Drivers of region-wide declines in architectural complexity on Caribbean reefs

Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip; J. A. Gill; N. K. Dulvy; A. L. Perry; A. R. Watkinson; I. M. Côté

doi:10.1007/s00338-011-0795-6

Drivers of region-wide declines in architectural complexity on Caribbean reefs

Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip, J. A. Gill, N. K. Dulvy, A. L. Perry, A. R. Watkinson, I. M. Côté

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

64 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Severe declines in the cover of live hard coral on reefs have been reported worldwide, and in the Caribbean region, the architectural complexity of coral reefs has also declined markedly. While the drivers of coral cover loss are relatively well understood, little is known about the drivers of regional-scale declines in architectural complexity. We have used a dataset of 49 time series reporting reef architectural complexity to explore the effect of hurricanes, coral bleaching and fishing on Caribbean-wide annual rates of change in reef complexity. Hurricane impacts greatly influence reef complexity, with the most rapid rates of decline in complexity occurring at sites impacted during their survey period, and with lower rates of loss occurring at unimpacted sites. Reef architectural complexity did not change significantly following mass bleaching events (in a time frame of

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1051-1060
Journal	Coral Reefs
Volume	30
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-011-0795-6
Publication status	Published - Dec 2011

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10.1007/s00338-011-0795-6

Cite this

@article{2836df7200144bc1931699cda56c044d,

title = "Drivers of region-wide declines in architectural complexity on Caribbean reefs",

abstract = "Severe declines in the cover of live hard coral on reefs have been reported worldwide, and in the Caribbean region, the architectural complexity of coral reefs has also declined markedly. While the drivers of coral cover loss are relatively well understood, little is known about the drivers of regional-scale declines in architectural complexity. We have used a dataset of 49 time series reporting reef architectural complexity to explore the effect of hurricanes, coral bleaching and fishing on Caribbean-wide annual rates of change in reef complexity. Hurricane impacts greatly influence reef complexity, with the most rapid rates of decline in complexity occurring at sites impacted during their survey period, and with lower rates of loss occurring at unimpacted sites. Reef architectural complexity did not change significantly following mass bleaching events (in a time frame of ",

author = "Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip and Gill, {J. A.} and Dulvy, {N. K.} and Perry, {A. L.} and Watkinson, {A. R.} and C{\^o}t{\'e}, {I. M.}",

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AU - Alvarez-Filip, Lorenzo

AU - Gill, J. A.

AU - Dulvy, N. K.

AU - Perry, A. L.

AU - Watkinson, A. R.

AU - Côté, I. M.

PY - 2011/12

Y1 - 2011/12

N2 - Severe declines in the cover of live hard coral on reefs have been reported worldwide, and in the Caribbean region, the architectural complexity of coral reefs has also declined markedly. While the drivers of coral cover loss are relatively well understood, little is known about the drivers of regional-scale declines in architectural complexity. We have used a dataset of 49 time series reporting reef architectural complexity to explore the effect of hurricanes, coral bleaching and fishing on Caribbean-wide annual rates of change in reef complexity. Hurricane impacts greatly influence reef complexity, with the most rapid rates of decline in complexity occurring at sites impacted during their survey period, and with lower rates of loss occurring at unimpacted sites. Reef architectural complexity did not change significantly following mass bleaching events (in a time frame of

AB - Severe declines in the cover of live hard coral on reefs have been reported worldwide, and in the Caribbean region, the architectural complexity of coral reefs has also declined markedly. While the drivers of coral cover loss are relatively well understood, little is known about the drivers of regional-scale declines in architectural complexity. We have used a dataset of 49 time series reporting reef architectural complexity to explore the effect of hurricanes, coral bleaching and fishing on Caribbean-wide annual rates of change in reef complexity. Hurricane impacts greatly influence reef complexity, with the most rapid rates of decline in complexity occurring at sites impacted during their survey period, and with lower rates of loss occurring at unimpacted sites. Reef architectural complexity did not change significantly following mass bleaching events (in a time frame of

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DO - 10.1007/s00338-011-0795-6

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