期刊
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
卷 282, 期 1814, 页码 221-229出版社
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0714
关键词
coral reef; Fiji; indirect interaction; facilitation; macroalgae
资金
- NSF [OCE- 0929119]
- NIH ICBG grants [U01-TW007401, U19TW007401]
- Teasley Endowment to Georgia Tech
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [0929119] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Indirect biotic effects arising from multispedes interactions can alter the structure and function of ecological communities-often in surprising ways that can vary in direction and magnitude. On Pacific coral reefs, predation by the crown-of-thorns sea star, Acanthaster planci, is associated with broad-scale losses of coral cover and increases of macroalgal cover. Macroalgal blooms increase coral macroalgal competition and can generate further coral decline. However, using a combination of manipulative field experiments and observations, we demonstrate that macroalgae, such as Sargassum polycystum, produce associational refuges for corals and dramatically reduce their consumption by Acanthaster. Thus, as Acanthaster densities increase, macroalgae can become coral mutualists, despite being competitors that significantly suppress coral growth. Field feeding experiments revealed that the protective effects of macroalgae were strong enough to cause Acanthaster to consume low-preference corals instead of high-preference corals surrounded by macroalgae. This highlights the context-dependent nature of coral-algal interactions when consumers are common. Macroalgal creation of associational refuges from Acanthaster predation may have important implications for the structure, function and resilience of reef communities subject to an increasing number of biotic disturbances.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据