The diversity, frequency, and scale of human impacts on coral reefs are increasing to the extent that reefs are threatened globally. Projected increases in carbon dioxide and temperature over the next 50 years exceed the conditions under which coral reefs have flourished over the past half-million years. However, reefs will change rather than disappear entirely, with some species already showin...

Coral reefs world-wide are threatened by escalating local and global impacts, and some impacted reefs have shifted from coral dominance to a state dominated by macroalgae. Therefore, there is a growing need to understand the processes that affect the capacity of these ecosystems to return to coral dominance following disturbances, including those that prevent the establishment of persistent sta...

Reef ecosystems built during successive periods of Pleistocene sea level rise have shown remarkable persistence in coral community structure, but little is known of the ecological characteristics of reef communities during periods of low sea stands or sea level falls. We sampled the relative species abundance of coral, benthic foraminifera, and calcareous red algae communities from eight submer...

Climate change is one of the greatest threats to the long-term maintenance of coral-dominated tropical ecosystems, and has received considerable attention over the past two decades. Coral bleaching and associated mortality events, which are predicted to become more frequent and intense, can alter the balance of different elements that are responsible for coral reef growth and maintenance. The g...

Coral-algal phase shifts in which coral cover declines to low levels and is replaced by algae have often been documented on coral reefs worldwide. This has motivated coral reef management responses that include restriction and regulation of fishing, e.g. herbivorous fish species. However, there is evidence that eutrophication and sedimentation can be at least as important as a reduction in herb...

This contribution documents widespread trawling damage to cold-water coral reefs at 840-1300 m depth along the West Ireland continental shelf break and at 200 m off West Norway. These reefs are spectacular but poorly known. By-catches from commercial trawls for deep-water fish off West Ireland included large pieces (up to 1 m(2)) of coral that had been broken from reefs and a diverse array of c...

The current best management tools employed in coral reefs worldwide do not achieve conservation objectives as coral reefs continue to degrade. Even improved reef management helps, at best, to reduce the degradation pace, whereas the worsening global changes foretell a dismal fate for coral reefs. The assertion made here is that the prospect for reefs' future is centered on omnipresent acceptanc...

Coral reefs are among the most productive and biologically diversified ecosystems of the world. Long time accumulation of calcium carbonate deposited by many living organisms is the basis of reef formation. Thousands of species use the complicated 3-dimensional topography as their habitats. Oddly, most coral reefs exist in waters with very little nutrient input, and cycling of nutrients within ...

Photosymbiotic scleractinian corals are major bioengineers in tropical coastal waters, where they build structurally complex geological features and provide substrata for a manifold of macro and microhabitats. On a local scale, ecological competition and physical parameters—natural as well as human-derived, alter species richness, biodiversity, and morphological adaptation on tropical coral ree...

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...