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Morais J, Tebbett SB, Morais RA, Bellwood DR. Natural recovery of corals after severe disturbance. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14332. [PMID: 37850584 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
Ecosystem recovery from human-induced disturbances, whether through natural processes or restoration, is occurring worldwide. Yet, recovery dynamics, and their implications for broader ecosystem management, remain unclear. We explored recovery dynamics using coral reefs as a case study. We tracked the fate of 809 individual coral recruits that settled after a severe bleaching event at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef. Recruited Acropora corals, first detected in 2020, grew to coral cover levels that were equivalent to global average coral cover within just 2 years. Furthermore, we found that just 11.5 Acropora recruits per square meter were sufficient to reach this cover within 2 years. However, wave exposure, growth form and colony density had a marked effect on recovery rates. Our results underscore the importance of considering natural recovery in management and restoration and highlight how lessons learnt from reef recovery can inform our understanding of recovery dynamics in high-diversity climate-disturbed ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliano Morais
- Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
| | - Sterling B Tebbett
- Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
| | - Renato A Morais
- Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
- Paris Sciences et Lettres Université, École Pratique des Hautes Études, EPHE-UPVD-CNRS, UAR 3278 CRIOBE, University of Perpignan, Perpignan, France
| | - David R Bellwood
- Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
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Yang JR, Lv H, Isabwe A, Liu L, Yu X, Chen H, Yang J. Disturbance-induced phytoplankton regime shifts and recovery of cyanobacteria dominance in two subtropical reservoirs. WATER RESEARCH 2017; 120:52-63. [PMID: 28478295 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.04.062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2016] [Revised: 04/19/2017] [Accepted: 04/25/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Many countries in the world still suffer from high toxic cyanobacterial blooms in inland waters used for human consumption. Regional climate change and human activities within watersheds exert a complex and diverse influence on aquatic ecosystem structure and function across space and time. However, the degree to which these factors may contribute to the long-term dynamics of plankton communities is still not well understood. Here, we explore the impacts of multiple disturbance events (e.g. human-resettlement, temperature change, rainfall, water level fluctuations), including six combined disturbances, on phytoplankton and cyanobacteria in two subtropical reservoirs over six years. Our data showed that combined environmental disturbances triggered two apparent and abrupt switches between cyanobacteria-dominated state and non-cyanobacterial taxa-dominated state. In late 2010, the combined effect of human-resettlement (emigration) and natural disturbances (e.g. cooling, rainfall, water level fluctuations) lead to a 60-90% decrease in cyanobacteria biomass accompanied by the disappearance of cyanobacterial blooms, in tandem with an abrupt and persistent shift in phytoplankton community. After summer 2014, however, combined weather and hydrological disturbances (e.g. warming, rainfall, water level fluctuations) occurred leading to an abrupt and marked increase of cyanobacteria biomass, associated with a return to cyanobacteria dominance. These changes in phytoplankton community were strongly related to the nutrient concentrations and water level fluctuations, as well as water temperature and rainfall. As both extreme weather events and human disturbances are predicted to become more frequent and severe during the twenty-first century, prudent sustainable management will require consideration of the background limnologic conditions and the frequency of disturbance events when assessing the potential impacts on reservoir biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun R Yang
- Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 361021, Xiamen, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
| | - Hong Lv
- Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 361021, Xiamen, China
| | - Alain Isabwe
- Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 361021, Xiamen, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
| | - Lemian Liu
- Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 361021, Xiamen, China
| | - Xiaoqing Yu
- Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 361021, Xiamen, China
| | - Huihuang Chen
- Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 361021, Xiamen, China
| | - Jun Yang
- Aquatic Ecohealth Group, Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 361021, Xiamen, China.
