Apparent recruitment failure for the vast majority of coral species at Eilat, Red Sea

Gabriele Guerrini; Maayan Yerushalmy; Dor Shefy; Nadav Shashar; Baruch Rinkevich

doi:10.1007/s00338-020-01998-4

Apparent recruitment failure for the vast majority of coral species at Eilat, Red Sea

Gabriele Guerrini, Maayan Yerushalmy, Dor Shefy, Nadav Shashar, Baruch Rinkevich

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The status of coral reefs is often portrayed by parameters (e.g., coverage, bleaching, diseases, nutrients and rugosity) assigned to adult populations. Yet, coral recruitment is essential for sustaining coral populations, especially in the aftermath of major disturbances. Studying earliest coral recruitment at species level can reveal declines in the recovery potential and resilience of coral populations and communities, even if adult abundance and coral cover is sustained. Rates of coral recruitment were quantified once a month for 4 yrs from tiles and stones (Eilat, Red Sea), revealing a dramatic discrepancy in coral species recruited (n = 15) compared to adult-species currently on site (n = 55), with 1–2 dominant species accounting for ≥ 80% of recruits. The low rates and limited diversity of settling corals recorded in this study appear unlikely to sustain contemporary coral assemblages, so unless there are marked changes in the settlement dynamics, we would expect to see inevitable declines in the abundance and diversity of reef corals at these locations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1715-1726
Number of pages	12
Journal	Coral Reefs
Volume	39
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-01998-4
State	Published - Dec 2020
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Thanks are due to the Inter University Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, to I.M. Ashkenazi and the Guttman’s laboratory (National Center for Mariculture, Eilat) for hospitality and logistical support and the Nature and Parks Authority, Israel, for the permits. The study was supported by the AID-MERC (M33-001), by the Israeli-French high council for scientific & technological research program (Maïmonide-Israel) and by the North American Friends of IOLR (NAF/IOLR). G.G. was supported by a fellowship from BGU- Eilat Campus.

Funding Information:
Thanks are due to the Inter University Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, to I.M. Ashkenazi and the Guttman’s laboratory (National Center for Mariculture, Eilat) for hospitality and logistical support and the Nature and Parks Authority, Israel, for the permits. The study was supported by the AID-MERC (M33-001), by the Israeli-French high council for scientific & technological research program (Maïmonide-Israel) and by the North American Friends of IOLR (NAF/IOLR). G.G. was supported by a fellowship from BGU- Eilat Campus.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

Biodiversity
Coral
Degradation
Recruitment
Red Sea
Resilience

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Aquatic Science

Access to Document

10.1007/s00338-020-01998-4

Cite this

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title = "Apparent recruitment failure for the vast majority of coral species at Eilat, Red Sea",

abstract = "The status of coral reefs is often portrayed by parameters (e.g., coverage, bleaching, diseases, nutrients and rugosity) assigned to adult populations. Yet, coral recruitment is essential for sustaining coral populations, especially in the aftermath of major disturbances. Studying earliest coral recruitment at species level can reveal declines in the recovery potential and resilience of coral populations and communities, even if adult abundance and coral cover is sustained. Rates of coral recruitment were quantified once a month for 4 yrs from tiles and stones (Eilat, Red Sea), revealing a dramatic discrepancy in coral species recruited (n = 15) compared to adult-species currently on site (n = 55), with 1–2 dominant species accounting for ≥ 80% of recruits. The low rates and limited diversity of settling corals recorded in this study appear unlikely to sustain contemporary coral assemblages, so unless there are marked changes in the settlement dynamics, we would expect to see inevitable declines in the abundance and diversity of reef corals at these locations.",

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N2 - The status of coral reefs is often portrayed by parameters (e.g., coverage, bleaching, diseases, nutrients and rugosity) assigned to adult populations. Yet, coral recruitment is essential for sustaining coral populations, especially in the aftermath of major disturbances. Studying earliest coral recruitment at species level can reveal declines in the recovery potential and resilience of coral populations and communities, even if adult abundance and coral cover is sustained. Rates of coral recruitment were quantified once a month for 4 yrs from tiles and stones (Eilat, Red Sea), revealing a dramatic discrepancy in coral species recruited (n = 15) compared to adult-species currently on site (n = 55), with 1–2 dominant species accounting for ≥ 80% of recruits. The low rates and limited diversity of settling corals recorded in this study appear unlikely to sustain contemporary coral assemblages, so unless there are marked changes in the settlement dynamics, we would expect to see inevitable declines in the abundance and diversity of reef corals at these locations.

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Apparent recruitment failure for the vast majority of coral species at Eilat, Red Sea

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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