Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
  • 2 National Biodiversity Centre, National Parks Board, 1 Cluny Road, Singapore Botanic Gardens, 259569, Singapore
  • 3 Experimental Marine Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biological Science, National University of Singapore, 117543, Singapore
  • 4 School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom
  • 5 Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, S2S, 18 Kent Ridge Road, 119227, Singapore
Sci Rep, 2016 11 08;6:36260.
PMID: 27824083 DOI: 10.1038/srep36260

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.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.