Capturing fine-scale coral dynamics with a metacommunity modelling framework.

ABSTRACT: Natural systems exhibit high spatial variability across multiple scales. Models that can capture ecosystem dynamics across space and time by explicitly incorporating major biological mechanisms are crucial, both for management and for ecological insight. In the case of coral reef systems, much focus has been on modelling variability between reefs, despite substantial variability also existing within reefs. We developed C~scape, a coral metacommunity modelling framework that integrates the demography of corals with population-level responses to physical and environmental spatial layers, to facilitate spatiotemporal predictions of coral dynamics across reefs at fine (100s of metres to kilometres) scales. We used satellite-derived habitat maps to modulate community growth spatially, as a prox

SUBMITTER: Cresswell AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11494194 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature