos: (1) bottom cover of the matrix-forming stony coral Solenosmilia variabilis was
reduced by 2 orders of magnitude; (2) loss of coral habitat translated into 3-fold declines in richness,
diversity and density of other megabenthos; and (3) megabenthos assemblage structures diverged
widely between trawled and untrawled seamounts. On seamounts where trawling had been reduced
to <5% a decade ago and ceased completely 5 yr ago, there was no clear signal of recovery of the
megabenthos; communities remained impoverished comprising fewer species at reduced densities.
Differences in community structure in the trawled (as compared to the untrawled) seamounts were
attributed to resistant species that survived initial impacts, others protected in natural refugia and
early colonisers. Long-term persistence of trawling impacts on deep-water corals is consistent with
their biological traits (e.g. slow growth rates, fragility) that make them particularly vulnerable.
Because recovery on seamounts will be slow, the benefits from fishery closures may not be immediately
recognisable or measurable. Spatial closures are crucial conservation instruments, but will
require long-term commitments and expectations of performance whose time frames match the biological
tempo in the deep sea.

Alvarez-Filip, L. & et al (2011). Region-wide temporal and spatial variation in Caribbean reef architecture: is coral cover the whole story?Global Change Biology, 17, 2470-2477.

The architectural complexity of coral reefs is largely generated by reef-building corals, yet the effects of current regional-scale declines in coral cover on reef complexity are poorly understood. In particular, both the extent to which declines in coral cover lead to declines in complexity and the length of time it takes for reefs to collapse following coral mortality are unknown. Here we assess the extent of temporal and spatial covariation between coral cover and reef architectural complexity using a Caribbean-wide dataset of temporally replicated estimates spanning four decades. Both coral cover and architectural complexity have declined rapidly over time, with little evidence of a time-lag. However, annual rates of change in coral cover and complexity do not covary, and levels of complexity vary greatly among reefs with similar coral cover. These findings suggest that the stressors influencing Caribbean reefs are sufficiently severe and widespread to produce similar regional-scale declines in coral cover and reef complexity, even though reef architectural complexity is not a direct function of coral cover at local scales. Given that architectural complexity is not a simple function of coral cover, it is important that conservation monitoring and restoration give due consideration to both architecture and coral cover. This will help ensure that the ecosystem services supported by architectural complexity, such as nutrient recycling, dissipation of wave energy, fish production and diversity, are maintained and enhanced.

Ammar, M. S. A., Amin, E. M., Gundacker, D., & Mueller, W. E. G. (2000). One rational strategy for restoration of coral reefs: Application of molecular biological tools to select sites for rehabilitation by asexual recruits. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 40.