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An eye-opening introduction to the complexity, wonder, and vital roles of coral reefs. When mass coral bleaching and die-offs were first identified in the 1980s, and eventually linked to warming events, the scientific community was sure that such a dramatic and unambiguous signal would serve as a warning sign about the devastating effects of global warming. Instead, most people ignored that warning. Subsequent decades have witnessed yet more degradation. Reefs around the world have lost more than 50 percent of their living coral since the 1970s. In this book, distinguished marine ecologist Peter F. Sale imparts his passion for the unexpected beauty, complexity, and necessity of coral reefs. By placing reefs in the wider context of global climate change, Sale demonstrates how their decline is more than simply a one-off environmental tragedy, but rather an existential warning to humanity. He offers a reframing of the enormous challenge humanity faces as a noble venture to steer the planet into safe waters that might even retain some coral reefs

Intro -- Population Dynamics of the Reef Crisis -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contributors to Volume 87 -- Contents -- Series Contents for Last Fifteen Years -- The population dynamics of the coral reef crisis-Prologue -- References -- Chapter One: Population dynamics of the reef crisis: Consequences of the growing human population -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Humans: Their numbers, distribution, and impacts -- 3. Coral population dynamics in response to human depredation -- 4. Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Two: Projected shifts in coral size structure in the Anthropocene -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The functional implications of coral colony size -- 3. Temporal shifts in the size structure of coral populations -- 4. Modelling changes in size distributions of coral populations -- 5. Tractable questions and the data with which they can be answered -- 5.1. Risks of extinction -- 5.2. Ecosystem functionality -- 5.2.1. Community and ecosystem resilience -- 5.3. Necessary changes in coral reef monitoring -- Supplementary materials -- Acknowledgements -- Author contributions -- References -- Chapter Three: Population dynamics of diseased corals: Effects of a Shut Down Reaction outbreak in Puerto Rican Acropora ... -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Material and methods -- 2.1. Study site -- 2.2. Demographic data -- 2.3. Population matrix models -- 3. Results -- 4. Discussion -- Acknowledgements -- References -- Chapter Four: Spatial and temporal differences in Acropora cervicornis colony size and health -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Materials and methods -- 2.1. Data analysis -- 2.1.1. Colony diameter and volumetric index -- 2.1.2. Colony condition -- 3. Results -- 3.1. Colony diameter and volumetric index -- 3.1.1. Regional -- 3.1.2. Local -- 3.1.3. Temporal -- 3.2. Colony condition -- 3.2.1. Regional -- 3.2.2. Local -- 3.2.3. Temporal.

International audience ; Just 3% of the world's coral reefs remain in near-pristine condition; about one-third of these are located in the Coral Sea in the South Pacific Ocean. The Chesterfield reef ensemble, one of the world's largest atolls, is an example. It is part of France's overseas territory of New Caledonia, and its remoteness has so far preserved its wealth of biodiversity. We therefore call for the territory's government to drop its plans to open these precious reefs to the destructive effects of cruise ships and mass ecotourism. The Chesterfield reefs were spared the 2016 mass-bleaching phenomenon that affected coral reefs around the world. They host the largest seabird colonies in the tropical western Pacific. Indeed, nitrogen from seabird guano may contribute to the resilience of reef-building corals. Comprising a remarkable variety of corals, the reefs host an abundance of diverse fish shoals and species such as the threatened fairy tern (Sternula nereis), several endemic marine gastropods and an endemic sea snake (Hydrophis laboutei). They are also a nesting site of regional importance for the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). Cruise ships will inevitably disrupt the reef and lagoon habitats and fauna. Their hundreds of passengers will lethally disturb breeding seabird colonies, by repeatedly scaring away nesting adults. This could particularly affect the brown booby (Sula leucogaster), the lesser and greater frigatebirds (Fregata ariel and F. minor) and the sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus).

International audience ; Just 3% of the world's coral reefs remain in near-pristine condition; about one-third of these are located in the Coral Sea in the South Pacific Ocean. The Chesterfield reef ensemble, one of the world's largest atolls, is an example. It is part of France's overseas territory of New Caledonia, and its remoteness has so far preserved its wealth of biodiversity. We therefore call for the territory's government to drop its plans to open these precious reefs to the destructive effects of cruise ships and mass ecotourism. The Chesterfield reefs were spared the 2016 mass-bleaching phenomenon that affected coral reefs around the world. They host the largest seabird colonies in the tropical western Pacific. Indeed, nitrogen from seabird guano may contribute to the resilience of reef-building corals. Comprising a remarkable variety of corals, the reefs host an abundance of diverse fish shoals and species such as the threatened fairy tern (Sternula nereis), several endemic marine gastropods and an endemic sea snake (Hydrophis laboutei). They are also a nesting site of regional importance for the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). Cruise ships will inevitably disrupt the reef and lagoon habitats and fauna. Their hundreds of passengers will lethally disturb breeding seabird colonies, by repeatedly scaring away nesting adults. This could particularly affect the brown booby (Sula leucogaster), the lesser and greater frigatebirds (Fregata ariel and F. minor) and the sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus).

