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Overfishing + Nutrients + Climate Change = Sick Reefs

Posted on June 9, 2016

Important Article from NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

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Overfishing and Nutrient Pollution Interact with Temperature to Disrupt Coral Reefs Down to Microbial Scales.

Jesse R. Zaneveld,
Deron E. Burkepile,
Andrew A. Shantz,
Catharine E. Pritchard,
Ryan McMinds,
Jérôme P. Payet,
Rory Welsh,
Adrienne M. S. Correa,
Nathan P. Lemoine,
Stephanie Rosales,
Corinne Fuchs,
Jeffrey A. Maynard
Rebecca Vega Thurber

Nature Communications 7,
Article number: 11833 doi:10.1038/ncomms11833

Received 03 November 2015
Accepted 04 May 2016
Published 07 June 2016

Losses of corals worldwide emphasize the need to understand what drives reef decline. Stressors such as overfishing and nutrient pollution may reduce resilience of coral reefs by increasing coral–algal competition and reducing coral recruitment, growth and survivorship. Such effects may themselves develop via several mechanisms, including disruption of coral microbiomes. Here we report the results of a 3-year field experiment simulating overfishing and nutrient pollution. These stressors increase turf and macroalgal cover, destabilizing microbiomes, elevating putative pathogen loads, increasing disease more than twofold and increasing mortality up to eightfold. Above-average temperatures exacerbate these effects, further disrupting microbiomes of unhealthy corals and concentrating 80% of mortality in the warmest seasons. Surprisingly, nutrients also increase bacterial opportunism and mortality in corals bitten by parrotfish, turning normal trophic interactions deadly for corals. Thus, overfishing and nutrient pollution impact reefs down to microbial scales, killing corals by sensitizing them to predation, above-average temperatures and bacterial opportunism.

News & Blog

Overfishing + Nutrients + Climate Change = Sick Reefs

Important Article from NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

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