TY - JOUR

T1 - Social-environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene

AU - Darling, Emily S.

AU - McClanahan, Tim R.

AU - Maina, Joseph

AU - Gurney, Georgina G.

AU - Graham, Nicholas A.J.

AU - Januchowski-Hartley, Fraser

AU - Cinner, Joshua E.

AU - Mora, Camilo

AU - Hicks, Christina C.

AU - Maire, Eva

AU - Puotinen, Marji

AU - Skirving, William J.

AU - Adjeroud, Mehdi

AU - Ahmadia, Gabby

AU - Arthur, Rohan

AU - Bauman, Andrew G.

AU - Beger, Maria

AU - Berumen, Michael L.

AU - Bigot, Lionel

AU - Bouwmeester, Jessica

AU - Brenier, Ambroise

AU - Bridge, Tom C. L.

AU - Brown, Eric

AU - Campbell, Stuart J.

AU - Cannon, Sara

AU - Cauvin, Bruce

AU - Chen, Chaolun Allen

AU - Claudet, Joachim

AU - Denis, Vianney

AU - Donner, Simon

AU - Estradivari, null

AU - Fadli, Nur

AU - Feary, David A.

AU - Fenner, Douglas

AU - Fox, Helen

AU - Franklin, Erik C.

AU - Friedlander, Alan

AU - Gilmour, James

AU - Goiran, Claire

AU - Guest, James

AU - Hobbs, Jean-Paul A.

AU - Hoey, Andrew S.

AU - Houk, Peter

AU - Johnson, Steven

AU - Jupiter, Stacy D.

AU - Kayal, Mohsen

AU - Kuo, Chao-yang

AU - Lamb, Joleah

AU - Lee, Michelle A. C.

AU - Low, Jeffrey

AU - Muthiga, Nyawira

AU - Muttaqin, Efin

AU - Nand, Yashika

AU - Nash, Kirsty L.

AU - Nedlic, Osamu

AU - Pandolfi, John M.

AU - Pardede, Shinta

AU - Patankar, Vardhan

AU - Penin, Lucie

AU - Ribas-Deulofeu, Lauriane

AU - Richards, Zoe

AU - Roberts, T. Edward

AU - Rodgers, Ku’ulei S.

AU - Safuan, Che Din Mohd

AU - Sala, Enric

AU - Shedrawi, George

AU - Sin, Tsai Min

AU - Smallhorn-West, Patrick

AU - Smith, Jennifer E.

AU - Sommer, Brigitte

AU - Steinberg, Peter D.

AU - Sutthacheep, Makamas

AU - Tan, Chun Hong James

AU - Williams, Gareth

AU - Wilson, Shaun

AU - Yeemin, Thamasak

AU - Bruno, John F.

AU - Fortin, Marie-Josée

AU - Krkosek, Martin

AU - Mouillot, David

PY - 2019/8/12

Y1 - 2019/8/12

N2 - Without drastic efforts to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate globalized stressors, tropical coral reefs are in jeopardy. Strategic conservation and management requires identification of the environmental and socioeconomic factors driving the persistence of scleractinian coral assemblages—the foundation species of coral reef ecosystems. Here, we compiled coral abundance data from 2,584 Indo-Pacific reefs to evaluate the influence of 21 climate, social and environmental drivers on the ecology of reef coral assemblages. Higher abundances of framework-building corals were typically associated with: weaker thermal disturbances and longer intervals for potential recovery; slower human population growth; reduced access by human settlements and markets; and less nearby agriculture. We therefore propose a framework of three management strategies (protect, recover or transform) by considering: (1) if reefs were above or below a proposed threshold of >10% cover of the coral taxa important for structural complexity and carbonate production; and (2) reef exposure to severe thermal stress during the 2014–2017 global coral bleaching event. Our findings can guide urgent management efforts for coral reefs, by identifying key threats across multiple scales and strategic policy priorities that might sustain a network of functioning reefs in the Indo-Pacific to avoid ecosystem collapse.

AB - Without drastic efforts to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate globalized stressors, tropical coral reefs are in jeopardy. Strategic conservation and management requires identification of the environmental and socioeconomic factors driving the persistence of scleractinian coral assemblages—the foundation species of coral reef ecosystems. Here, we compiled coral abundance data from 2,584 Indo-Pacific reefs to evaluate the influence of 21 climate, social and environmental drivers on the ecology of reef coral assemblages. Higher abundances of framework-building corals were typically associated with: weaker thermal disturbances and longer intervals for potential recovery; slower human population growth; reduced access by human settlements and markets; and less nearby agriculture. We therefore propose a framework of three management strategies (protect, recover or transform) by considering: (1) if reefs were above or below a proposed threshold of >10% cover of the coral taxa important for structural complexity and carbonate production; and (2) reef exposure to severe thermal stress during the 2014–2017 global coral bleaching event. Our findings can guide urgent management efforts for coral reefs, by identifying key threats across multiple scales and strategic policy priorities that might sustain a network of functioning reefs in the Indo-Pacific to avoid ecosystem collapse.

U2 - 10.1038/s41559-019-0953-8

DO - 10.1038/s41559-019-0953-8

M3 - Article

VL - 3

SP - 1341

EP - 1350

JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2397-334X

IS - 9

ER -