[Coral-List] New publication: Benthic successional dynamics on settlement substrate in coral reefs lagoons

[Isael Victoria]

Dear Coral listers:

On behalf of coauthors, I am happy to share our recent article *Benthic
successional dynamics on settlement substrate in coral reefs lagoons*
published in
Marine Biology (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04202-7). Hope you
find it of interest.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Isael Victoria-Salazar

Abstract:

Several factors influence coral reef recovery, including availability of
appropriate recruitment surface, which is provided mainly by crustose
calcareous algae (CCA). Its role in coral recruitment has been amply
documented, but the dynamics governing CCA availability has received little
attention. This paper analyzes the benthic successional dynamics of six
cover states [CCA, fleshy algae (FA), turf algae (TA), calcified
articulated algae (CAA), free space, and other benthic groups] over a
two-year period on patch reefs inside and outside Xcalak Reef National
Park, a marine protected area (MPA) in the southern Mexican Caribbean.
Recruitment tiles were used to mimic physical disturbance, and a Markov
chain analysis was applied to understand the transition probabilities among
benthic groups. Initial benthic succession was dominated by TA, which
covered at least 75% of the surface. CCA were the dominant cover (~ 50%),
at stationary distributions, at sites inside the MPA, while at the site
outside the MPA the dominant cover was TA (~ 50%). Once CCA and TA occupied
a space they had high probabilities of retaining it, with turnover rates ~
1.5 years. These findings offer an entry point to the understanding at fine
spatial scales of the dynamics of key benthic groups for coral recruitment
and it constitutes the baseline to compare dynamics on reef adverse
habitats.