[Coral-List] New article on embracing novel coral reef ecosystems

John McManus jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu
Tue Feb 11 11:50:18 EST 2014


I would add that the same issue also contains several other superb coral
reef papers, including a long-awaited standardization of the terminology and
associated concepts of coral reef resilience, robustness and vulnerability
by Peter J Mumby, Iliana Chollett, Yves-Marie Bozec and Nicholas H Wolff. I
hope everyone who deals with coral reef science and management reads this
paper and adopts these definitions. That will save us a lot of confusion in
the future.

Mumby PJ, Chollett I, Bozec Y-M, Wolff NH (2014) Ecological resilience,
robustness and vulnerability: how do these concepts benefit ecosystem
management? Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 7:22–27


John

John W. McManus, PhD
Director, National Center for Coral Reef Research (NCORE)
Professor, Marine Biology and Fisheries
Coral Reef Ecology and Management Lab (CREM Lab)
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS)
University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, 33149
jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu      http://ncore.rsmas.miami.edu/
Phone: 305-421-4814   

"Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often
vague, 
   than an exact answer to the wrong question, which can always be made
precise."
              
     --John Tukey, Statistician, National Medal of Science and IEEE Medal of
Honor



-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Douglas Fenner
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 9:43 PM
To: coral list
Subject: [Coral-List] New article on embracing novel coral reef ecosystems

*Coral reefs as novel ecosystems: embracing new futures* - The composition
and functions of many ecosystems are changing, giving rise to the concept of
novel ecosystems. Although some coral reefs are becoming non-coral systems,
others are becoming novel coral-dominated ecosystems driven principally by
differential species responses to climate change and other drivers, but also
due to species range shifts at higher latitudes, and in some cases
introduced species. Returning many coral reefs to pristine baselines is
unrealistic, whereas embracing novel futures enables more pragmatic
approaches to maintaining or re-building the dominance of corals.
Coral reefs are changing in unprecedented ways, providing the impetus to
improve our understanding of reef compositions that may dominate in the
future, explore new management approaches, assess changes in ecosystem
services, and investigate how human societies can adapt and respond to novel
futures.
Citation: Nicholas AJ Graham, Joshua E Cinner, Albert V Norström, Magnus
Nyström (2014) Coral reefs as novel ecosystems: embracing new futures.
*Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability*, Volume 7, 9-14.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2013.11.023

Article: http://www.stockholmresilience.org/5.3186f824143d05551ad18c.html


--
Douglas Fenner
Contractor with Ocean Associates, Inc.
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

phone 1 684 622-7084
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