Social-environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene

Darling ES 1 , McClanahan TR 2 , Maina J 3 , Gurney GG 4 , Graham NAJ 5 , Januchowski-Hartley F 6 Show all authors , Cinner JE 4 , Mora C 7 , Hicks CC 5 , Maire E 6 , Puotinen M 8 , Skirving WJ 9 , Adjeroud M 10 , Ahmadia G 11 , Arthur R 12 , Bauman AG 13 , Beger M 14 , Berumen ML 15 , Bigot L 16 , Bouwmeester J 15 , Brenier A 17 , Bridge TCL 4 , Brown E 18 , Campbell SJ 19 , Cannon S 20 , Cauvin B 21 , Chen CA 22 , Claudet J 23 , Denis V 24 , Donner S 20 , Estradivari 25 , Fadli N 26 , Feary DA 27 , Fenner D 28 , Fox H 29 , Franklin EC 30 , Friedlander A 31 , Gilmour J 8 , Goiran C 32 , Guest J 33 , Hobbs JA 34 , Hoey AS 4 , Houk P 35 , Johnson S 36 , Jupiter SD 2 , Kayal M 37 , Kuo CY 4 , Lamb J 38 , Lee MAC 39 , Low J 40 , Muthiga N 2 , Muttaqin E 19 , Nand Y 41 , Nash KL 42 , Nedlic O 43 , Pandolfi JM 44 , Pardede S 19 , Patankar V 45 , Penin L 16 , Ribas-Deulofeu L 22 , Richards Z 34 , Roberts TE 4 , Rodgers KS 30 , Safuan CDM 46 , Sala E 31 , Shedrawi G 47 , Sin TM 39 , Smallhorn-West P 4 , Smith JE 48 , Sommer B 49 , Steinberg PD 50 , Sutthacheep M 51 , Tan CHJ 46 , Williams GJ 48 , Wilson S 47 , Yeemin T 52 , Bruno JF 53 , Fortin MJ 54 , Krkosek M 54 , Mouillot D 4

Affiliations 

  • 1 Marine Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, NY, USA. edarling@wcs.org
  • 2 Marine Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, NY, USA
  • 3 Department of Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • 4 Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
  • 5 Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
  • 6 University of Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer and IRD, MARBEC, Montpellier, France
  • 7 Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
  • 8 Australian Institute of Marine Science, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 9 Coral Reef Watch, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, College Park, MD, USA
  • 10 UMR 9220 ENTROPIE and Laboratoire d'Excellence CORAIL, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Perpignan, France
  • 11 Oceans Conservation, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC, USA
  • 12 Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, India
  • 13 Experimental Marine Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
  • 14 School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
  • 15 Red Sea Research Center, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
  • 16 UMR 9220 ENTROPIE and Laboratoire d'Excellence CORAIL, Université de La Réunion, St Denis, France
  • 17 WCS Papua New Guinea, Goroka, Papua New Guinea
  • 18 Kalaupapa National Historical Park, US National Park Service, Kalaupapa, HI, USA
  • 19 Indonesia Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bogor, Indonesia
  • 20 Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • 21 GIP Réserve Naturelle Marine de la Réunion, La Saline, France
  • 22 Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
  • 23 National Center for Scientific Research, PSL Research University, CRIOBE, USR 3278 CNRS-EPHE-UPVD, Paris, France
  • 24 Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
  • 25 Marine and Fisheries Directorate, World Wildlife Fund Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 26 Faculty of Marine and Fisheries, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
  • 27 MRAG Ltd, London, UK
  • 28 Coral Reef Consulting, Pago Pago, American Samoa
  • 29 National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, USA
  • 30 Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Kaneohe, HI, USA
  • 31 National Geographic Society, Pristine Seas Program, Washington, DC, USA
  • 32 Laboratoire d'Excellence CORAIL, ISEA, Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, New Caledonia
  • 33 School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
  • 34 School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 35 Marine Laboratory, University of Guam, Mangilao, USA
  • 36 College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
  • 37 UMR 5110, Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens, Perpignan, France
  • 38 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
  • 39 Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
  • 40 National Biodiversity Centre, National Parks Board, Singapore, Singapore
  • 41 Fiji Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Suva, Fiji
  • 42 Centre for Marine Socioecology, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  • 43 Kosrae Conservation and Safety Organization, Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia
  • 44 ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • 45 Wildlife Conservation Society, Bengaluru, India
  • 46 Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Malaysia
  • 47 Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • 48 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
  • 49 School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • 50 Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
  • 51 Department of Biology, Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 52 Marine Biodiversity Research Group, Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 53 Biology Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
  • 54 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nat Ecol Evol, 2019 Sep;3(9):1341-1350.
PMID: 31406279 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0953-8

Abstract

Without drastic efforts to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate globalized stressors, tropical coral reefs are in jeopardy. Strategic conservation and management requires identification of the environmental and socioeconomic factors driving the persistence of scleractinian coral assemblages-the foundation species of coral reef ecosystems. Here, we compiled coral abundance data from 2,584 Indo-Pacific reefs to evaluate the influence of 21 climate, social and environmental drivers on the ecology of reef coral assemblages. Higher abundances of framework-building corals were typically associated with: weaker thermal disturbances and longer intervals for potential recovery; slower human population growth; reduced access by human settlements and markets; and less nearby agriculture. We therefore propose a framework of three management strategies (protect, recover or transform) by considering: (1) if reefs were above or below a proposed threshold of >10% cover of the coral taxa important for structural complexity and carbonate production; and (2) reef exposure to severe thermal stress during the 2014-2017 global coral bleaching event. Our findings can guide urgent management efforts for coral reefs, by identifying key threats across multiple scales and strategic policy priorities that might sustain a network of functioning reefs in the Indo-Pacific to avoid ecosystem collapse.

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

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