Biogeography: A deep dive on reefs.

A new analysis of the structure of coral-reef fish assemblages worldwide reveals biogeographic, taxonomic, and ecological patterns vary substantially with depth.

Global inequities between polluters and the polluted: climate change impacts on coral reefs.

For many ecosystem services, it remains uncertain whether the impacts of climate change will be mostly negative or positive and how these changes will be geographically distributed. These unknowns hamper the identification of regional winners and losers, which can influence debate over climate policy. Here, we use coral reefs to explore the spatial variability of climate stress by modelling the ecological impacts of rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification, two important coral stressors associated with increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Transforming management of tropical coastal seas to cope with challenges of the 21st century.

Over 1.3 billion people live on tropical coasts, primarily in developing countries. Many depend on adjacent coastal seas for food, and livelihoods.

Local retention, dispersal and fluctuating connectivity among populations of a coral reef fish.

The persistence and resilience of marine populations in the face of disturbances is directly affected by connectivity among populations. Thus, understanding the magnitude and pattern of connections among populations and the temporal variation in these patterns is critical for the effective management and conservation of marine species. Despite recent advances in our understanding of marine connectivity, few empirical studies have directly measured the magnitude or pattern of connections among populations of marine fishes, and none have explicitly investigated temporal variation in demographic connectivity.

The growing need for sustainable ecological management of marine communities of the Persian Gulf.

The Persian Gulf is a semi-enclosed marine system surrounded by eight countries, many of which are experiencing substantial development. It is also a major center for the oil industry. The increasing array of anthropogenic disturbances may have substantial negative impacts on marine ecosystems, but this has received little attention until recently.

Management of coral reefs: where we have gone wrong and what we can do about it.

Globally, our current management of coral reefs is inadequate and becoming more so as we place new and greater stresses on these ecosystems. The future looks very dim, and yet we have the capacity to do a far more effective job of reef management if we want to. Making substantial improvements to the condition of these enormously valuable coastal marine ecosystems does not require new scientific discoveries, but a new commitment to apply the knowledge we already possess to manage our impacts so that sustainability becomes possible.

Critical science gaps impede use of no-take fishery reserves.

As well as serving valuable biodiversity conservation roles, functioning no-take fishery reserves protect a portion of the fishery stock as insurance against future over-fishing. So long as there is adequate compliance by the fishing community, it is likely that they will also sustain and even enhance fishery yields in the surrounding area. However, there are significant gaps in scientific knowledge that must be filled if no-take reserves are to be used effectively as fishery management tools.

Connectivity, recruitment variation, and the structure of reef fish communities.

Coral reefs contain the most speciose communities of fishes on this planet, so it is appropriate to use these to explore how fish species are organized into communities. While descriptive data suggest that the diverse communities of fish on coral reefs are equilibrial assemblages of species, all finely adapted to specific and unique ecological roles, these are highly dynamic, non-equilibrial assemblages with structure driven more by patterns of recruitment and loss of individual fishes, than by patterns of resource allocation among differently adapted phenotypes. As a consequence, local assemblages differ in structure, and structure wanders through time.

Ecological structure of assemblages of coral reef fishes on isolated patch reefs.

A 9-year study of the structure of assemblages of fish on 20 coral patch reefs, based on 20 non-manipulative censuses, revealed a total of 141 species from 34 families, although 40 species accounted for over 95% of sightings of fish. The average patch reef was 8.5 m in surface area, and supported 125 fish of 20 species at a census.

Recruitment, loss and coexistence in a guild of territorial coral reef fishes.

Eupomacentrus apicalis, Plectroglyphidodon lacrymatus, and Pomacentrus wardi are territorial pomacentrid fishes which occupy contiguous individual territories within rubble patches on the shallow reef slope. Loss of residents, which is non-seasonal (except for juvenile Po. wardi), results in reallocation of space in rubble patches among the species.

Determinants of community structure for coral reef fishes in isolated coral heads at lagoonal and reef slope sites.

Ten small isolated corals were selected as units, of habitat in each of two nearby reef sites-a lagoon and a reef slope. On six occasions over two years we collected all fishes resident in each of these corals. Collections yielded 827 fishes of 64 species from the lagoon and 525 fishes of 66 species from the slope, but at each site 12 common species comprised over 80% of the fishes collected.

Overlap in resource use, and interspecific competition.

When several species co-exist, the amount by which they overlap in their use of resources is a measure of their similarity to one another. As such, resource overlap does not measure the amount of competition among them. When the resources are not limiting to population growth, patterns of resource use may overlap to any degree.