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  • Matters Arising
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Conclusions of low extinction risk for most species of reef-building corals are premature

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 6, pages 357–358 (2022)Cite this article

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Matters Arising to this article was published on 14 February 2022

The Original Article was published on 01 March 2021

arising from A. Dietzel et al. Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01393-4 (2021)

Dietzel et al.1 tackle a critical issue in biology: the likelihood of species extinctions of reef corals, the key foundation species of the most diverse and threatened marine ecosystem on the planet. Their analyses proffer an updated2 means of quantifying population sizes and the conclusions are bold, potentially affecting the future direction of reef management and research. They conclude that the risk of global extinction for most coral species is low and that many of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessments for reef corals, which list up to one-third of species at elevated risk3, are flawed. However, we find problems with the suitability of the data used in their analyses that call into question these conclusions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Wallace for expert taxonomic advice.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiversity and Geosciences Program, Queensland Museum, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Paul R. Muir & Michel Pichon

  2. Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Paul R. Muir

  3. Coastal Oceans Research and Development—Indian Ocean (CORDIO) East Africa, Mombasa, Kenya

    David O. Obura

  4. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands

    Bert W. Hoeksema

  5. Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands

    Bert W. Hoeksema

  6. School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Charles Sheppard

  7. School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, UK

    Charles Sheppard

  8. Coral Conservation and Research Group, Trace and Environmental DNA Laboratory, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    Zoe T. Richards

  9. Collections and Research, Western Australian Museum, Welshpool, Western Australia, Australia

    Zoe T. Richards

Authors
  1. Paul R. Muir
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  2. David O. Obura
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  3. Bert W. Hoeksema
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  4. Charles Sheppard
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  5. Michel Pichon
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  6. Zoe T. Richards
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Contributions

P.R.M. conceived the initial draft, with D.O.O., B.W.H., C.S., Z.T.R. and M.P. all contributing to the final submission.

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Correspondence to Paul R. Muir.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Emily Darling and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Table 1.

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Muir, P.R., Obura, D.O., Hoeksema, B.W. et al. Conclusions of low extinction risk for most species of reef-building corals are premature. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 357–358 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01659-5

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