Consumers and prey diversity, their interactions, and subsequent effects on ecosystem function are important for ecological processes but not well understood in high diversity ecosystems such as coral reefs. Consequently, we tested the potential for diversity-effects with a series of surveys and experiments evaluating the influence of browsing herbivores on macroalgae in Kenya's fringing reef e...

Background. Little is known about the seagrass wrasse, Novaculoides macrolepidotus. In January 2012 it was recorded for the fi rst time from Reunion Island. As its population increased over the years, fi eld observations were made on colour pattern variation, escape and reproductive behaviour. Regarding a cryptic and poorly documented species, these observations, despite their anecdotal form, n...

Cyanobacteria are biogeochemically significant constituents of coral reef ecosystems; however, little is known about biotic and abiotic factors influencing the abundance and composition of cyanobacterial communities in fringing coral reef waters. To understand the patterns of cyanobacterial biogeography in relation to coastal environmental factors, we examined the diversity of planktonic and be...

The distribution and the structure of benthic assemblages vary with latitude. However, few studies have described benthic communities along large latitudinal gradients, and patterns of variation are not fully understood. Taiwan, lying between 21.90°N and 25.30°N, is located at the center of the Philippine-Japan arc and lies at the northern margin of coral reef development. A wide range of habit...

Population models are important for resource management and can inform about potential trajectories useful for planning purposes, even with incomplete monitoring data. From size frequency data on Luhuitou fringing reef, Hainan, South China Sea, a matrix population model of massive corals (Porites lutea) was developed and trajectories over 100 years under no disturbance and random disturbances w...

Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse habitats on Earth, but knowledge of their associated marinemicrobiome remains limited. To increase the understanding of the coral reef ecosystem in the lower Gulf of Thailand, this study utilized 16S and 18S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing to identify the prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbiota present in the reef water at Kham Island, Trat province, Thail...

Microbes in coral reef sediments are thought to play an important role organic matter remineralization and nutrient recycling. Microbial communities also reflect the environmental conditions, such as status, of ecosystem. This study investigates relationship between microbial community diversity conditions at Liuqiu Island. We sampled seasonally from four sites around island, Beauty Cave, Geban...

Abstract Coral reefs are renowned for the complexity of their habitat structures and resulting ability to host more species per unit area than any another marine ecosystem. Dedicated cleaner fish, which acquire all food resources through client interactions, rely on both (by using topological cleaning stations) wide diversity fish available coral reefs, function. As a result natural anthropogen...