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Climate warming, marine protected areas and the ocean-scale integrity of coral reef ecosystems

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Graham, N. A. J., McClanahan, T. R., MacNeil, M. Aaron, Wilson, Shaun K., Polunin, Nicholas, Jennings, Simon, Ph. D., Chabanet, Pascale, Clark, Susan, Spalding, Mark, Letourneur, Yves, Bigot, Lionel, Galzin, René, Öhman, Marcus C., Garpe, Kajsa C., Edwards, Alasdair J. and Sheppard, Charles (Charles R. C.). (2008) Climate warming, marine protected areas and the ocean-scale integrity of coral reef ecosystems. PLOS ONE, Vol.3 (No.8). ISSN 1932-6203

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003039

Abstract

Coral reefs have emerged as one of the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate variation and change. While the contribution of a warming climate to the loss of live coral cover has been well documented across large spatial and temporal scales, the associated effects on fish have not. Here, we respond to recent and repeated calls to assess the importance of local management in conserving coral reefs in the context of global climate change. Such information is important, as coral reef fish assemblages are the most species dense vertebrate communities on earth, contributing critical ecosystem functions and providing crucial ecosystem services to human societies in tropical countries. Our assessment of the impacts of the 1998 mass bleaching event on coral cover, reef structural complexity, and reef associated fishes spans 7 countries, 66 sites and 26 degrees of latitude in the Indian Ocean. Using Bayesian meta-analysis we show that changes in the size structure, diversity and trophic composition of the reef fish community have followed coral declines. Although the ocean scale integrity of these coral reef ecosystems has been lost, it is positive to see the effects are spatially variable at multiple scales, with impacts and vulnerability affected by geography but not management regime. Existing no-take marine protected areas still support high biomass of fish, however they had no positive affect on the ecosystem response to large-scale disturbance. This suggests a need for future conservation and management efforts to identify and protect regional refugia, which should be integrated into existing management frameworks and combined with policies to improve system-wide resilience to climate variation and change.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) > Biological Sciences ( -2010)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Coral reefs and islands -- Climatic factors, Coral reef fishes -- Climatic factors, Coral reef conservation, Climatic changes
Journal or Publication Title:	PLOS ONE
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
ISSN:	1932-6203
Date:	27 August 2008
Volume:	Vol.3
Number:	No.8
Identification Number:	10.1371/journal.pone.0003039
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Funder:	Leverhulme Trust (LT), Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, World Bank, Fisheries Society of the British Isles, Eppley Foundation for Research, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Great Britain. Dept. for International Development, Great Britain. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
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URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/4425