International audience ; Just 3% of the world's coral reefs remain in near-pristine condition; about one-third of these are located in the Coral Sea in the South Pacific Ocean. The Chesterfield reef ensemble, one of the world's largest atolls, is an example. It is part of France's overseas territory of New Caledonia, and its remoteness has so far preserved its wealth of biodiversity. We therefore call for the territory's government to drop its plans to open these precious reefs to the destructive effects of cruise ships and mass ecotourism. The Chesterfield reefs were spared the 2016 mass-bleaching phenomenon that affected coral reefs around the world. They host the largest seabird colonies in the tropical western Pacific. Indeed, nitrogen from seabird guano may contribute to the resilience of reef-building corals. Comprising a remarkable variety of corals, the reefs host an abundance of diverse fish shoals and species such as the threatened fairy tern (Sternula nereis), several endemic marine gastropods and an endemic sea snake (Hydrophis laboutei). They are also a nesting site of regional importance for the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). Cruise ships will inevitably disrupt the reef and lagoon habitats and fauna. Their hundreds of passengers will lethally disturb breeding seabird colonies, by repeatedly scaring away nesting adults. This could particularly affect the brown booby (Sula leucogaster), the lesser and greater frigatebirds (Fregata ariel and F. minor) and the sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus).

International audience ; Maintaining coral reef ecosystems is a social imperative, because so many people depend on coral reefs for food production, shoreline protection, and livelihoods. The survival of reefs this century, however, is threatened by the mounting effects of climate change. Climate mitigation is the foremost and essential action to prevent coral reef ecosystem collapse. Without it, reefs will become extremely diminished within the next 20-30 years. Even with strong climate mitigation, however, existing conservation measures such as marine protected areas and fisheries management are no longer sufficient to sustain the ecosystem and many additional and innovative actions to increase reef resilience must also be taken. In this paper we assess the suite of protections and actions in terms of their potential be effective according to a set of criteria that include effectiveness, readiness, co-benefits and disbenefits. Even with the best scientific innovation, saving coral reefs will require a well-funded, welldesigned, and rapidly executed strategy with political and social commitments at the level of other grand challenges.

International audience ; Maintaining coral reef ecosystems is a social imperative, because so many people depend on coral reefs for food production, shoreline protection, and livelihoods. The survival of reefs this century, however, is threatened by the mounting effects of climate change. Climate mitigation is the foremost and essential action to prevent coral reef ecosystem collapse. Without it, reefs will become extremely diminished within the next 20-30 years. Even with strong climate mitigation, however, existing conservation measures such as marine protected areas and fisheries management are no longer sufficient to sustain the ecosystem and many additional and innovative actions to increase reef resilience must also be taken. In this paper we assess the suite of protections and actions in terms of their potential be effective according to a set of criteria that include effectiveness, readiness, co-benefits and disbenefits. Even with the best scientific innovation, saving coral reefs will require a well-funded, welldesigned, and rapidly executed strategy with political and social commitments at the level of other grand challenges.

Fishing is one of the oldest anthropogenic disturbances in the ocean, differing from other impacts in its direct removal of biomass from the ecosystem. Despite the centuries of fishing activities, there is much we still do not understand regarding the effects of fish removal on the benthic community. I use an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the affect of human disturbance, primarily the alteration of fish communities, on major functional groups of coral reefs, over extended temporal and spatial scales. In Chapter 2, historical analyses reveal that relatively small human populations and simple fishing technologies can negatively impact reef fish communities. Significant declines are evident in Pre Columbian times and by the mid 19th C. Declines were exacerbated by simple innovations of gear, such as chicken wire, and government subsidies, which expanded degradation to offshore and deeper reefs. In Chapter 3, I identify six major ecological guilds of common Caribbean coral species and show that changes in the abundance of these guilds from the Pleistocene to the present day can be understood in terms of recent human disturbance events. Formerly advantageous life history strategies no longer apply. Instead, guilds with the ability to withstand physical disturbance from storms, sedimentation, and pollution remain present on reefs, while strategies for high recruitment and rapid space colonization increase the relative abundance of another guild. Overall, no guild successfully competes with macroalgae for space and all corals have declined. In Chapter 4, I show that benthic and fish communities across the northwestern Caribbean are largely homogenized as a result of human disturbance. The exception is fish communities in large, no-take marine reserves, which resemble relatively healthy communities of low-impacted reefs in the Pacific. A negative correlation between fish and algal biomass indicate that reserves may facilitate coral recovery, although corals have not yet increased. Chapter 5 describes a novel method for calculating the wet and dry animal tissue mass per unit area of corals. Chapter 6 integrates these findings and demonstrates the importance of increased temporal, spatial, and ecosystem scale in effective research and management of degraded Caribbean coral reefs

