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Biome degradation characterizes the Anthropocene Epoch, and modern ecology is deeply involved with describing the changes underway. Most research has focused on the role of acute disturbances in causing conspicuous changes in ecosystem structure, which leads to an underappreciation of the chronic effects causing large changes through the cumulative effects of small perturbations over decades. Coral reefs epitomize this trend, because the changes in community structure are profound, yet the data to quantify these effects are usually insufficient to evaluate the relative roles of different disturbance types. Here, four decades of surveys from two coral reefs (9 and 14 m depth) off St. John, US Virgin Islands, are used to quantify the associations of acute and chronic events with the changes in benthic community structure. These reefs profoundly changed over 36 years, with coral death altering species assemblages to depress abundances of the ecologically important coral Orbicella spp. and elevating the coverage of macroalgae and crustose coralline algae/turf/bare space (CTB). Linear mixed models revealed the prominent role of chronic variation in temperature in accounting for changes in coverage of corals, macroalgae, and CTB, with rising temperature associated with increases in coral cover on the deep reef, and declines on the shallow reef. Hurricanes were also associated with declines in coral cover on the shallow reef, and increases on the deep reef. Multivariate analyses revealed strong associations between community structure and temperature, but weaker associations with hurricanes, bleaching, and diseases. These results highlight the overwhelming importance of chronically increasing temperature in altering the benthic community structure of Caribbean reefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implications of ocean acidification are acute for calcifying organisms, notably tropical reef corals, for which accretion generally is depressed and dissolution enhanced at reduced seawater pH. We describe year‐long experiments in which back reef and fore reef (17‐m depth) communities from Moorea, French Polynesia, were incubated outdoors under pCO2 regimes reflecting endpoints of representative concentration pathways (RCPs) expected by the end the century. Incubations were completed in three to four flumes (5.0 × 0.3 m, 500 L) in which seawater was refreshed and circulated at 0.1 m s−1, and the response of the communities was evaluated monthly by measurements of net community calcification (NCC) and net community productivity (NCP). For both communities, NCC (but not NCP) was affected by treatments and time, with NCC declining with increasing pCO2, and for the fore reef, becoming negative (i.e., dissolution was occurring) at the highest pCO2 (1067–1433 μatm, RCP8.5). There was scant evidence of community adjustment to reduce the negative effects of ocean acidification, and inhibition of NCC intensified in the back reef as the abundance of massive Porites spp. declined. These results highlight the risks of dissolution under ocean acidification for coral reefs and suggest these effects will be most acute in fore reef habitats. Without signs of amelioration of the negative effects of ocean acidification during year‐long experiments, it is reasonable to expect that the future of coral reefs in acidic seas can be predicted from their current known susceptibility to ocean acidification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coral recruitment describes the addition of new individuals to populations, and it is one of the most fundamental demographic processes contributing to population size. As many coral reefs around the world have experienced large declines in coral cover and abundance, there has been great interest in understanding the factors causing coral recruitment to vary and the conditions under which it can support community resilience. While progress in these areas is being facilitated by technological and scientific advances, one of the best tools to quantify recruitment remains the humble settlement tile, variants of which have been in use for over a century. Here I review the biology and ecology of coral recruits and the recruitment process, largely as resolved through the use of settlement tiles, by: (i) defining how the terms 'recruit' and 'recruitment' have been used, and explaining why loose terminology has impeded scientific advancement; (ii) describing how coral recruitment is measured and why settlement tiles have value for this purpose; (iii) summarizing previous efforts to review quantitative analyses of coral recruitment; (iv) describing advances from hypothesis‐driven studies in determining how refuges, seawater flow, and grazers can modulate coral recruitment; (v) reviewing the biology of small corals (i.e. recruits) to understand better how they respond to environmental conditions; and (vi) updating a quantitative compilation of coral recruitment studies extending from 1974 to present, thus revealing long‐term global declines in density of recruits, juxtaposed with apparent resilience to coral bleaching. Finally, I review future directions in the study of coral recruitment, and highlight the need to expand studies to deliver taxonomic resolution, and explain why time series of settlement tile deployments are likely to remain pivotal in quantifying coral recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying relatively intact areas within ecosystems and determining the conditions favoring their existence is necessary for effective management in the context of widespread environmental degradation. In this study, we used 3766 surveys of randomly selected sites in the United States and U.S. Territories to identify the correlates of sites categorized as "oases" (defined as sites with relatively high total coral cover). We used occupancy models to evaluate the influence of 10 environmental predictors on the probability that an area (21.2‐km2 cell) would harbor coral oases defined at four spatial extents: cross‐basin, basin, region, and subregion. Across all four spatial extents, oases were more likely to occur in habitats with high light attenuation. The influence of the other environmental predictors on the probability of oasis occurrence were less consistent and