Coral reefs represent an efficient natural mechanical coastal defense against ocean waves. The focus of this study is La Saline fringing coral reef, located in the microtidal West Réunion Island Indian Ocean, frequently exposed to Southern Ocean swell and cyclonic events. aim provide a better understanding reef's characteristics for several Pressure sensors were placed across reef measure water...

Massive quantities of the pelagic brown macroalgae Sargassum spp. (sargassum) have been invading Caribbean and West African shores since 2011, causing devastating effects on coastal ecosystem local economy. Little is known about sargassum beaching dynamics capacity system to naturally remove beached sargassum. Here, we characterize temporal variation in arriving a reef lagoon using 5.2-year dat...

Many populated, tropical coastlines fronted by fringing coral reefs are exposed to wave-driven marine flooding that is exacerbated sea-level rise. Most not alongshore uniform, but bisected shore-normal channels; however, little known about the influence of such channels on variations runup and adjacent coastline. We conducted a parametric study using numeric model XBeach demonstrates channel re...

We examined the development of coral reef science and the policies, institutions, and governance frameworks for management of coral reefs in China in order to highlight the wicked problem of preserving reefs while simultaneously promoting human development and nation building. China and other sovereign states in the region are experiencing unprecedented economic expansion, rapid population grow...

Small island archipelagos with fringing and dispersed reef systems represent special marine ecosystems, providing a patchy habitat for many coral reef organisms. Although geographic distances may be short, it is still unclear if such environments are inhabited evenly with panmictic conditions or if limited connectivity between marine populations, even on small geographic scales, leads to geneti...

Research, monitoring and management of large marine protected areas require detailed and up-to-date habitat maps. Ningaloo Marine Park (including the Muiron Islands) in north-western Australia (stretching across three degrees of latitude) was mapped to 20 m depth using HyMap airborne hyperspectral imagery (125 bands) at 3.5 m resolution across the 762 km(2) of reef environment between the shore...

Reef building corals in the Hawaiian Archipelago consist of only 42 species belonging to 16 genera. The Hawaiian coral fauna is highly depauperate relative to the Indo-West Pacific Ocean, a result most likely due to geographic isolation. Although impoverished, the species composition of reef building corals is remarkably uniform throughout the archipelago. Differences in species composition whi...

Coral reefs are in decline worldwide from a combination of natural and human forces. The environmental compromises faced by coral reef habitats and their associated fishes are potentially stressful, and in this study we examined the potential for assessing stress levels in coral reef fish. We determined the feasibility of using fecal casts from parrotfishes for remote assessment of stress-relat...