Experimental coral reef communities transform yet persist under mitigated future ocean warming and acidification.

Coral reefs are among the most sensitive ecosystems affected by ocean warming and acidification, and are predicted to collapse over the next few decades. Reefs are predicted to shift from net accreting calcifier-dominated systems with exceptionally high biodiversity to net eroding algal-dominated systems with dramatically reduced biodiversity. Here, we present a two-year experimental study examining the responses of entire mesocosm coral reef communities to warming (+2 °C), acidification (-0.

Community composition of coral-associated Symbiodiniaceae differs across fine-scale environmental gradients in Kāne'ohe Bay.

The survival of most reef-building corals is dependent upon a symbiosis between the coral and the community of Symbiodiniaceae. , one of the main reef-building coral species in Hawai'i, is known to host a diversity of symbionts, but it remains unclear how they change spatially and whether environmental factors drive those changes. Here, we surveyed the Symbiodiniaceae community in 600 colonies from 30 sites across Kāne'ohe Bay and tested for host specificity and environmental gradients driving spatial patterns of algal symbiont distribution.

A Field Primer for Monitoring Benthic Ecosystems using Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry.

Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry is a technique used to generate three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions from a sequence of two-dimensional (2D) images. SfM methods are becoming increasingly popular as a noninvasive way to monitor many systems, including anthropogenic and natural landscapes, geologic structures, and both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here, a detailed protocol is provided for collecting SfM imagery to generate 3D models of benthic habitats.

Redescription of Mastigias papua (Scyphozoa, Rhizostomeae) with designation of a neotype and recognition of two additional species.

Mastigias, the 'golden' or 'spotted' jellyfish, is distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific. Specimens are identified routinely as Mastigias papua, although eight species were described historically, and molecular analyses evince at least three phylogenetic species. Understanding species diversity in Mastigias has become a priority because of its growing relevance in studies of boom-bust dynamics related to environmental change, cryptic species, local adaptation, parallel evolution, and peripatric speciation.