Differential responses of emergent intertidal coral reef fauna to a large-scale El-Nino southern oscillation event: sponge and coral resilience.

ABSTRACT: There is a paucity of information on the impacts of the 1997-8 El Niño event and subsequent climatic episodes on emergent intertidal coral reef assemblages. Given the environmental variability intertidal reefs experience, such reefs may potentially be more resilient to climatic events and provide important insights into the adaptation of reef fauna to future ocean warming. Here we report the results of a 17-year (1995-2011) biodiversity survey of four emergent coral reef ecosystems in Bahia, Brazil, to assess the impact of a major El Niño event on the reef fauna, and determine any subsequent recovery. The densities of two species of coral, Favia gravida and Siderastrea stellata, did not vary significantly across the survey period, indicating a high degree of tolerance to the El Niño associ

SUBMITTER: Kelmo F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3968116 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature