Prehistorical and historical declines in Caribbean coral reef accretion rates driven by loss of parrotfish

Caribbean coral reefs have transformed into algal-dominated habitats over recent decades, but the mechanisms of change are unresolved due to a lack of quantitative ecological data before large-scale human impacts. To understand the role of reduced herbivory in recent coral declines, we produce a hig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2017-01, Vol.8 (1), p.14160-14160, Article 14160
Main Authors: Cramer, Katie L., O’Dea, Aaron, Clark, Tara R., Zhao, Jian-xin, Norris, Richard D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/2462
631/158/853
704/158/2446/837
704/829/826
Animals
Anthozoa - physiology
Caribbean Region
Centuries
Climate change
Coral Reefs
Demography
Epidemics
Fishes - physiology
Herbivory
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Population Dynamics
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sea Urchins
Water quality
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Summary:Caribbean coral reefs have transformed into algal-dominated habitats over recent decades, but the mechanisms of change are unresolved due to a lack of quantitative ecological data before large-scale human impacts. To understand the role of reduced herbivory in recent coral declines, we produce a high-resolution 3,000 year record of reef accretion rate and herbivore (parrotfish and urchin) abundance from the analysis of sediments and fish, coral and urchin subfossils within cores from Caribbean Panama. At each site, declines in accretion rates and parrotfish abundance were initiated in the prehistorical or historical period. Statistical tests of direct cause and effect relationships using convergent cross mapping reveal that accretion rates are driven by parrotfish abundance (but not vice versa) but are not affected by total urchin abundance. These results confirm the critical role of parrotfish in maintaining coral-dominated reef habitat and the urgent need for restoration of parrotfish populations to enable reef persistence. Fishing of keystone herbivores such as parrotfish is thought to negatively impact corals. Here, Cramer and colleagues analyse the sedimentary record for the last 3,000 years from three coral reef sites in the Caribbean and show that indeed coral declines are linked to parrotfish declines.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms14160