varied with the scale of observation. Oases were most likely in areas of low human population density, but this effect was evident only at the cross‐basin and subregional extents. At the regional and subregional extents oases were more likely where sea‐surface temperature was more variable, whereas at the larger spatial extents the opposite was true. By identifying the correlates of oasis occurrence, the model can inform the prioritization of reef areas for management. Areas with biophysical conditions that confer corals with physiological resilience, as well as limited human impacts, likely support coral reef oases across spatial extents. Our approach is widely applicable to the development of conservation strategies to protect biodiversity and ecosystems in an era of magnified human disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the fate of dead coral colonies on tropical reefs, specifically focusing on the reefs of Moorea, French Polynesia. The authors describe an unusual mode of decay where dead Pocillopora spp corals rapidly dissolve, leaving behind "ghosts" with hollow branches. These hollowed corals are hidden beneath a calcified façade colonized by algae, but their internal voids indicate imminent skeletal crumbling. The article raises questions about how coral reef recovery is affected by the structural legacies of dead corals and whether ghost colonies will become the new normal for reefs facing coral mortality due to ocean acidification and climate change. [Extracted from the article]

Coral bleaching in 2019 affected ~72% of I Pocillopora i spp. corals, killing 11-42% of Moorea colonies (French Polynesia). GLO:69VH/01jul21:bes21885-fig-0005.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): . gl Photo 5: Researcher collecting standardized images of corals, using a photoquadrat frame, to measure the size and survival of individual colonies. GLO:69VH/01jul21:bes21885-fig-0002.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): . gl Photo 2: Coral bleaching in 2019 at Moorea appeared to affect the larger colonies more than the smaller colonies of coral in the genus Pocillopora. [Extracted from the article]

Variation among functionally similar species in their response to environmental stress buffers ecosystems from changing states. Functionally similar species may often be cryptic species representing evolutionarily distinct genetic lineages that are morphologically indistinguishable. However, the extent to which cryptic species differ in their response to stress, and could therefore provide a source of response diversity, remains unclear because they are often not identified or are assumed to be ecologically equivalent. Here, we uncover differences in the bleaching response between sympatric cryptic species of the common Indo‐Pacific coral, Pocillopora. In April 2019, prolonged ocean heating occurred at Moorea, French Polynesia. 72% of pocilloporid colonies bleached after 22 d of severe heating (>8oC‐days) at 10 m depth on the north shore fore reef. Colony mortality ranged from 11% to 42% around the island four months after heating subsided. The majority (86%) of pocilloporids that died from bleaching belonged to a single haplotype, despite twelve haplotypes, representing at least five species, being sampled. Mitochondrial (open reading frame) sequence variation was greater between the haplotypes that experienced mortality versus haplotypes that all survived than it was between nominal species that all survived. Colonies > 30 cm in diameter were identified as the haplotype experiencing the most mortality, and in 1125 colonies that were not genetically identified, bleaching and mortality increased with colony size. Mortality did not increase with colony size within the haplotype suffering the highest mortality, suggesting that size‐dependent bleaching and mortality at the genus level was caused instead by differences among cryptic species. The relative abundance of haplotypes shifted between February and August, driven by declines in the same common haplotype for which mortality was estimated directly, at sites where heat accumulation was greatest, and where larger colony sizes occurred. The identification of morphologically indistinguishable species that differ in their response to thermal stress, but share a similar ecological function in terms of maintaining a coral‐dominated state, has important consequences for uncovering response diversity that drives resilience, especially in systems with low or declining functional diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biological world is rapidly changing following decades of anthropogenic disturbances. Under these conditions, species with stable or increasing abundances have been described as winners with the potential for future success, but this assertion is unreliable without knowledge of the selective basis of winning. The incentive to find winners is acute for reef corals, for which large declines in abundance have motivated restoration efforts targeting winning corals. On Caribbean reefs, Porites astreoides has emerged as a potential winner, but the demographic basis of this categorization is poorly known. Here we test for demographic benchmarks of winning in this species by quantifying abundances and sizes of colonies over 28 yr on the south coast of St. John, US Virgin Islands. From 1992 to 2001, the density of colonies of P. astreoides showed little variation while colonies increased in size by 58%, but from 2002 to 2019, population density increased 2.7‐fold, and colony size declined by 41%; accompanying these trends, the mean absolute cover of Porites spp. declined by 46% from 2010 to 2019. Low recruitment and rising abundances of colonies ≤4 cm diameter suggest that partial mortality and fission depressed colony sizes. The reversal over three decades of a positive demographic trend for a ubiquitous coral underscores the challenges of identifying winners from short‐term population performance. Without a mechanistic understanding of fitness, the search for winners based on demographic trends may be futile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems are changing in complex and unpredictable ways, and analysis of these changes is facilitated by coordinated, long‐term research. Meeting diverse societal needs requires an understanding of what populations