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Trait-based approach reveals how marginal reefs respond to acute and chronic disturbance

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Abstract

Ecosystems worldwide are becoming increasingly altered by environmental stress, yet little is known about how acute disturbances affect ecological communities that already persist under chronically stressful environmental conditions. Here, we use a trait-based approach to understand the effects of repeated flooding on the subtropical reefs of Hervey Bay, Australia (25˚ South) that are considered marginal both in terms of their chronically turbid and high-latitude settings. We quantify variation in taxonomic and functional composition of coral assemblages along spatial gradients of water quality, before and after three flooding events of the Mary River between 2010 and 2013. We demonstrate systematic variation in taxonomic and functional composition along distance from shore and rivers and show remarkable stability of patterns over the course of repeated flooding. This is likely because the reefs of Hervey Bay are regularly exposed to resuspension of sediments, limiting the types of species that are able to persist in these chronically turbid settings, with flood events reinforcing the longer-term stress regime. Greater similarity of co-occurring species on nearshore reefs than expected by chance also supports this hypothesis. Corallite size, coral morphology, the ability to remove sediment, and propagule development rate best explained variation in coral assemblage structure. Specifically, reefs closer to shore and to rivers were characterised by species with large corallites, high sediment removal ability and foliose morphology, strategies considered beneficial in turbid conditions. Among individual traits, symbiont transmission best explained variation in assemblage structure, and it is plausible that the acquisition of locally adapted symbionts from the environment is advantageous in the turbid and light-limited conditions of nearshore reefs. These findings highlight the importance of tolerance to turbidity and sedimentation in driving coral biodiversity patterns in Hervey Bay, with acute flooding reinforcing the long-term stress regime that controls the distribution of species on these marginal reefs.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support and funding from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CE0561435 and CE140100020), The University of Queensland, the National Environmental Research Program Tropical Ecosystems Hub Project 1.3, the Burnett Mary Regional Group and Reef Check Australia and The University of Sydney. We gratefully acknowledge generous field support from the staff of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife, Great Sandy Region, Hervey Bay, Queensland. Thanks also for field support from Tyson Martin, Andrew Olds, and Maria Beger.

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  1. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    B. Sommer

  2. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    I. R. Butler & J. M. Pandolfi

  3. CoraLogic Environmental Consulting, Cook ACT, 2614, Australia

    I. R. Butler

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Sommer, B., Butler, I.R. & Pandolfi, J.M. Trait-based approach reveals how marginal reefs respond to acute and chronic disturbance. Coral Reefs 40, 735–749 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02077-y

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