[Coral-List] New paper on the effect of fish herbivory on coral growth

[Adam Suchley]

Dear Coral-Listers,

We would like to draw your attention to our paper regarding the role of herbivorous fishes in facilitating coral growth, recently published in Ecology and Evolution. We performed a 14-month experiment to demonstrate that herbivore exclusion leads to macroalgal proliferation which substantially suppresses calcification rates of the reef-building Caribbean coral, Orbicella faveolata.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.3620/full

Kind Regards,

Adam Suchley & Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip


Herbivory facilitates growth of a key reef-building Caribbean coral

Abstract:

The decline of reef-building corals in conjunction with shifts to short-lived opportunistic species has prompted concerns that Caribbean reef framework-building capacity has substantially diminished. Restoring herbivore populations may be a potential driver of coral recovery; however, the impact of herbivores on coral calcification has been little studied. We performed an exclusion experiment to evaluate the impact of herbivory on Orbicella faveolata coral growth over 14 months. The experiment consisted of three treatments: full exclusion cages; half cage procedural controls; and uncaged control plates, each with small O. faveolata colonies. We found that herbivorous fish exclusion had a substantial impact on both macroalgal cover and coral growth. Fleshy macroalgae reached 50% cover within some exclusion cages, but were almost absent from uncaged control plates. Critically, O. faveolata calcification rates were suppressed by almost half within exclusion cages, with monthly coral growth negatively related to overgrowth by fleshy macroalgae. These findings highlight the importance of herbivorous fishes for coral growth and the detrimental impact of macroalgal proliferation in the Caribbean. Policy makers and local managers should consider measures to protect herbivorous fishes and reduce macroalgal proliferation to enable coral communities to continue to grow and function.

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Adam Suchley
Biodiversity and Reef Conservation Laboratory, UNAM
Puerto Morelos, Mexico
www.barcolab.org<file:///C:/Users/Adam/Files/Study/Doctorado/Herbivoria/Paper/Version%202/www.barcolab.org>