Parrotfish corallivory on stress-tolerant corals in the Anthropocene

Cumulative anthropogenic stressors on tropical reefs are modifying the physical and community structure of coral assemblages, altering the rich biological communities that depend on this critical habitat. As a consequence, new reef configurations are often characterized by low coral cover and a shift in coral species towards massive and encrusting corals. Given that coral numbers are dwindling in these new reef systems, it is important to evaluate the potential influence of coral predation on these remaining corals. We examined the effect of a key group of coral predators (parrotfishes) on one of the emerging dominant coral taxa on Anthropocene reefs, massive Porites. Specifically, we evaluate whether the intensity of parrotfish predation on this key reef-building coral has changed in response to severe coral reef degradation. We found evidence that coral predation rates may have decreased, despite only minor changes in parrotfish abundance. However, higher scar densities on small Porites colonies, compared to large colonies, suggests that the observed decrease in scarring rates may be a reflection of colony-size specific rates of feeding scars. Reduced parrotfish corallivory may reflect the loss of small Porites colonies, or changing foraging opportunities for parrotfishes. The reduction in scar density on massive Porites suggests that the remaining stress-tolerant corals may have passed the vulnerable small colony stage. These results highlight the potential for shifts in ecological functions on ecosystems facing high levels of environmental stress.

Quantification of The Effects of Coral Reef Degradation On Butterflyfish Populations in The Southern Great Barrier Reef

Because of their wide abundance on coral reefs, butterflyfishes’ presence or absence can function as an indicator for overall reef health. A survey of both healthy and degraded coral reef flats off Heron Island in Queensland, Australia was conducted to determine the effects of decreasing coral cover on corallivorous fishes. During a four-day period at the end of October, 2013, four species of butterflyfish – two obligate and two facultative corallivorous butterflyfish species – were tallied along two transects in the reef flats. From a total of 291 individuals, there was a significant difference in habitat composition choice between healthy and degraded habitats seen by a p= 2.234e-10. Additionally, means extracted from log-transformed data suggest that the twelve percent decrease in live coral between transects of the healthy habitat caused a disproportionate decrease in fish abundance. This suggests that a minor loss of coral cover can result in a dramatic loss of fish abundance and diversity and may point towards a threshold where living coral can no longer sustain original population abundances of coral reef communities.

WAVES ON REEFS: HOW CORAL REEFS TRANSFORM OCEAN WAVES AND HELP PROTECT COASTS

Coral reefs help protect tropical islands and coasts against wave-induced flooding. Because ongoing population growth in coastal zones, sea level rise and coral reef degradation, flooding and subsequent damages will likely increase in the future. In this presentation we discuss our current knowledge of the physics of wave transformation on reefs derived from observations and modelling. We will also discuss research questions and data needs.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/JvTmDnoy8E0

Dependency of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef’s tropical fisheries on reef-associated fish

Coral reefs have been subject to mass coral bleaching, potentially causing rapid and widespread degradation of ecosystem services that depend on live coral cover, such as fisheries catch. Fisheries species in tropical waters associate with a wide range of habitats, so assessing the dependency of fisheries on coral reefs is important for guiding fishery responses to coral reef degradation. This study aimed to determine how fisheries catches associate with coral reefs in Queensland, Australia. Queensland’s largest fisheries did not target fish associated with reefs, but specific sectors, particularly aquarium fisheries and commercial fisheries in the mid to northern region had a high dependence on species that use coral reefs. Regions that had a greater relative area of coral reefs had higher catches of species that depend on live coral, suggesting that coral area could be used to predict the sensitivity of a jurisdiction’s fisheries to bleaching. Dynamic analysis of stock trends found that coral trout and red throat emperor, the two largest species by catch for the reef line fishery, were at risk of overfishing if habitat loss caused declines in stock productivity. Management of fisheries that are highly dependent on reefs may need to adapt to declining productivity, but further research to support ongoing reforms in Queensland’s fisheries is needed to quantitatively link reef degradation to stock production parameters is needed.

Nutrient gradients simulate different adjustments of coral-algal symbiosis

Background: Eutrophication is one of the major causes of coral reef degradation but the effect of eutrophication on coral and its symbiont algae remains unclear, particularly for the larval stage of coral. In the present study, the physiological and transcriptomic responses of the larvae of an ecologically important scleractinian coral Pocillopora damicornis were analyzed after a 5-day exposure to elevated nitrate in order to assess the survival and adaptation of coral-algal symbiosis under elevated nutrients. Results: The results showed that multiple larval transcripts were significantly correlated with Symbiodiniaceae transcripts. The major differentially expressed transcripts in coral/Symbiodiniaceae included those responsible for energy synthesis/comsumption, nitrogen metabolism and stressor response. Slightly elevated nitrate concentration could in fact promote the health of coral meta-organism. With increase in nitrate concentrations, coral larvae showed significant stress response to maintain the coral-algal symbiosis and coral-algal symbiosis was impaired, while Symbiodiniaceae switched photosynthetic states for ATP synthesis, material transport and nitrogen metabolism for symbiosis maintenance under the control of the coral hosts.Conclusions: Our results suggest that adjustment of coral-algal symbiosis via coral control and a shift in Symbiodiniaceae photosynthetic states serves as the basis of coral meta-organism adaptation under eutrophication stresses. The larvae of P. damicornis and Symbiodiniaceae displayed different transcriptomic responses to nitrate enrichment. Coral larva meta-organism can adapt to moderately elevated nutrient concentration while extreme eutrophication can impair coral-algal symbiosis and affect coral larvae survival ultimately.