Spatial structuring of coral traits along a subtropical-temperate transition zone persists despite localised signs of tropicalisation

IF 2.7 2区 生物学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
Defne Sahin, Nestor E. Bosch, Chenae Cooper, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Ben Radford, Verena Schoepf, Damian P. Thomson, Thomas Wernberg
{"title":"Spatial structuring of coral traits along a subtropical-temperate transition zone persists despite localised signs of tropicalisation","authors":"Defne Sahin, Nestor E. Bosch, Chenae Cooper, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Ben Radford, Verena Schoepf, Damian P. Thomson, Thomas Wernberg","doi":"10.1007/s00338-024-02564-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate-driven species range expansions are underway with more tropically affiliated species, including Scleractinian corals, becoming increasingly abundant at higher latitudes. However, uncertainty remains on how these range shifts will affect reef-scale ecosystem processes, which will ultimately depend on the traits of the taxa that dominate these assemblages. Here, we quantified spatiotemporal patterns in the taxonomic and trait structure of coral assemblages along the subtropical-temperate coast of Western Australia (27°–34°S). Coral abundance was generally low and coral cover &lt; 5% across our study sites. Coral assemblages shared similarities in morphological trait structures across the latitudinal gradient, mostly characterised by taxa with simple morphologies; yet subtle differences were also observed across latitudes, with high-latitude corals characterised by slower growth rates and reduced maximum colony sizes. We found a 3.4-fold increase (from 1 to 3.4 individuals m<sup>−2</sup>) in coral abundance at one heavily disturbed location, where canopy-forming seaweeds were replaced by turfing algae, a pattern that was partly driven by an increase in the relative contribution of warm affinity taxa, such as <i>Acropora</i> spp. We predicted these changes would be reflected in different components of functional diversity; yet, despite a localised signal of tropicalisation, we only observed subtle changes in the functional identity, richness, evenness, and divergence. The spatially invariant trait structure of coral assemblages suggests that the nature of ecosystem functions will likely remain unchanged during early stages of tropicalisation, and hence their contribution to temperate reef-scale ecological processes will depend on dominance over other benthic foundational species.</p>","PeriodicalId":10821,"journal":{"name":"Coral Reefs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Coral Reefs","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02564-y","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Climate-driven species range expansions are underway with more tropically affiliated species, including Scleractinian corals, becoming increasingly abundant at higher latitudes. However, uncertainty remains on how these range shifts will affect reef-scale ecosystem processes, which will ultimately depend on the traits of the taxa that dominate these assemblages. Here, we quantified spatiotemporal patterns in the taxonomic and trait structure of coral assemblages along the subtropical-temperate coast of Western Australia (27°–34°S). Coral abundance was generally low and coral cover < 5% across our study sites. Coral assemblages shared similarities in morphological trait structures across the latitudinal gradient, mostly characterised by taxa with simple morphologies; yet subtle differences were also observed across latitudes, with high-latitude corals characterised by slower growth rates and reduced maximum colony sizes. We found a 3.4-fold increase (from 1 to 3.4 individuals m−2) in coral abundance at one heavily disturbed location, where canopy-forming seaweeds were replaced by turfing algae, a pattern that was partly driven by an increase in the relative contribution of warm affinity taxa, such as Acropora spp. We predicted these changes would be reflected in different components of functional diversity; yet, despite a localised signal of tropicalisation, we only observed subtle changes in the functional identity, richness, evenness, and divergence. The spatially invariant trait structure of coral assemblages suggests that the nature of ecosystem functions will likely remain unchanged during early stages of tropicalisation, and hence their contribution to temperate reef-scale ecological processes will depend on dominance over other benthic foundational species.

Abstract Image

尽管局部地区出现了热带化迹象,但亚热带-温带过渡带珊瑚特征的空间结构依然存在
气候驱动的物种范围扩张正在进行中,包括硬骨珊瑚在内的更多热带附属物种在高纬度地区变得越来越丰富。然而,这些范围变化将如何影响珊瑚礁尺度的生态系统过程仍存在不确定性,这最终将取决于主导这些组合的类群的特征。在此,我们对西澳大利亚亚热带-温带海岸(27°-34°S)珊瑚群的分类和性状结构的时空模式进行了量化。研究地点的珊瑚丰度普遍较低,珊瑚覆盖率为 5%。不同纬度梯度的珊瑚群在形态特征结构上具有相似性,大多以形态简单的类群为特征;但不同纬度的珊瑚群也存在细微差别,高纬度珊瑚群的特征是生长速度较慢,最大群落规模较小。我们发现,在一个受到严重干扰的地点,珊瑚丰度增加了 3.4 倍(从 1 个个体 m-2 增加到 3.4 个个体 m-2),在那里,形成冠层的海藻被草皮藻类所取代,这种模式的部分原因是暖亲缘类群(如 Acropora spp)的相对贡献增加。 我们预测这些变化将反映在功能多样性的不同组成部分中;然而,尽管出现了局部的热带化信号,我们只观察到功能特征、丰富度、均匀度和分异的微妙变化。珊瑚群空间不变的性状结构表明,在热带化的早期阶段,生态系统功能的性质可能保持不变,因此它们对温带珊瑚礁尺度生态过程的贡献将取决于对其他底栖基础物种的优势。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
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.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信