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Biogeography and change among regional coral communities across the western Indian Ocean
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McClanahan, T. R., Ateweberhan, Mebrahtu, Darling, Emily S., Graham, Nicholas A. J. and Muthiga, Nyawira (2014) Biogeography and change among regional coral communities across the western Indian Ocean. PLoS One, Volume 9 (Number 4). Article number e93385 . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093385 ISSN 1932-6203.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093385
Abstract
Coral reefs are biodiverse ecosystems structured by abiotic and biotic factors operating across many spatial scales. Regional-scale interactions between climate change, biogeography and fisheries management remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluated large-scale patterns of coral communities in the western Indian Ocean after a major coral bleaching event in 1998. We surveyed 291 coral reef sites in 11 countries and over 30° of latitude between 2004 and 2011 to evaluate variations in coral communities post 1998 across gradients in latitude, mainland-island geography and fisheries management. We used linear mixed-effect hierarchical models to assess total coral cover, the abundance of four major coral families (acroporids, faviids, pocilloporids and poritiids), coral genus richness and diversity, and the bleaching susceptibility of the coral communities. We found strong latitudinal and geographic gradients in coral community structure and composition that supports the presence of a high coral cover and diversity area that harbours temperature-sensitive taxa in the northern Mozambique Channel between Tanzania, northern Mozambique and northern Madagascar. Coral communities in the more northern latitudes of Kenya, Seychelles and the Maldives were generally composed of fewer bleaching-tolerant coral taxa and with reduced richness and diversity. There was also evidence for continued declines in the abundance of temperature-sensitive taxa and community change after 2004. While there are limitations of our regional dataset in terms of spatial and temporal replication, these patterns suggest that large-scale interactions between biogeographic factors and strong temperature anomalies influence coral communities while smaller-scale factors, such as the effect of fisheries closures, were weak. The northern Mozambique Channel, while not immune to temperature disturbances, shows continued signs of resistance to climate disturbances and remains a priority for future regional conservation and management actions.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QH Natural history | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Coral reef ecology, Biogeography | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | PLoS One | ||||||||
Publisher: | Public library of science | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1932-6203 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 9 April 2014 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 9 | ||||||||
Number: | Number 4 | ||||||||
Number of Pages: | 9 | ||||||||
Article Number: | Article number e93385 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0093385 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 28 December 2015 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 28 December 2015 | ||||||||
Funder: | Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, World Bank, Great Britain. Department for International Development, Leverhulme Trust (LT) |
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