and communities will be dominant in 20, 50, and 100 yr. This paper is a product of a synthesis effort of the U.S. National Science Foundation funded Long‐Term Ecological Research (LTER) network addressing the LTER core research area of populations and communities. This analysis revealed that each LTER site had at least one compelling story about what their site would look like in 50 or 100 yr. As the stories were prepared, themes emerged, and the stories were grouped into papers along five themes for this special issue: state change, connectivity, resilience, time lags, and cascading effects. This paper addresses the resilience theme and includes stories from the Baltimore (urban), Hubbard Brook (northern hardwood forest), Andrews (temperate rain forest), Moorea (coral reef), Cedar Creek (grassland), and North Temperate Lakes (lakes) sites. The concept of resilience (the capacity of a system to maintain structure and processes in the face of disturbance) is an old topic that has seen a resurgence of interest as the nature and extent of global environmental change have intensified. The stories we present here show the power of long‐term manipulation experiments (Cedar Creek), the value of long‐term monitoring of forests in both natural (Andrews, Hubbard Brook) and urban settings (Baltimore), and insights that can be gained from modeling and/or experimental approaches paired with long‐term observations (North Temperate Lakes, Moorea). Three main conclusions emerge from the analysis: (1) Resilience research has matured over the past 40 yr of the LTER program; (2) there are many examples of high resilience among the ecosystems in the LTER network; (3) there are also many warning signs of declining resilience of the ecosystems we study. These stories highlight the need for long‐term studies to address this complex topic and show how the diversity of sites within the LTER network facilitates the emergence of overarching concepts about this important driver of ecosystem structure, function, services, and futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supply of propagules mediates recruitment and population dynamics, thereby driving community resilience following disturbances. These relationships are of interest on tropical reefs, where coral populations have drastically declined in abundance and sexual recruitment is the only means by which they will recover. To better understand the causes and implications of variation in this vital rate (i.e., recruitment), coral recruitment was measured in Mo'orea, French Polynesia, and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, using settlement tiles deployed from 2005 to 2019. The results were used to test two hypotheses: (1) annual variation in recruitment is a weak predictor of long‐term variation in recruitment, but (2) it is associated with seawater temperature. Coral recruitment varied over space and time, so that differences in recruitment between consecutive years were uninformative of long‐term trends. Recruitment varied among years in an apparently chaotic manner, but the variation reflected linear and quadratic associations with mean annual temperature and the daily variation in temperature. These associations are consistent with theory addressing the mechanisms by which temperature affects coral larvae and recruitment. Comprehension of these mechanisms is required to accurately interpret evidence of coral recruitment collapse, and to elucidate the conditions favoring recovery of coral communities through recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With coral cover declining on most tropical reefs, efforts are intensifying to understand the mechanisms by which environmental stressors are driving populations into demographic deficit. Here, the population dynamics of sexual cohorts of small corals (≤ 4 cm diameter) in St. John, US Virgin Islands were used to test the hypothesis that the association of vital rates with environmental conditions has changed over 22 yr. The annual fate of 3999 corals at six sites and 7--9 m depth were used to populate Leslie Matrices and calculate assemblage growth rates (λ, without recruitment), mortality of the smallest corals, and graduation from the largest size class. Vital rates were tested for associations with temperature, the number of days with seawater warmer than 29.4°C (i.e., hot days), and rainfall. Transition probabilities varied among years, and usually more corals remained in their original size class than moved among size classes. Corals in the smallest size class had the highest mortality rate (42% yr-1), λ had a grand mean of 0.688, and there were trends for λ to vary with the number of hot days and rainfall through quadratic relationships. The linear dependence of λ on rainfall over consecutive 3-yr periods declined over two decades, suggesting that this colony size-defined coral assemblage has undergone phenotypic change in their responsiveness to varying environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reef‐building corals, like many long‐lived organisms, experience environmental change as a combination of separate but concurrent processes, some of which are gradual yet long‐lasting, while others are more acute but short‐lived. For corals, some chronic environmental stressors, such as rising temperature and ocean acidification, are thought to induce gradual changes in colonies' vital rates. Meanwhile, other environmental changes, such as the intensification of tropical cyclones, change the disturbance regime that corals experience. Here, we use a physiologically structured population model to explore how chronic environmental stressors that impact the vital rates of individual coral colonies interact with the intensity and magnitude of disturbance to affect coral population dynamics and cover. We find that, when disturbances are relatively benign, intraspecific density dependence driven by space competition partially buffers coral populations against gradual changes in vital rates. However, the impact of chronic stressors is amplified in more highly disturbed environments, because disturbance weakens the buffering effect of space competition. We also show that coral cover is more sensitive to changes in colony growth and mortality than to external recruitment, at least in open populations, and that space competition