Unravelling the Universal Spatial Properties of Coral Reefs

IF 6.3 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Global Ecology and Biogeography Pub Date : 2024-12-02 DOI:10.1111/geb.13939

Àlex Giménez-Romero, Manuel A. Matías, Carlos M. Duarte

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Abstract

Aim

To characterise the size and geometry of coral reefs on a global scale.

Location

Global.

Time Period

Present.

Major Taxa Studied

Coral reefs.

Methods

We process the Allen Coral Atlas database of shallow-water tropical reefs to obtain a comprehensive and unprecedented inventory of coral reefs worldwide. We analyse different macroecological and morphological patterns, including size distribution, the area-perimeter relationship, inter-reef distance distribution, and the fractal dimension of individual reefs and coral provinces.

Results

We identified a total of 1,579,772 individual reefs worldwide (> 1000 m²), extending over a total of 52,423 km² of ocean area with mean and median sizes of 3.32 and 0.3 ha, respectively. We unravelled three universal laws that are common to all coral reef provinces: the size-frequency distribution and the inter-reef distance distribution follow power laws with an exponent of 1.8 and 2.33, respectively. At the same time, the area-perimeter relationship conforms to a power-law with an exponent of 1.26. Furthermore, we demonstrate that coral reefs develop fractal patterns characterised by a perimeter fractal dimension of $D_{P} = 1.3$ and a surface fractal dimension of $D_{A} = 1.6$ . Our analysis suggests that coral reefs tend to evolve from simple rounded filled shapes to more complex, elongated and less compact forms, developing into fractal structures with a consistent surface fractal dimension and an increasing perimeter fractal dimension as they grow.

Main Conclusions

Coral reefs display intricate fractal-like geometries and exhibit universal macroecological patterns, largely independent of their geographical location. The universality of the observed patterns suggests that these features possibly stem from the highly conserved interactions of biological, physical and chemical processes. Over geological scales, these processes lead to reef landscape patterns common among all provinces, providing new information relevant to reef growth modelling.

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来源期刊

Global Ecology and Biogeography 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

3.10%

发文量

170

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Global Ecology and Biogeography (GEB) welcomes papers that investigate broad-scale (in space, time and/or taxonomy), general patterns in the organization of ecological systems and assemblages, and the processes that underlie them. In particular, GEB welcomes studies that use macroecological methods, comparative analyses, meta-analyses, reviews, spatial analyses and modelling to arrive at general, conceptual conclusions. Studies in GEB need not be global in spatial extent, but the conclusions and implications of the study must be relevant to ecologists and biogeographers globally, rather than being limited to local areas, or specific taxa. Similarly, GEB is not limited to spatial studies; we are equally interested in the general patterns of nature through time, among taxa (e.g., body sizes, dispersal abilities), through the course of evolution, etc. Further, GEB welcomes papers that investigate general impacts of human activities on ecological systems in accordance with the above criteria.