Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Patterns of recruitment and abundance of corals along the Great Barrier Reef

Nature volume 397, pages 59–63 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Different physical and biological processes prevail at different scales1,2,3,4. As a consequence, small-scale experiments or local observations provide limited insights into regional or global phenomena5,6,7,8. One solution is to incorporate spatial scale explicitly into the experimental and sampling design of field studies, to provide a broader, landscape view of ecology1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Here we examine spatial patterns in corals on the Great Barrier Reef, across a spectrum of scales ranging from metres to more than 1,700 km. Our study is unusual because we explore large-scale patterns of a process (recruitment by juveniles) as well as patterns of adult abundance, revealing the relationship between the two. We show that coral-reef assemblages that are similar in terms of abundance may nonetheless show profound differences in dynamics and turnover, with major implications for their ecology, evolution and management.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Map of the GBR, indicating the location of 33 reefs at which recruitment and abundance of corals were measured.
Figure 2: A hierarchical sampling design used to measure spatial variation in the recruitment and abundance of corals in sectors along the GBR, each 250–500 km apart.
Figure 3: Amounts of recruitment (number per panel) and adult abundance (number of colonies per 10-m transect) of spawning and brooding corals on reef crests in six sectors of the GBR (numbered 1–6 from north to south, see Fig. 1).
Figure 4: Components of variation at four spatial scales.
Figure 5: The correlation between recruitment of spawners and brooders (both log(x + 1)-transformed), plotted here at the scale of individual panels (n = 1,135 panels for two years combined; r = 0.27, P < 0.001 ).

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kareiva, P. & Andersen, M. in Lecture Notes in Biomathematics: Community Ecology (ed. Hastings, A.) 38–45 (Springer, Berlin, (1988).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Wiens, J. A. Spatial scaling in ecology. Func. Ecol. 3, 385–397 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Jackson, J. B. C. Adaptation and diversity of reef corals. Bioscience 41, 475–482 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Schneider, D. C. Quantitative Ecology: Spatial and Temporal Scaling (Academic, San Diego, (1994).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ricklefs, R. E. Community diversity: relative roles of local and regional processes. Science 235, 167–171 ( 1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Levin, S. The problem of pattern and scale in ecology. Ecology 73, 1943–1967 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ricklefs, R. E. & Schluter, D. (eds) Species Diversity in Ecological Communities (Univ. Chicago Press, ( 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Eberhardt, L. L. & Thomas, J. M. Designing environmental field studies. Ecol. Monogr. 61, 53– 73 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Harrison, P. L. & Wallace, C. C. in Ecosystems of the World (ed. Dubinsky, Z.) 133–207 (Elsevier, New York, (1990).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Searle, S. R., Casella, G. & McCulloch, C. E. Variance Components (Wiley Interscience, New York, (1992).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Harrison, P. L. et al. Mass-spawning in tropical reef corals. Science 223, 1186–1189 ( 1984).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Ayre, D. J. & Dufty, S. L. Restricted gene flow in the viviparous coral Seriatopora hystrix on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Evolution 48, 1183–1201 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Benzie, J. A. H., Haskell, A. & Lehman, H. Variation in the genetic composition of coral (Pocillopora damicornis and Acropora palifera) populations from different reef habitats. Mar. Biol. 121, 731– 739 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Ayre, D. J., Hughes, T. P. & Standish, R. J. Genetic differentiation, reproductive mode, and gene flow in the brooding coral Pocillopora damicornis along the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 159, 175–187 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Sale, P. F., Doherty, P. J., Eckhert, G. J., Douglas, W. A. & Ferrell, D. J. Large scale spatial and temporal variation in recruitment of fish populations on coral reefs. Oecologia 64, 191–198 ( 1984).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Doherty, P. J. & Williams, D. McB. The replenishment of coral reef fish populations. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Annu. Rev. 26, 487–551 ( 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Rogers, C. R., Fitz, H. C., Gilnack, M., Beets, J. & Hardin, J. Scleractinian coral recruitment patterns at Salt River submarine canyon, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Coral Reefs 3, 69–76 (1984).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Richmond, R. H. & Hunter, C. L. Reproduction and recruitment of corals: comparisons among the Caribbean, the tropical Pacific, and the Red Sea. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 60, 185–203 (1990).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Smith, S. R. Patterns of coral recruitment and post-settlement mortality on Bermuda's reefs: comparisons to Caribbean and Pacific reefs. Am. Zool. 32, 663–673 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Sweatman, H. P. A. The influence of adults of some reef fishes on larval recruitment. Ecol. Monogr. 55, 469–485 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Caley, M. J. Reef-fish community structure and dynamics: an interaction between local and larger-scale processes? Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 129, 19–29 (1995).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Connell, J. H. in Biology and Geology of Coral Reefs, Vol. 1 (eds Jones, O. A.&Endean, R. E.) 205–245 (Academic, New York, (1973).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  23. Connell, J. H., Hughes, T. P. & Wallace, C. D. A30-year study of coral community dynamics: influence of disturbance and recruitment on abundance, at several scales in space and time. Ecol. Monogr. 67, 461– 488 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hughes, T. P. Demographic approaches to community dynamics: a coral reef example. Ecology 77, 2256–2260 ( 1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Kojis, B. in Proc. Colloquium on Global Aspects of Coral Reefs: Health, Hazards, History (ed. R. N. Ginsburg) P35–P41 (Univ. Miami, Florida, (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Connell, J. H. Disturbance and recovery of coral assemblages. Coral Reefs 16(Suppl.), 101–113 (1997 ).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the 41 graduate-student volunteers from James Cook University (JCU) who provided field assistance, and D. Ayre, J. Caley, P. Doherty and L. Smith for comments on the manuscript. Research was funded by grants to T.P.H. from the Australian Research Council. This is contribution no. 162 of the Coral Group at JCU.

Author information

Author notes

  1. N. A. Moltschaniwskyj

    Present address: Department of Aquaculture, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania, 7250, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, 4811, Queensland, Australia

    T. P. Hughes, A. H. Baird, E. A. Dinsdale, M. S. Pratchett, J. E. Tanner & B. L. Willis

Authors
  1. T. P. Hughes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. H. Baird
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. E. A. Dinsdale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. N. A. Moltschaniwskyj
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. S. Pratchett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. J. E. Tanner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. B. L. Willis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. P. Hughes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hughes, T., Baird, A., Dinsdale, E. et al. Patterns of recruitment and abundance of corals along the Great Barrier Reef. Nature 397, 59–63 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/16237

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/16237

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing