Depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote Central Indian Ocean reefs
Coral reefs are increasingly impacted by climate-induced warming events. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the variation in the response of shallow coral reef communities to thermal stress across depths. Here, we assess depth-dependent changes in coral reef benthic communities followin...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231246 |
| _version_ | 1797242765169393664 |
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| author | Sivajyodee Sannassy Pilly Ronan C. Roche Laura E. Richardson John R. Turner |
| author_facet | Sivajyodee Sannassy Pilly Ronan C. Roche Laura E. Richardson John R. Turner |
| author_sort | Sivajyodee Sannassy Pilly |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coral reefs are increasingly impacted by climate-induced warming events. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the variation in the response of shallow coral reef communities to thermal stress across depths. Here, we assess depth-dependent changes in coral reef benthic communities following successive marine heatwaves from 2015 to 2017 across a 5–25 m depth gradient in the remote Chagos Archipelago, Central Indian Ocean. Our analyses show an overall decline in hard and soft coral cover and an increase in crustose coralline algae, sponge and reef pavement following successive marine heatwaves on the remote reef system. Our findings indicate that the changes in benthic communities in response to elevated seawater temperatures varied across depths. We found greater changes in benthic group cover at shallow depths (5–15 m) compared with deeper zones (15–25 m). The loss of hard coral cover was better predicted by initial thermal stress, while the loss of soft coral was associated with repeated thermal stress following successive warming events. Our study shows that benthic communities extending to 25 m depth were impacted by successive marine heatwaves, supporting concerns about the resilience of shallow coral reef communities to increasingly severe climate-driven warming events. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:44:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9bd823d2875e4dad856042a3e4635de8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:44:25Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-9bd823d2875e4dad856042a3e4635de82024-03-27T08:05:35ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032024-03-0111310.1098/rsos.231246Depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote Central Indian Ocean reefsSivajyodee Sannassy Pilly0Ronan C. Roche1Laura E. Richardson2John R. Turner3School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University , Bangor LL59 5AB, UKSchool of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University , Bangor LL59 5AB, UKSchool of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University , Bangor LL59 5AB, UKSchool of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University , Bangor LL59 5AB, UKCoral reefs are increasingly impacted by climate-induced warming events. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the variation in the response of shallow coral reef communities to thermal stress across depths. Here, we assess depth-dependent changes in coral reef benthic communities following successive marine heatwaves from 2015 to 2017 across a 5–25 m depth gradient in the remote Chagos Archipelago, Central Indian Ocean. Our analyses show an overall decline in hard and soft coral cover and an increase in crustose coralline algae, sponge and reef pavement following successive marine heatwaves on the remote reef system. Our findings indicate that the changes in benthic communities in response to elevated seawater temperatures varied across depths. We found greater changes in benthic group cover at shallow depths (5–15 m) compared with deeper zones (15–25 m). The loss of hard coral cover was better predicted by initial thermal stress, while the loss of soft coral was associated with repeated thermal stress following successive warming events. Our study shows that benthic communities extending to 25 m depth were impacted by successive marine heatwaves, supporting concerns about the resilience of shallow coral reef communities to increasingly severe climate-driven warming events.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231246climate-induced thermal stressmarine heatwavesdepth zonationbenthic communitiesshallow coral reefsremote reef systems |
| spellingShingle | Sivajyodee Sannassy Pilly Ronan C. Roche Laura E. Richardson John R. Turner Depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote Central Indian Ocean reefs Royal Society Open Science climate-induced thermal stress marine heatwaves depth zonation benthic communities shallow coral reefs remote reef systems |
| title | Depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote Central Indian Ocean reefs |
| title_full | Depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote Central Indian Ocean reefs |
| title_fullStr | Depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote Central Indian Ocean reefs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote Central Indian Ocean reefs |
| title_short | Depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote Central Indian Ocean reefs |
| title_sort | depth variation in benthic community response to repeated marine heatwaves on remote central indian ocean reefs |
| topic | climate-induced thermal stress marine heatwaves depth zonation benthic communities shallow coral reefs remote reef systems |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231246 |
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