Ocean temperatures are increasing globally and the Caribbean is no exception. An extreme ocean warming event in 2010 placed Tobago's coral reefs under severe stress resulting in widespread coral bleaching and threatening the livelihoods that rely on them. The bleaching response of four reef building taxa was monitored over a six month period across three major reefs systems in Tobago. By identi...

Space competition between corals and seaweeds is an important ecological process underlying coral-reef dynamics. Processes promoting seaweed growth and survival, such as herbivore overfishing and eutrophication, can lead to local reef degradation. Here, we present the case that increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO(2) may be an additional process driving a shift from corals to seaweeds on...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Cryptic peracarids are an important component of the coral reef fauna in terms of diversity and abundance, yet they have been poorly studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the taxonomic richness and abundance of cryptic peracarids in coral rubble in the Puerto Morelos Reef National Park, Mexico (PMRNP), and their relationship with depth. METHODS Three reef sites we...

The present study investigated the distribution and abundance of epibenthic molluscs and their feeding habits associated to substrate features (coverage and rugosity) in a sandstone reef system in the Northeast of Brazil. Rugosity, low coral cover and high coverage of zoanthids and fleshy alga were the variables that influenced a low richness and high abundance of a few molluscan species in the...

Life history theory predicts a range of directional generic responses in life history traits with increasing organism size. Among these are the relationships between size and longevity, mortality, growth rate, timing of maturity, and lifetime reproductive output. Spanning three orders of magnitude in size, coral reef fishes provide an ecologically diverse and species-rich vertebrate assemblage ...

BACKGROUND Compared with a wealth of information regarding coral-reef recovery patterns following major disturbances, less insight exists to explain the cause(s) of spatial variation in the recovery process. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS This study quantifies the influence of herbivory and water quality upon coral reef assemblages through space and time in Tutuila, American Samoa, a Pacific ...

Coral reef ecosystems are at the crossroads. While significant gaps still exist in our understanding of how ‘‘normal’’ reefs work, unprecedented changes in coral reef systems have forced the research community to change its focus from basic research to understand how one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world works to basic research with strong applied implications to alleviate damage, sav...

In theHawaiianArchipelago, shelter-dependent juvenile stages ofmany reef fishes and their coral habitats are increasingly put at risk by multiple anthropogenic stressors (e.g. overfishing and habitat loss, coral bleaching and sedimentation, respectively).We assessed coral bleaching (to identify relative susceptibility among growth forms) and the use v. availability of structurally complex and s...

Mean coral cover has reportedly declined by over 15% during the last 30 years across the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Here, we present new data that documents widespread reef development within the more poorly studied turbid nearshore areas (<10 m depth), and show that coral cover on these reefs averages 38% (twice that reported on mid- and outer-shelf reefs). Of the surveyed seafloor area...

Cryptobenthic fishes have a significant influence on coral reef ecosystem dynamics; however, they have received considerably less attention than their larger, more conspicuous fish counterparts. In nearby seagrass zones, there is little or no information about cryptobenthic fishes, even for basic parameters such as density and distribution, although smaller organisms may have a substantial effe...