Simulations of long-term community dynamics in coral reefs--how perturbations shape trajectories.

ABSTRACT: Tropical coral reefs feature extraordinary biodiversity and high productivity rates in oligotrophic waters. Due to increasing frequencies of perturbations--anthropogenic and natural--many reefs are under threat. Such perturbations often have devastating effects on these unique ecosystems and especially if they occur simultaneously and amplify each other's impact, they might trigger a phase shift and create irreversible conditions.We developed a generic, spatially explicit, individual-based model in which competition drives the dynamics of a virtual benthic reef community--comprised of scleractinian corals and algae--under different environmental settings. Higher system properties, like population dynamics or community composition arise through self-organization as emergent properties. The

SUBMITTER: Kubicek A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3510096 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature