Transitions in coral reef accretion rates linked to intrinsic ecological shifts on turbid-zone nearshore reefs

Morgan, Kyle M., Perry, Chris T., Smithers, Scott G., Johnson, Jamie A., and Gulliver, Pauline (2016) Transitions in coral reef accretion rates linked to intrinsic ecological shifts on turbid-zone nearshore reefs. Geology, 44 (12). pp. 995-998.

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Abstract

Nearshore coral communities within turbid settings are typically perceived to have limited reef-building capacity. However, several recent studies have reported reef growth over millennial time scales within such environments and have hypothesized that depth-variable community assemblages may act as equally important controls on reef growth as they do in clear-water settings. Here, we explicitly test this idea using a newly compiled chronostratigraphic record (31 cores, 142 radiometric dates) from seven proximal (but discrete) nearshore coral reefs located along the central Great Barrier Reef (Australia). Uniquely, these reefs span distinct stages of geomorphological maturity, as reflected in their elevations below sea level. Integrated age-depth and ecological data sets indicate that contemporary coral assemblage shifts, associated with changing light availability and wave exposure as reefs shallowed, coincided with transitions in accretion rates at equivalent core depths. Reef initiation followed a regional similar to 1 m drop in sea level (1200-800 calibrated yr B.P.) which would have lowered the photic floor and exposed new substrate for coral recruitment by winnowing away fine seafloor sediments. We propose that a two-way feedback mechanism exists where past growth history influences current reef morphology and ecology, ultimately driving future reef accumulation and morphological change. These findings provide the first empirical evidence that nearshore reef growth trajectories are intrinsically driven by changes in coral community structure as reefs move toward sea level, a finding of direct significance for predicting the impacts of extrinsically driven ecological change (e.g., coral-algal phase shifts) on reef growth potential within the wider coastal zone on the Great Barrier Reef.

Item ID: 47480
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1943-2682
Additional Information:

Gold Open Access: This paper is published under the terms of the CC-BY license.

Funders: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Projects and Grants: NERC grant NE/J023329/1, NERC Radiocarbon Dating Allocation 1727.1013, NERC Radiocarbon Dating Allocation 1838.1014
Date Deposited: 01 Mar 2017 07:31
FoR Codes: 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4102 Ecological applications > 410299 Ecological applications not elsewhere classified @ 60%
31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 40%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960507 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments @ 100%
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