Publications by authors named "Lyndon DeVantier"
AbstractCrown-of-thorns sea stars ( sp.) are among the most studied coral reef organisms, owing to their propensity to undergo major population irruptions, which contribute to significant coral loss and reef degradation throughout the Indo-Pacific. However, there are still important knowledge gaps pertaining to the biology, ecology, and management of sp.
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- Logging and plantation agriculture in tropical countries like Papua New Guinea contribute to local economies but lead to significant environmental degradation by replacing diverse habitats with monoculture crops.
- Case studies from Kimbe Bay and Mullins Harbour reveal that logging and oil palm expansion destabilize soils and harm nearby coral reefs due to increased silt levels and other stressors like coral bleaching and predation.
- Effective catchment management strategies, such as avoiding steep land use, expanding buffer zones, and reducing chemical inputs, can mitigate the negative impacts on coral reefs and improve their health.
Climate change will have far-reaching impacts on biodiversity, including increasing extinction rates. Current approaches to quantifying such impacts focus on measuring exposure to climatic change and largely ignore the biological differences between species that may significantly increase or reduce their vulnerability. To address this, we present a framework for assessing three dimensions of climate change vulnerability, namely sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity; this draws on species' biological traits and their modeled exposure to projected climatic changes.
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- - The conservation status of 845 reef-building coral species was evaluated, revealing that 32.8% of the 704 assessed species are at a high risk of extinction due to factors like bleaching and diseases caused by rising sea temperatures.
- - Human activities also worsen the risk of coral extinction, and the overall threat level for corals has significantly increased in recent decades compared to most land species.
- - The Caribbean region has the highest percentage of corals in dangerous extinction categories, while the Coral Triangle has the largest number of species facing elevated extinction risks, highlighting the urgent need for effective coral conservation efforts.
The Sulu-Sulawesi Sea, with neighboring Indonesian Seas and South China Sea, lies at the center of the world's tropical marine biodiversity. Encircled by 3 populous, developing nations, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Sea and its adjacent coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, supports ca. 33 million people, most with subsistence livelihoods heavily reliant on its renewable natural resources.
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