Spatial and temporal limits of coral-macroalgal competition: the negative impacts of macroalgal density, proximity, and history of contact.

ABSTRACT: Tropical reefs are commonly transitioning from coral- to macroalgal-dominance, producing abrupt, and often lasting, shifts in community composition and ecosystem function. Although negative effects of macroalgae on corals are well documented, whether such effects vary with spatial scale or the density of macroalgae remains inadequately understood, as does the legacy of their impact on coral growth. Using closely adjacent coral- versus macroalgal-dominated areas, we tested effects of macroalgal competition on the Indo-Pacific corals Acropora millepora and Porites cylindrica. When corals were transplanted to areas of: i) macroalgal-dominance, ii) macroalgal-dominance but with nearby macroalgae removed, or iii) coral-dominance lacking macroalgae, coral growt

SUBMITTER: Clements CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6261525 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature