Growth-predation risk tradeoffs constrain the local distribution of a thicket-forming Staghorn coral to marginal reef habitats.

ABSTRACT: On tropical reefs, environmental conditions and biological interactions are fundamental drivers of the spatial distribution of corals, which in turn influences community attributes and ecosystem rate processes. Here we focus on a major habitat-providing species of coral, the thicket-forming staghorn Acropora pulchra, in Moorea, French Polynesia, to explore environmental attributes that shape its local distribution. At the island scale, A. pulchra decreased in abundance with increasing distance from the shoreline and was inversely related to nitrogen enrichment. To investigate growth-predation risk tradeoffs, we quantified growth and corallivory rates across major abiotic (nutrients, sedimentation) and biotic (corallivorous fish biomass) gradients. At 20 sites divided between fringing reef

SUBMITTER: Ladd MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12549834 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature