Journal article
27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore
Scientific Reports, Vol.6, 36260
2016
Abstract
Coral cover on reefs is declining globally due to coastal development, overfishing and climate change. Reefs isolated from direct human influence can recover from natural acute disturbances, but little is known about long term recovery of reefs experiencing chronic human disturbances. Here we investigate responses to acute bleaching disturbances on turbid reefs off Singapore, at two depths over a period of 27 years. Coral cover declined and there were marked changes in coral and benthic community structure during the first decade of monitoring at both depths. At shallower reef crest sites (3-4 m), benthic community structure recovered towards pre-disturbance states within a decade. In contrast, there was a net decline in coral cover and continuing shifts in community structure at deeper reef slope sites (6-7 m). There was no evidence of phase shifts to macroalgal dominance but coral habitats at deeper sites were replaced by unstable substrata such as fine sediments and rubble. The persistence of coral dominance at chronically disturbed shallow sites is likely due to an abundance of coral taxa which are tolerant to environmental stress. In addition, high turbidity may interact antagonistically with other disturbances to reduce the impact of thermal stress and limit macroalgal growth rates. © The Author(s) 2016.
Details
- Title
- 27 years of benthic and coral community dynamics on turbid, highly urbanised reefs off Singapore
- Authors
- J R Guest (Author) - University of New South WalesK Tun (Author) - Singapore Botanic Gardens, SingaporeJ Low (Author) - Singapore Botanic Gardens, SingaporeA Vergés (Author) - University of New South WalesE M Marzinelli (Author) - University of New South WalesAlexandra H Campbell (Author) - University of New South WalesA G Bauman (Author) - National University of Singapore, SingaporeD A Feary (Author) - University of Nottingham, United KingdomL M Chou (Author) - National University of Singapore, SingaporeP D Steinberg (Author) - University of New South Wales
- Publication details
- Scientific Reports, Vol.6, 36260; 10
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date published
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1038/srep36260
- ISSN
- 2045-2322; 2045-2322
- Copyright note
- Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Biomedicine; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health and Sport Sciences - Legacy; School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451430802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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