and size structure mediate the extent and pace of coral population recovery following a large‐scale mortality event. Understanding the complex interplay among chronic environmental stressors, mass‐mortality events, and population size structure sharpens our ability to manage and to restore coral‐reef ecosystems in an increasingly disturbed future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the severe implications of climate change and ocean acidification (OA) for marine ecosystems, there is an urgent need to quantify ecosystem function in present‐day conditions to determine the impacts of future changes in environmental conditions. For tropical coral reefs that are acutely threatened by these effects, the metabolism of benthic communities provides several metrics suitable for this purpose, but the application of infrastructure to manipulate conditions and measure community responses is not fully realized. To date, most studies of the effects of OA on coral reefs have been conducted ex situ, and while greater ecological relevance can be achieved through free ocean carbon enrichment (FOCE) experiments on undisturbed areas of reef, such approaches have been deterred by technical challenges (e.g., spatial scale and duration, stable maintenance of conditions). In this study, we describe novel experimental infrastructure called shallow coral reef (SCoRe) FOCE to overcome these challenges and present data from a proof of concept application in Mo'orea, French Polynesia. Our objectives were to (1) implement an autonomous system that could be deployed kilometers from shore, (2) regulate the chemical (pCO2) and physical properties of seawater over undisturbed, shallow (∼2–5‐m depth) coral reef over multiple weeks, and (3) measure the metabolic response of the coral community to the treatment conditions. We describe the design, function, and application of the SCoRe FOCE, and present data demonstrating its efficacy. This infrastructure has great potential for advancing ecologically relevant studies of the effects of changing environmental conditions on coral reefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Density dependence (DD) controls community recovery following widespread mortality, yet this principle rarely has been applied to coral assemblages. The reefs of Mo'orea, French Polynesia, provide the opportunity to study DD of coral population growth, because coral assemblages in this location responded to declines in abundance with high recruitment and an increase in cover during which recruitment of pocilloporid corals was inversely associated with density. This study tests for DD in this system, first, by describing the context within which it operates: coral cover changed from 46% in 2005, to <1% in 2010 following an outbreak of a corallivorous sea star and a cyclone, and then increased to 74% by 2017, in large part through inverse density‐associated pocilloporid recruitment. Second, a test for DD of recruitment was conducted by decreasing Pocillopora spp. cover from 33% to 19%: one year later, the density of Pocillopora spp. recruits was 1.65‐fold higher in the low vs. high cover treatment. Finally, the effects of DD were investigated by comparing simulated and empirical distributions of pocilloporid colonies: as predicted by DD, small colonies were randomly distributed, while large colonies were uniformly distributed. Together these results demonstrate DD of population regulation for Pocillopora spp. corals, thus revealing the potential importance of this ecological principle in determining the resilience of coral assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities have led to widespread ecological decline; however, the severity of degradation is spatially heterogeneous due to some locations resisting, escaping, or rebounding from disturbances.We developed a framework for identifying oases within coral reef regions using long‐term monitoring data. We calculated standardised estimates of coral cover (z‐scores) to distinguish sites that deviated positively from regional means. We also used the coefficient of variation (CV) of coral cover to quantify how oases varied temporally, and to distinguish among types of oases. We estimated "coral calcification capacity" (CCC), a measure of the coral community's ability to produce calcium carbonate structures and tested for an association between this metric and z‐scores of coral cover.We illustrated our z‐score approach within a modelling framework by extracting z‐scores and CVs from simulated data based on four generalized trajectories of coral cover. We then applied the approach to time‐series data from long‐term reef monitoring programmes in four focal regions in the Pacific (the main Hawaiian Islands and Mo'orea, French Polynesia) and western Atlantic (the Florida Keys and St. John, US Virgin Islands). Among the 123 sites analysed, 38 had positive z‐scores for median coral cover and were categorised as oases.Synthesis and applications. Our framework provides ecosystem managers with a valuable tool for conservation by identifying "oases" within degraded areas. By evaluating trajectories of change in state (e.g., coral cover) among oases, our approach may help in identifying the mechanisms responsible for spatial variability in ecosystem condition. Increased mechanistic understanding can guide whether management of a particular location should emphasise protection, mitigation or restoration. Analysis of the empirical data suggest that the majority of our coral reef oases originated by either escaping or resisting disturbances, although some sites showed a high capacity for recovery, while others were candidates for restoration. Finally, our measure of reef condition (i.e., median z‐scores of coral cover) correlated positively with coral calcification capacity suggesting that our approach identified oases that are also exceptional for one critical component of ecological function. Our framework provides ecosystem managers with a valuable tool for conservation by identifying "oases" within degraded areas. By evaluating trajectories of change in state (e.g., coral cover) among oases, our approach may help in identifying the mechanisms responsible for spatial variability in ecosystem condition. Increased mechanistic understanding can guide whether management of a particular location should