Cycles of coral reef 'turn-on', rapid growth and 'turn-off' over the past 8500 years: a context for understanding modern ecological states and trajectories

Perry, Chris T., and Smithers, Scott G. (2011) Cycles of coral reef 'turn-on', rapid growth and 'turn-off' over the past 8500 years: a context for understanding modern ecological states and trajectories. Global Change Biology, 17 (1). pp. 76-86.

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Abstract

Human activities threaten reef ecosystems globally, forcing ecological change at rates and scales regarded as unprecedented in the Holocene. These changes are so profound that a cessation of reef accretion (reef 'turn-off') and net erosion of reef structures is argued by many as the ultimate and imminent trajectory. Here, we use a regional scale reef growth dataset, based on 76 core records (constrained by 211 radiometric dates) from 22 reefs along and across the inner-shelf of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, to examine the timing of different phases of reef initiation ('turn-on'), growth and 'turn-off' during the Holocene. This dataset delineates two temporally discrete episodes of reef-building over the last 8500 years: the first associated with the Holocene transgression-early highstand period [∼8.5–5.5 k calibrated years bp (cal ybp)]; the second since ∼2.3 k cal ybp. During both periods, reefs accreted rapidly to sea level before entering late evolutionary states – states naturally characterized by reduced coral cover and low accretion potential – and a clear hiatus occurs between these reef-building episodes for which no records of reef initiation exist. These transitions mimic those projected under current environmental disturbance regimes, but have been driven entirely by natural forcing factors. Our results demonstrate that, even through the late Holocene, reef health and growth has fluctuated through cycles independent of anthropogenic forcing. Consequently, degraded reef states cannot de facto be considered to automatically reflect increased anthropogenic stress. Indeed, in many cases degraded or nonaccreting reef communities may reflect past reef growth histories (as dictated by reef growth–sea level interactions) as much as contemporary environmental change. Recognizing when changes in reef condition reflect these natural 'turn-on'– growth –'turn-off' cycles and how they interact with on-going human disturbance is critical for effective coral reef management and for understanding future reef ecological trajectories.

Item ID: 20842
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1365-2486
Keywords: great barrier reef geomorphology climate change environmental change palaeoecology coral reef growth physical geography marine environmental geosciences
Date Deposited: 13 Mar 2012 02:55
FoR Codes: 04 EARTH SCIENCES > 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience > 040699 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience not elsewhere classified @ 60%
04 EARTH SCIENCES > 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience > 040606 Quaternary Environments @ 40%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960506 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Fresh, Ground and Surface Water Environments @ 50%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960502 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Environments @ 50%
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