Removing dead coral after marine heatwaves can mitigate coral-algae competition and increase viable coral recruitment.

ABSTRACT: Ecological disturbance regimes are shifting and leaving behind novel legacies, like the remnant structures of dead foundation species, which have poorly known impacts on ecosystem resilience. We explored how dead coral skeletons produced by marine heatwaves-material legacies of increasingly common disturbances on coral reefs-influence spatial competition between corals and macroalgae, focusing on whether removing dead branching skeletons stimulates recovery of coral after disturbance. Following a marine heatwave, we removed dead skeletons from reef patches and then used underwater photogrammetry and AI-powered image analysis to quantify trajectories of coral and macroalgae. After four years, removal of dead skeletons resulted in 1.6 times more live coral remaining and reduced development o

SUBMITTER: Kopecky KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12303696 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature