Re-evaluating the health of coral reef communities: baselines and evidence for human impacts across the central Pacific.

ABSTRACT: Numerous studies have documented declines in the abundance of reef-building corals over the last several decades and in some but not all cases, phase shifts to dominance by macroalgae have occurred. These assessments, however, often ignore the remainder of the benthos and thus provide limited information on the present-day structure and function of coral reef communities. Here, using an unprecedentedly large dataset collected within the last 10 years across 56 islands spanning five archipelagos in the central Pacific, we examine how benthic reef communities differ in the presence and absence of human populations. Using islands as replicates, we examine whether benthic community structure is associated with human habitation within and among archipelagos and across latitude. While there was

SUBMITTER: Smith JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4721084 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature