Rock and roll: experiments on substrate movement and coral settlement

IF 2.7 2区 生物学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
Andrew Heyward, Christine Giuliano, Cathie A. Page, Carly J. Randall
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Abstract

Rubble is ubiquitous on coral reefs and can aggregate into fields, forming a significant component of the reef substrate. Rubble fields often remain unconsolidated, with the component rubble pieces subject to movement that is dependent on hydrodynamic forcing, rubble size, shape, and other factors. Settlement of corals to rubble fields has long been assumed, but the dynamic movement of rubble pieces has been presumed to deter settlement and is thought to contribute to high post-settlement mortality. Rubble often forms on coral reefs following severe disturbances, and is predicted to increase under climate change, with the potential to impact settlement and recruitment-dependent recovery processes. Through a series of laboratory and field experiments, we demonstrate that corals from broadcast spawning species on the Great Barrier Reef will settle on unstable substrates, even those in constant motion. We also observed more coral spat on settlement tiles suspended in the water column than those fixed to the reef using a common approach to censusing settlement. Sampling of natural rubble on the reef 50 days after a mass-spawning event confirmed the presence of similar numbers of coral settlers on rubble and on tiles fixed to the reef. These results suggest that rubble fields are places of significant settlement for broadcast spawning corals. Suspended tiles were also surprisingly effective in collecting coral settlers, demonstrating that a change in sampling protocol can produce significant variation in settlement data and strengthening the argument for standardisation of settlement-monitoring protocols, particularly at a time of growing need for reliable metrics. These results also suggest that movement of rubble is not precluding settlement outright, but rather post-settlement processes (i.e. competition, predation, shading or burial by shifting rubble) are limiting recruitment to rubble patches. Consequently, rubble stabilisation may increase the survival of spat that have settled in these environments.

Abstract Image

摇滚:底质移动和珊瑚沉降实验
碎石在珊瑚礁上无处不在,可以聚集成碎石区,成为珊瑚礁底质的重要组成部分。碎石区通常保持不固结状态,碎石块的移动取决于水动力、碎石大小、形状和其他因素。长期以来,人们一直认为珊瑚会沉降到碎石区,但碎石块的动态移动被认为会阻碍珊瑚的沉降,并被认为是造成沉降后高死亡率的原因。碎石通常在珊瑚礁受到严重干扰后形成,预计在气候变化的情况下会增加,并有可能影响沉降和依赖于新陈代谢的恢复过程。通过一系列实验室和现场实验,我们证明了大堡礁上广播产卵物种的珊瑚会在不稳定的基质上定居,甚至是那些不断运动的基质。我们还观察到,与固定在珊瑚礁上的沉降瓦片相比,悬浮在水体中的沉降瓦片上的珊瑚孢子数量更多。在大规模产卵事件发生 50 天后,对珊瑚礁上的天然碎石进行取样,证实碎石上和固定在珊瑚礁上的瓦片上的珊瑚定居者数量相似。这些结果表明,碎石场是播散产卵珊瑚的重要定居地。悬挂的瓦片在收集珊瑚定居者方面也出奇地有效,这表明取样方案的改变会导致定居数据的显著变化,并加强了定居监测方案标准化的论证,尤其是在越来越需要可靠指标的时候。这些结果还表明,碎石的移动并没有完全阻止定居,而是定居后的过程(即竞争、捕食、遮蔽或被移动的碎石掩埋)限制了碎石斑块的招募。因此,稳定碎石可能会提高在这些环境中定居的幼体的存活率。
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来源期刊
Coral Reefs
Coral Reefs 生物-海洋与淡水生物学
CiteScore
6.80
自引率
11.40%
发文量
111
审稿时长
4-8 weeks
期刊介绍: Coral Reefs, the Journal of the International Coral Reef Society, presents multidisciplinary literature across the broad fields of reef studies, publishing analytical and theoretical papers on both modern and ancient reefs. These encourage the search for theories about reef structure and dynamics, and the use of experimentation, modeling, quantification and the applied sciences. Coverage includes such subject areas as population dynamics; community ecology of reef organisms; energy and nutrient flows; biogeochemical cycles; physiology of calcification; reef responses to natural and anthropogenic influences; stress markers in reef organisms; behavioural ecology; sedimentology; diagenesis; reef structure and morphology; evolutionary ecology of the reef biota; palaeoceanography of coral reefs and coral islands; reef management and its underlying disciplines; molecular biology and genetics of coral; aetiology of disease in reef-related organisms; reef responses to global change, and more.
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