emphasise protection, mitigation or restoration. Analysis of the empirical data suggest that the majority of our coral reef oases originated by either escaping or resisting disturbances, although some sites showed a high capacity for recovery, while others were candidates for restoration. Finally, our measure of reef condition (i.e., median z‐scores of coral cover) correlated positively with coral calcification capacity suggesting that our approach identified oases that are also exceptional for one critical component of ecological function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: On Caribbean reefs, colonies of the hydrocoral Millepora alcicornis are capable of pursuing and overgrowing arborescent octocorals (Wahle ). Nearly four decades since these interactions were described, we quantified arborescent octocorals encrusted by Millepora spp. ( Linnaeus 1758) on shallow reefs in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, and evaluated encrusted colonies for evidence of an origin through pursuit. In 2014, 8% of octocorals (n=1684 colonies) were encrusted by Millepora spp., and in 2015, 12% were encrusted (n=847 colonies). Millepora spp. encrusted colonies of 10 octocoral genera, and in 2014, the most frequently encrusted were Eunicea spp. (40% of encrusted octocorals); in 2015, the most frequently encrusted were Gorgonia spp. (46% of encrusted colonies). In both years, ≥67% of encrusted octocorals were >21 cm from other colonies of Millepora spp.; 7% of octocorals were >1.3 m from colonies of Millepora spp. in 2014; and 16% of octocorals were >2.0 m from colonies of Millepora spp. in 2015. Relative to the ~5% of octocorals encrusted by Millepora spp. in Jamaica in the late 1970s, a high percentage (~9%) of octocorals were encrusted by Millepora spp. in St. John in 2014 and 2015. The large distances from most encrusted octocorals to the nearest colonies of Millepora spp. in St. John are inconsistent with a hypothesized origin through pursuit, contact, and overgrowth (sensu Wahle ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolic scaling is the relationship between organismal metabolic rate and body mass. Understanding the patterns and causes of metabolic scaling provides a powerful foundation for predicting biological processes at the level of individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems. Despite intense interest in, and debate on, the mechanistic basis of metabolic scaling, relatively little attention has been paid to metabolic scaling in clonal animals with modular construction, such as colonial cnidarians, bryozoans, and colonial ascidians. Unlike unitary animals, modular animals are structural individuals subdivided into repeated morphological units, or modules, each able to acquire, process, and share resources. A modular design allows flexibility in organism size and shape with consequences for metabolic scaling. Furthermore, with careful consideration of the biology of modular animals, the size and shape of individual colonies can be experimentally manipulated to test competing theories pertaining to metabolic scaling. Here, we review metabolic scaling in modular animals and find that a wide range of scaling exponents, rather than a single value, has been reported for a variety of modular animals. We identify factors influencing variation in intraspecific scaling in this group that relate to the general observation that not all modules within a colony are identical. We highlight current gaps in our understanding of metabolic scaling in modular animals, and suggest future research directions, such as manipulating metabolic states and comparisons among species that differ in extent of module integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic variation underlying differences in organism performance is subject to natural selection, and organisms with high values of genetically determined phenotypic measures of fitness should perform better than those that do not. Using small scleractinian corals (i.e., ≤40-mm diameter), this principle was tested with 20 yr of census data from St. John, US Virgin Islands. Using growth rate (change in diameter) as a measure of fitness, growth in one year was tested for association with growth and survivorship in the following two years, and this process was repeated over 20 yr using a 3-yr sliding window. Virtually all variation in growth was independent of colony size, and growth among pairs of years was highly variable, with corals that grew fast in one year rarely growing fast in the next 2 yr. While growth in some pairs of years was positively correlated, ≤4% of the growth variance was explained by growth in the preceding 2 yr. Survivorship was related positively to growth in the preceding year, but the association was weak, it did not extend over 3 yr, and was inconsistent over the study. These results demonstrate the importance of the environment in translating phenotypic measures of fitness into future performance, and for small Caribbean corals, they suggest that environmental conditions may preempt genotype in determining short-term success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested for depth-dependent vertical zonation in coral reef community structure with surveys conducted in 2013 at 10 m and 27 m depth off the islands of Moorea, Tahiti, Maiao, and Tetiaroa, which are distributed over ~3500 km2 of the tropical south Pacific. Benthic communities were censused using photoquadrats to obtain percentage cover, first by functional groups (scleractinians, macroalgae, and crustose coralline algae, algal turf, and bare space combined [CTB]), and second by genus for scleractinians and Millepora. Virtually every aspect of community structure differed between the two depths, but the effects were dependent on spatial scale of investigation. Interactive effects of islands and depths determined the abundance of functional groups, as well as seven of eight common coral genera. On the two islands at which two sites were censused, the abundance of functional groups also differed between sites, and was affected by depth × site interactions. The spatially variable effects of depth on community structure underscores the importance of context-specific synergy between biotic and abiotic factors in driving these patterns. Spatial scale-dependent vertical zonation