TY - JOUR

T1 - Macroalgae exhibit diverse responses to human disturbances on coral reefs

AU - Cannon, Sara

AU - Donner, Simon

AU - Liu, Angela

AU - Gonzalez Espinosa, Pedro

AU - Baird, Andrew

AU - Baum, Julia

AU - Bauman, Andrew

AU - Beger, Maria

AU - Benkwitt, Cassandra

AU - Birt, Matthew

AU - Chancerelle, Yannick

AU - Cinner, Joshua

AU - Crane, Nicole

AU - Denis, Vianney

AU - Depczynski, Martial

AU - Fadli, Nur

AU - Fenner, Douglas

AU - Fulton, Christopher

AU - Golbuu, Yimnang

AU - Graham, Nicholas

AU - Guest, James

AU - Harrison, Hugo

AU - Hobbs, Jean-Paul

AU - Hoey, Andrew

AU - Holmes, Thomas

AU - Houk, Peter

AU - Januchowski-Hartley, Fraser

AU - Jompa, Jamaluddin

AU - Kuo, Chao-Yang

AU - Valentino Limmon, Gino

AU - Lin, Yuting

AU - McClanahan, Timothy

AU - Muenzel, Dominic

AU - Paddack, Michelle

AU - Planes, Serge

AU - Pratchett, Morgan

AU - Radford, Ben

AU - Reimer, James

AU - Richards, Zoe

AU - Ross, Claire

AU - Rulmal Jr., John

AU - Sommer, Brigitte

AU - Williams, Gareth J.

AU - Wilson, Shaun

PY - 2023/6/1

Y1 - 2023/6/1

N2 - Scientists and managers rely on indicator taxa such as coral and macroalgal cover to evaluate the effects of human disturbance on coral reefs, often assuming a universally positive relationship between local human disturbance and macroalgae. Despite evidence that macroalgae respond to local stressors in diverse ways, there have been few efforts to evaluate relationships betweenspecific macroalgae taxa and local human-driven disturbance. Using genus-level monitoring data from 1,205 sites in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, we assess whether macroalgae percent cover correlates with local human disturbance while accounting for factors that could obscure or confound relationships. Assessing macroalgae at genus level revealed that no genera were positively correlated with all human disturbance metrics. Instead, we found relationshipsbetween the division or genera of algae and specific human disturbances that were not detectable when pooling taxa into a single functional category, which is common to many analyses. The convention to use percent cover of macroalgae as an indication of local human disturbance therefore likely obscures signatures of local anthropogenic threats to reefs. Our limited understanding of relationships between human disturbance, macroalgae taxa, and their responsesto human disturbances impedes the ability to diagnose and respond appropriately to these threats.

AB - Scientists and managers rely on indicator taxa such as coral and macroalgal cover to evaluate the effects of human disturbance on coral reefs, often assuming a universally positive relationship between local human disturbance and macroalgae. Despite evidence that macroalgae respond to local stressors in diverse ways, there have been few efforts to evaluate relationships betweenspecific macroalgae taxa and local human-driven disturbance. Using genus-level monitoring data from 1,205 sites in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, we assess whether macroalgae percent cover correlates with local human disturbance while accounting for factors that could obscure or confound relationships. Assessing macroalgae at genus level revealed that no genera were positively correlated with all human disturbance metrics. Instead, we found relationshipsbetween the division or genera of algae and specific human disturbances that were not detectable when pooling taxa into a single functional category, which is common to many analyses. The convention to use percent cover of macroalgae as an indication of local human disturbance therefore likely obscures signatures of local anthropogenic threats to reefs. Our limited understanding of relationships between human disturbance, macroalgae taxa, and their responsesto human disturbances impedes the ability to diagnose and respond appropriately to these threats.

U2 - 10.1111/gcb.16694

DO - 10.1111/gcb.16694

M3 - Article

VL - 29

SP - 3318

EP - 3330

JO - Global Change Biology

JF - Global Change Biology

SN - 1365-2486

IS - 12

ER -