Coral Reef Resilience in Taiwan: Lessons from Long-Term Ecological Research on the Coral Reefs of Kenting National Park (Taiwan)
Coral reefs in the Anthropocene are being subjected to unprecedented levels of stressors, including local disturbances—such as overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution—and large-scale destruction related to the global impacts of climate change—such as typhoons an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/7/11/388 |
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| author | Shashank Keshavmurthy Chao-Yang Kuo Ya-Yi Huang Rodrigo Carballo-Bolaños Pei-Jei Meng Jih-Terng Wang Chaolun Allen Chen |
| author_facet | Shashank Keshavmurthy Chao-Yang Kuo Ya-Yi Huang Rodrigo Carballo-Bolaños Pei-Jei Meng Jih-Terng Wang Chaolun Allen Chen |
| author_sort | Shashank Keshavmurthy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coral reefs in the Anthropocene are being subjected to unprecedented levels of stressors, including local disturbances—such as overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution—and large-scale destruction related to the global impacts of climate change—such as typhoons and coral bleaching. Thus, the future of corals and coral reefs in any given community and coral-Symbiodiniaceae associations over time will depend on their level of resilience, from individual corals to entire ecosystems. Herein we review the environmental settings and long-term ecological research on coral reefs, based on both coral resilience and space, in Kenting National Park (KNP), Hengchun Peninsula, southern Taiwan, wherein fringing reefs have developed along the coast of both capes and a semi-closed bay, known as Nanwan, within the peninsula. These reefs are influenced by a branch of Kuroshio Current, the monsoon-induced South China Sea Surface Current, and a tide-induced upwelling that not only shapes coral communities, but also reduces the seawater temperature and creates fluctuating thermal environments which over time have favoured thermal-resistant corals, particularly those corals close to the thermal effluent of a nuclear power plant in the west Nanwan. Although living coral cover (LCC) has fluctuated through time in concordance with major typhoons and coral bleaching between 1986 and 2019, spatial heterogeneity in LCC recovery has been detected, suggesting that coral reef resilience is variable among subregions in KNP. In addition, corals exposed to progressively warmer and fluctuating thermal environments show not only a dominance of associated, thermally-tolerant <i>Durusdinium</i><i> </i>spp. but also the ability to shuffle their symbiont communities in response to seasonal variations in seawater temperature without bleaching. We demonstrate that coral reefs in a small geographical range with unique environmental settings and ecological characteristics, such as the KNP reef, may be resilient to bleaching and deserve novel conservation efforts. Thus, this review calls for conservation efforts that use resilience-based management programs to reduce local stresses and meet the challenge of climate change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T22:32:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6dbf3fca247f4524a9c43b2278ba47fc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1312 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T22:32:51Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
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| series | Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-6dbf3fca247f4524a9c43b2278ba47fc2022-12-21T18:10:23ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122019-10-0171138810.3390/jmse7110388jmse7110388Coral Reef Resilience in Taiwan: Lessons from Long-Term Ecological Research on the Coral Reefs of Kenting National Park (Taiwan)Shashank Keshavmurthy0Chao-Yang Kuo1Ya-Yi Huang2Rodrigo Carballo-Bolaños3Pei-Jei Meng4Jih-Terng Wang5Chaolun Allen Chen6Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, TaiwanBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, TaiwanBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, TaiwanBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, TaiwanNational Museum of Marine Biology/Aquarium, Pintung 94450, TaiwanDepartment of Biotechnology, Tajen University, Pingtung 90741, TaiwanBiodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, TaiwanCoral reefs in the Anthropocene are being subjected to unprecedented levels of stressors, including local disturbances—such as overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution—and large-scale destruction related to the global impacts of climate change—such as typhoons and coral bleaching. Thus, the future of corals and coral reefs in any given community and coral-Symbiodiniaceae associations over time will depend on their level of resilience, from individual corals to entire ecosystems. Herein we review the environmental settings and long-term ecological research on coral reefs, based on both coral resilience and space, in Kenting National Park (KNP), Hengchun Peninsula, southern Taiwan, wherein fringing reefs have developed along the coast of both capes and a semi-closed bay, known as Nanwan, within the peninsula. These reefs are influenced by a branch of Kuroshio Current, the monsoon-induced South China Sea Surface Current, and a tide-induced upwelling that not only shapes coral communities, but also reduces the seawater temperature and creates fluctuating thermal environments which over time have favoured thermal-resistant corals, particularly those corals close to the thermal effluent of a nuclear power plant in the west Nanwan. Although living coral cover (LCC) has fluctuated through time in concordance with major typhoons and coral bleaching between 1986 and 2019, spatial heterogeneity in LCC recovery has been detected, suggesting that coral reef resilience is variable among subregions in KNP. In addition, corals exposed to progressively warmer and fluctuating thermal environments show not only a dominance of associated, thermally-tolerant <i>Durusdinium</i><i> </i>spp. but also the ability to shuffle their symbiont communities in response to seasonal variations in seawater temperature without bleaching. We demonstrate that coral reefs in a small geographical range with unique environmental settings and ecological characteristics, such as the KNP reef, may be resilient to bleaching and deserve novel conservation efforts. Thus, this review calls for conservation efforts that use resilience-based management programs to reduce local stresses and meet the challenge of climate change.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/7/11/388taiwancoral reefmarine national parknuclear power plantcommunity dynamicssymbiodiniaceaelong-term ecological data |
| spellingShingle | Shashank Keshavmurthy Chao-Yang Kuo Ya-Yi Huang Rodrigo Carballo-Bolaños Pei-Jei Meng Jih-Terng Wang Chaolun Allen Chen Coral Reef Resilience in Taiwan: Lessons from Long-Term Ecological Research on the Coral Reefs of Kenting National Park (Taiwan) Journal of Marine Science and Engineering taiwan coral reef marine national park nuclear power plant community dynamics symbiodiniaceae long-term ecological data |
| title | Coral Reef Resilience in Taiwan: Lessons from Long-Term Ecological Research on the Coral Reefs of Kenting National Park (Taiwan) |
| title_full | Coral Reef Resilience in Taiwan: Lessons from Long-Term Ecological Research on the Coral Reefs of Kenting National Park (Taiwan) |
| title_fullStr | Coral Reef Resilience in Taiwan: Lessons from Long-Term Ecological Research on the Coral Reefs of Kenting National Park (Taiwan) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coral Reef Resilience in Taiwan: Lessons from Long-Term Ecological Research on the Coral Reefs of Kenting National Park (Taiwan) |
| title_short | Coral Reef Resilience in Taiwan: Lessons from Long-Term Ecological Research on the Coral Reefs of Kenting National Park (Taiwan) |
| title_sort | coral reef resilience in taiwan lessons from long term ecological research on the coral reefs of kenting national park taiwan |
| topic | taiwan coral reef marine national park nuclear power plant community dynamics symbiodiniaceae long-term ecological data |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/7/11/388 |
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