also shows the potential for these effects to be modulated by the changes that have affected coral community structure on contemporary reefs over the last few decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We quantified benthic community structure on shallow (10 m isobath) reefs separated by 3-130 km on four islands in the south Pacific, and evaluated the roles of disturbances vs. coral recruitment as causes of spatial heterogeneity. Reefs were surveyed in 2013 on Moorea, Tahiti, Tetiaroa, and Maiao, with community structure sampled at two sites on each island using photoquadrats. The effects of coral recruitment on population structure were evaluated through genetic analyses of Pocillopora on three of the islands. Benthic community structure with functional group resolution differed among islands and generally among sites, but coral community structure (generic resolution) differed among islands, but generally not among sites. Genetic analyses of Pocillopora using the open reading frame of host mtDNA revealed varying relative abundances of Pocillopora meandrina/Pocillopora eydouxi, Pocillopora verrucosa, Pocillopora effuses, and two unnamed haplotypes on each island. These results suggest that corals on each island represent unique samplings of genetically discrete larval assemblages rather than random samplings of a single larval assemblage. Together, our findings emphasize the extent to which coral community structure varies over a scale of <200 km, and suggests that recruitment from spatially discrete pools of coral larvae plays an important role in creating spatial variation in community structure, even where reefs are connected by prevailing currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, studies of ocean acidification ( OA) on coral reefs have focused on organisms rather than communities, and the few community effects that have been addressed have focused on shallow back reef habitats. The effects of OA on outer barrier reefs, which are the most striking of coral reef habitats and are functionally and physically different from back reefs, are unknown. Using 5-m long outdoor flumes to create treatment conditions, we constructed coral reef communities comprised of calcified algae, corals, and reef pavement that were assembled to match the community structure at 17 m depth on the outer barrier reef of Moorea, French Polynesia. Communities were maintained under ambient and 1200 μatm pCO2 for 7 weeks, and net calcification rates were measured at different flow speeds. Community net calcification was significantly affected by OA, especially at night when net calcification was depressed ~78% compared to ambient pCO2. Flow speed (2-14 cm s−1) enhanced net calcification only at night under elevated pCO2. Reef pavement also was affected by OA, with dissolution ~86% higher under elevated pCO2 compared to ambient pCO2. These results suggest that net accretion of outer barrier reef communities will decline under OA conditions predicted within the next 100 years, largely because of increased dissolution of reef pavement. Such extensive dissolution poses a threat to the carbonate foundation of barrier reef communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical coral reefs exemplify ecosystems imperiled by environmental change. Anticipating the future of reef ecosystems requires understanding how scleractinian corals respond to the multiple environmental disturbances that threaten their survival. We analyzed the stability of coral reefs at three habitats at different depths along the south shore of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, using multivariate autoregression (MAR) models and two decades of monitoring data. We quantified several measures of ecosystem stability, including the magnitude of typical stochastic fluctuations, the rate of recovery following disturbance, and the sensitivity of coral cover to hurricanes and elevated sea temperature. Our results show that, even within a ~4 km shore, coral communities in different habitats display different stability properties, and that the stability of each habitat corresponds with the habitat's known synecology. Two Orbicella-dominated habitats are less prone to annual stochastic fluctuations than coral communities in shallower water, but they recover slowly from disturbance, and one habitat has suffered recent losses in scleractinian cover that will not be quickly reversed. In contrast, a shallower, low-coral-cover habitat is subject to greater stochastic fluctuations, but rebounds more quickly from disturbance and is more robust to hurricanes and seawater warming. In some sense, the shallower community is more stable, although the stability arguably arises from having little coral cover left. Our results sharpen understanding of recent changes in coral communities at these habitats, provide a more detailed understanding of how these habitats may change in future environments, and illustrate how MAR models can be used to assess stability of communities founded upon long-lived species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a mathematical model to show that gradual environmental changes depress the abundance reef-building corals more strongly when acute disturbances are more frequent or severe, and when they impact colony growth and mortality, as opposed to recruitment. GLO:69VH/01jan21:bes21817-fig-0001.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): . gl Photo 1: Coral communities on the outer reef of Mo'orea, French Polynesia at 9-10 m depth, shown in January-May 2019. (A) and (C) show communities on Mo'orea's north shore; (B) shows a community on Mo'orea's east shore. [Extracted from the article]

This study tested the hypothesis that the response of corals to temperature and pCO2 is consistent between taxa. Juvenile massive Porites spp. and branches of P. rus from the back reef of Moorea were incubated for 1 month under combinations of temperature (29.3 °C and 25.6 °C) and pCO2 (41.6 Pa and 81.5 Pa) at an irradiance of 599 μmol quanta m−2 s−1. Using microcosms and CO2 gas mixing technology, treatments were created in a partly nested design (tanks) with two between-plot factors (temperature and pCO2), and one within-plot factor (taxon); calcification was used as a dependent variable. pCO2 and temperature independently affected calcification, but the response differed between taxa. Massive Porites spp. was largely unaffected by the treatments, but P. rus grew 50% faster at 29.3 °C compared with 25.6 °C, and 28% slower at 81.5 Pa vs. 41.6 Pa CO2. A compilation of studies placed the present results in a broader context and tested the hypothesis that calcification for individual coral genera is independent of pH, [HCO3 −], and [CO3 2−]. Unlike recent reviews, this analysis was restricted to studies reporting calcification in units that could be converted to nmol CaCO3 cm−2 h−1. The compilation revealed a high degree of variation in calcification as a function of pH, [HCO3 −], and [CO3 2−], and supported three conclusions: (1) studies of the effects of ocean acidification on corals need to pay closer attention to reducing variance in experimental outcomes to achieve stronger synthetic capacity, (2) coral genera respond in dissimilar ways to pH, [HCO3 −], and [CO3 2−], and (3) calcification of massive Porites spp. is relatively resistant to short exposures of increased pCO2, similar to that expected within 100 y. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I tested the hypothesis that the effects of high pCO2 and temperature on massive Porites spp. (Scleractinia) are modified by heterotrophic feeding (zooplanktivory). Small colonies of massive Porites spp. from the back reef of Moorea, French Polynesia, were incubated for 1 month under combinations of temperature (29.3°C vs. 25.67deg;C), pCO2 (41.6 vs. 81.5 Pa), and feeding regimes (none vs. ad libitum access to live Artemia spp.), with the response assessed using calcification and biomass. Area-normalized calcification was unaffected by pCO2, temperature, and the interaction between the two, although it increased 40% with feeding. Biomass increased 35% with feeding and tended to be higher at 25.6°C compared to 29.3°C, and as a result, biomass-normalized calcification statistically was unaffected by feeding, but was depressed 12-17% by high pCO2, with the effect accentuated at 25.6°C. These results show that massive Porites spp. has the capacity to resist the effects on calcification of 1 month exposure to 81.5 Pa pCO2 through heterotrophy and changes in biomass. Area-normalized calcification is sustained at high pCO2 by a greater biomass with a reduced biomass-normalized rate of calcification. This mechanism may play a role in determining the extent to which corals can resist the long-term effects of ocean acidification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared responses of adults and larvae of the brooding corals Pocillopora damicornis and Seriatopora hystrix to 12-h exposures to constant temperature treatments (21°C, 28°C, or 30°C) and a treatment in which temperature fluctuated from 28° to 21°C, simulating daily temperature variation generated by tidally driven upwelling in their natural habitat (Nanwan Bay, southern Taiwan). In all treatments, the maximum dark-adapted quantum yield of photosystem II ( FV/ FM) of the larvae was ∼49% lower than that of adult corals; FV/ FM in the larvae also differed among temperature treatments, with the highest values in the fluctuating treatment. These results show that the larvae of at least P. damicornis are more sensitive to temperature than adults, and suggest that larvae are physiologically well suited to fluctuating temperature regimes. To assess whether the timing of larval release affected their performance, larvae of P. damicornis were compared among release days within a single reproductive event. Groups of larvae released on nine consecutive days differed significantly in size, Symbiodinium content, and FV/ FM. This demonstration of functional differences among coral larvae that are released on different dates within a single reproductive event creates the potential for advantages to accrue from the coincidence of larval phenotypes with temporally varying conditions. Adult colonies may experience selective advantages by producing broods of functionally variable larvae, in order to match extreme phenotypes to unusual environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On Caribbean reefs, a striking trend of the last 25 years has been the decline in cover of the framework-building coral Motastraea annularis, a species that has dominated reefs throughout the region for millennia. Clearly, such losses are important ecologically, but to evaluate their significance fully, they need to be placed in the context of the proximal causes and balanced against the potential for gains in cover through growth and recruitment. In this study, a population of M. annularis in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, was censused annually from 1988 to 2003 to quantify coral cover and construct a size-based demographic model. The model was developed to explore the mechanisms of change in coral cover and to ascertain likely trajectories for future population growth. Over the study period, the cover of M. annularis declined from 41% in 1988, to ~12% by 1999 (a 72% decline) but remained unchanged statistically for the last five years of the study. Between 1988 and 2003, colony abundances declined by 57% (from 47 colonies/m² to 20 colonies/m²), and the losses were driven mostly by the death and fission of medium to large colonies (i.e., ≥ = 151 cm²). By 2003, the population had proportionally more small colonies (70% were ≤50 cm²) and fewer large colonies (3% were >250 cm²) than in 1988 (60% and 6%, respectively), and the changes in population structure had accelerated ≥=14% in terms of the rate of change in population size and the time necessary to attain equilibrium of colony size structure. Importantly, this analysis revealed an ongoing and imminent population decline coincident with the recent period of apparently stable coral cover. Fifty-year projections indicate the strong likelihood of extirpation of M. annularis at this particular site in St. John (in contrast to a continuation of constant low cover) and suggest that the 1988 population structure cannot be restored by recruitment. It is unlikely that the population decline will reverse until there is an amelioration of the conditions that kill individual colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phase change from coral to macroalgal dominance on many Caribbean reefs was exacerbated by the mortality of the echinoid Diadema antillarum in 1983–1984, and until recently, this sea urchin has remained rare on reefs throughout the western Atlantic. By the late 1990s, Diadema started to reappear in large numbers on some Jamaican reefs, and by 2000, the high densities were correlated with significantly greater abundances of juvenile corals. Here, we show that dense populations of Diadema now occur over a multi-kilometre-wide scale at six locations scattered along a 4100 km arc across the entire Caribbean. In all cases, these dense populations are found in shallow water (< 6 m depth) on outer reef communities and are associated with reduced macroalgal cover and enhanced coral recruitment. We conclude that population recovery of Diadema is occurring at both local and regional scales, and that grazing by this echinoid is creating conditions favouring the recruitment of corals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-settlement events play an important role in determining larval success in marine invertebrates with bentho-pelagic life histories, yet the consequences of these events typically are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the pre-settlement impacts of different seawater temperatures on the size and population density of dinoflagellate symbionts in brooded larvae of the Caribbean coral Porites astreoides. Larvae were collected from P. astreoides at 14–20 m depth on Conch Reef (Florida) in June 2002, and incubated for 24 h at 15 temperatures spanning the range 25.1°–30.0°C in mean increments of 0.4±0.1°C (±SD). The most striking feature of the larval responses was the magnitude of change in both parameters across this 5°C temperature range within 24 h. In general, larvae were largest and had the highest population densities of Symbiodinium sp. between 26.4°–27.7°C, and were smallest and had the lowest population densities at 25.8°C and 28.8°C. Larval size and symbiont population density were elevated slightly (relative to the minimal values) at the temperature extremes of 25.1°C and 30°C. These data demonstrate that coral larvae are highly sensitive to seawater temperature during their pelagic phase, and respond through changes in size and the population densities of Symbiodinium sp. to ecologically relevant temperature signals within 24 h. The extent to which these changes are biologically meaningful will depend on the duration and frequency of exposure of coral larvae to spatio-temporal variability in seawater temperature, and whether the responses have cascading effects on larval success and their entry to the post-settlement and recruitment phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a study examining the role of phenotypic plasticity in clonal replicates of five genotypes of Madracis mirabilis transplanted from each of two source populations into four treatment environments on the north coast of Jamaica. Methodology and materials used to conduct the study; Results of the study; Discussion on the results.

On most tropical coral reefs, decades of disturbances have ratcheted down coral cover to create low abundance communities. In such a state, the reefs of St. John, US Virgin Islands, were hit by two Category 5 hurricanes in September 2017, yet the effects on two sites dominated by Orbicella annularis were minor in terms of coral cover. To explore the implications of this outcome, the fates of O. annularis colonies were determined from photoquadrats and used to prepare size‐based matrix models for the year preceding the storms and the four months bracketing the storms. The populations displayed contrasting dynamics from 1988 to July 2017, with coral cover declining from 43% to 5% at Yawzi Point but remaining at ~30% at Tektite. Over this period, colony sizes declined, with ≥82% having planar areas ≤50 cm2 (i.e., the smallest size class) by July 2017, and while densities declined from 47 to 8 colonies/m2 at Yawzi Point, they increased from 36 to 51 colonies/m2 at Tektite. Hurricanes Irma and Maria depressed coral cover by 1–4%, transitioned colonies into the smallest size class (>87% by November), killed 27% and 5% of the colonies in the smallest size class at Yawzi Point and Tektite, respectively, and depressed the 5‐yr intrinsic rate of population growth (λ) to 0.53–0.87. Twenty‐year projections suggested these demographic effects will not have ecologically meaningful impacts on population size, at least compared to projections initiated assuming Hurricanes Irma and Maria had not occurred. With low cover of O. annularis distributed among many small colonies, future disturbances may play more important roles in winnowing the few remaining host genotypes rather than further depressing coral cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major tropical storms are destructive phenomena with large effects on the community dynamics of multiple biomes. On coral reefs, their impacts have been described for decades, leading to the expectation that future storms should have effects similar to those recorded in the past. This expectation relies on the assumption that storm intensities will remain unchanged, and the impacted coral reef communities are similar to those of the recent past; neither assumption is correct. This study quantified the effects of two category five hurricanes on the reefs of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, where 31 yr of time‐series analyses reveal chronic coral mortality, increasing macroalgal abundance, and five major hurricanes that caused acute coral mortality. Contextualized by these trends, the effects of the most recent storms, Hurricanes Irma and Maria (September 2017), on coral cover were modest. While mean absolute coral cover declined 1–4% depending on site, these effects were not statistically discernable. Following decades of increasing abundance of macroalgae, this functional group responded to the recent hurricanes with large increases in abundance on both absolute and relative scales. Decades of chronic mortality have changed the coral assemblages of St. John to create degraded communities that are resistant to severe storms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study as per which coral reefs have experienced declines in coral cover, thereby creating a coral reef crisis and also present photographs related to Acanthaster planci, Coral community, and.