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Letter
Nature 444, 477-480 (23 November 2006) | doi:10.1038/nature05328; Received 18 July 2006; Accepted 9 October 2006
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- The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
- Bethesda, MD
Faculty Positions
- University of Texas Medical Branch
- Galveston, TX United States
Ecological consequences of major hydrodynamic disturbances on coral reefs
Joshua S. Madin1,2 & Sean R. Connolly1
- School of Marine and Tropical Biology, and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
- National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93101, USA
Correspondence to: Joshua S. Madin1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.S.M. (Email: madin@nceas.ucsb.edu).
Abstract
A recent tsunami1, 2 and an apparent increase in the frequency of severe tropical storms3, 4, 5 underscore the need to understand and predict the ecological consequences of major hydrodynamic disturbances6. Reef corals provide the habitat structure that sustains the high biodiversity of tropical reefs7, and thus provide the foundation for the ecosystem goods and services that are critical to many tropical societies6, 8. Here we integrate predictions from oceanographic models9 with engineering theory, to predict the dislodgement of benthic reef corals during hydrodynamic disturbances. This generalizes earlier work10, 11, by incorporating colonies of any shape and by explicitly examining the effects of hydrodynamic gradients on coral assemblage structure. A field test shows that this model accurately predicts changes in the mechanical vulnerability of coral colonies, and thus their size and shape, with distance from the reef crest. This work provides a general framework for understanding and predicting the effects of hydrodynamic disturbances on coral reef communities; such disturbances have a major role in determining species zonation12, 13 and coexistence14 on coral reefs, and are critical determinants of how coral assemblages will respond to changes in the frequency and intensity of tropical storms associated with a changing climate3, 4, 5, 15.
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