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Timpane-Padgham BL, Beechie T, Klinger T. A systematic review of ecological attributes that confer resilience to climate change in environmental restoration. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0173812. [PMID: 28301560 PMCID: PMC5354378 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2016] [Accepted: 02/26/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological restoration is widely practiced as a means of rehabilitating ecosystems and habitats that have been degraded or impaired through human use or other causes. Restoration practices now are confronted by climate change, which has the potential to influence long-term restoration outcomes. Concepts and attributes from the resilience literature can help improve restoration and monitoring efforts under changing climate conditions. We systematically examined the published literature on ecological resilience to identify biological, chemical, and physical attributes that confer resilience to climate change. We identified 45 attributes explicitly related to climate change and classified them as individual- (9), population- (6), community- (7), ecosystem- (7), or process-level attributes (16). Individual studies defined resilience as resistance to change or recovery from disturbance, and only a few studies explicitly included both concepts in their definition of resilience. We found that individual and population attributes generally are suited to species- or habitat-specific restoration actions and applicable at the population scale. Community attributes are better suited to habitat-specific restoration at the site scale, or system-wide restoration at the ecosystem scale. Ecosystem and process attributes vary considerably in their type and applicability. We summarize these relationships in a decision support table and provide three example applications to illustrate how these classifications can be used to prioritize climate change resilience attributes for specific restoration actions. We suggest that (1) including resilience as an explicit planning objective could increase the success of restoration projects, (2) considering the ecological context and focal scale of a restoration action is essential in choosing appropriate resilience attributes, and (3) certain ecological attributes, such as diversity and connectivity, are more commonly considered to confer resilience because they apply to a wide variety of species and ecosystems. We propose that identifying sources of ecological resilience is a critical step in restoring ecosystems in a changing climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britta L. Timpane-Padgham
- School for Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- Ocean Associates Inc., under contract to Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Services, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Tim Beechie
- Fish Ecology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Terrie Klinger
- School for Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
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Stevenson MA, McGowan S, Anderson NJ, Foy RH, Leavitt PR, McElarney YR, Engstrom DR, Pla-Rabés S. Impacts of forestry planting on primary production in upland lakes from north-west Ireland. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2016; 22:1490-1504. [PMID: 26666434 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2015] [Revised: 11/25/2015] [Accepted: 12/04/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Planted forests are increasing in many upland regions worldwide, but knowledge about their potential effects on algal communities of catchment lakes is relatively unknown. Here, the effects of afforestation were investigated using palaeolimnology at six upland lake sites in the north-west of Ireland subject to different extents of forest plantation cover (4-64% of catchment area). (210)Pb-dated sediment cores were analysed for carotenoid pigments from algae, stable isotopes of bulk carbon (δ(13)C) and nitrogen (δ(15)N), and C/N ratios. In lakes with >50% of their catchment area covered by plantations, there were two- to sixfold increases in pigments from cryptophytes (alloxanthin) and significant but lower increases (39-116%) in those from colonial cyanobacteria (canthaxanthin), but no response from biomarkers of total algal abundance (β-carotene). In contrast, lakes in catchments with <20% afforestation exhibited no consistent response to forestry practices, although all lakes exhibited fluctuations in pigments and geochemical variables due to peat cutting and upland grazing prior to forest plantation. Taken together, patterns suggest that increases in cyanobacteria and cryptophyte abundance reflect a combination of mineral and nutrient enrichment associated with forest fertilization and organic matter influx which may have facilitated growth of mixotrophic taxa. This study demonstrates that planted forests can alter the abundance and community structure of algae in upland humic lakes of Ireland and Northern Ireland, despite long histories of prior catchment disturbance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark A Stevenson
- School of Geography, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Suzanne McGowan
- School of Geography, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
- School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
| | - N John Anderson
- Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK
| | - Robert H Foy
- School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 7BL, UK
| | - Peter R Leavitt
- Limnology Laboratory, Biology Department, University of Regina, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada
- Institute of Environmental Change and Society, University of Regina, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada
| | - Yvonne R McElarney
- Agri-Environment Branch, Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute, Newforge Lane, Belfast, BT9 5PX, UK
| | - Daniel R Engstrom
- St. Croix Watershed Research Station, Science Museum of Minnesota, Marine on St. Croix, MN, 55047, USA
| | - Sergi Pla-Rabés
- Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK
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Jochimsen MC, Kümmerlin R, Straile D. Compensatory dynamics and the stability of phytoplankton biomass during four decades of eutrophication and oligotrophication. Ecol Lett 2012; 16:81-9. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2012] [Revised: 06/05/2012] [Accepted: 09/18/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marc C. Jochimsen
- Limnological Institute; University of Konstanz; Konstanz; 78464; Germany
| | | | - Dietmar Straile
- Limnological Institute; University of Konstanz; Konstanz; 78464; Germany
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O'Reilly J, Vintró LL, Mitchell PI, Donohue I, Leira M, Hobbs W, Irvine K. 210Pb-dating of a lake sediment core from Lough Carra (Co. Mayo, western Ireland): use of paleolimnological data for chronology validation below the 210Pb dating horizon. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY 2011; 102:495-499. [PMID: 20947225 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2010.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2010] [Revised: 08/27/2010] [Accepted: 09/16/2010] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
The chronologies and sediment accumulation rates for a lake sediment sequence from Lough Carra (Co. Mayo, western Ireland) were established by applying the constant initial concentration (CIC) and constant rate of supply (CRS) hypotheses to the measured (210)Pb(excess) profile. The resulting chronologies were validated using the artificial fallout radionuclides (137)Cs and (241)Am, which provide independent chronostratigraphic markers for the second half of the 20th century. The validity of extrapolating the derived CIC and CRS dates below the (210)Pb dating horizon using average sedimentation rates was investigated using supplementary paleolimnological information and historical data. Our data confirm that such an extrapolation is well justified at sites characterised by relatively stable sedimentation conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- J O'Reilly
- UCD School of Physics, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
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