Maintaining coral reef ecosystems is a social imperative, because so many people depend on coral reefs for food production, shoreline protection, and livelihoods. The survival of reefs this century, however, is threatened by the mounting effects of climate change. Climate mitigation is the foremost and essential action to prevent coral reef ecosystem collapse. Without it, reefs will become extremely diminished within the next 20–30 years. Even with strong climate mitigation, however, existing conservation measures such as marine protected areas and fisheries management are no longer sufficient to sustain the ecosystem and many additional and innovative actions to increase reef resilience must also be taken. In this paper we assess the suite of protections and actions in terms of their potential to be effective according to a set of criteria that include effectiveness, readiness, co-benefits and disbenefits. Even with the best scientific innovation, saving coral reefs will require a well-funded, well-designed, and rapidly executed strategy with political and social commitments at the level of other grand challenges.

Tese de mestrado, Ecologia Marinha, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2021 ; The increasing degradation of marine coastal habitats due to many types of anthropogenic pressures (e.g. overfishing, water pollution, underwater tourism, etc.), led governments and intergovernmental organizations to create directives and regulations for the protection of marine ecosystems (e.g. Marine Strategy Framework Directive) and establish Marine Protected Areas (MPA), which are now widely accepted as adequate tools to protect, maintain, and restore marine ecosystems. However, in order to well manage their effectiveness, periodic monitoring is required. Biological indicators are typically used to access the protection effect of a MPA. Nevertheless, for temperate marine subtidal rocky reefs, most of these indicators are based on fish and commercial invertebrates' traits, whereas for the overall invertebrates' assemblages, information is lacking. Therefore, the present study assessed the taxonomic and functional response of invertebrate assemblages to the protection effect of the Arrábida Marine Protected Area (Portugal), in order to define specific traits, useful to be used as biological indicators. The combined results of PERMANOVA and discriminant analyses showed an overall strong environmental gradient along the MPA, revealing an already expected situation of multiple stressors (natural and anthropogenic) influencing the local invertebrate communities. This environmental gradient is evident and seemed capable of weakening protection effects. Nevertheless, some potentially good biological indicators of protection effects were detected, namely "density of high value species", "density of bycatch species with high value", "densities of scavengers and omnivores" and "densities of grazers and herbivores" showed responsive trends to fishing pressure; Bryozoa and Gorgoniidae taxa showed responsive trends to diving pressure, even though no functional trait responded significantly to this pressure. Although most of these ...

Scientific communities and policy makers alike portray the worldwide degradation of coral reefs as a global issue that requires a policy response. Yet, an international legal regime on coral reefs is not on the global agenda, and no state considers it necessary. The absence of a regime is puzzling given a number of favorable factors that should facilitate the creation of a treaty. Moreover, existing theoretical explanations of international cooperation cannot adequately account for the case. This pioneer study on international coral reef management considers current policy-making activities in conjunction with information provided by multilateral scientific assessments. It offers a modified knowledge-based explanation of the case that relies on the distinction between different types of information. Missing knowledge about the transboundary effects of the problem impedes the formation of common interests and does not easily justify the need for a binding international agreement.

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia, covers over 348,000 km 2 of tropical marine ecosystems of global significance. In July 2015, the World Heritage Committee called attention to the cumulative impacts of climate change, poor water quality, and coastal development on the region's outstanding universal value, but stopped short of inscribing the Great Barrier Reef on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Restoring the region's values is hindered by an environmental decision-making process that fails to incorporate cumulative impacts, including the climate change impacts of greenhouse gas emissions sourced from one of Australia's largest exports, thermal coal. We identify policy and processes that enable a more comprehensive consideration of the cumulative effects of coal mining by environmental decision-makers. Implementing cumulative impact assessment requires a collaborative and transparent program of planning and monitoring independent of Government and mine proponents that evaluates local, regional, and global impacts. The future of the Great Barrier Reef depends on transformational change in the cumulative assessment of Australian coal mines.