Dietzel, Andreas, Bode, Michael, Connolly, Sean R., and Hughes, Terry P. (2022) Reply to: Conclusions of low extinction risk for most species of reef-building corals are premature. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 6 (4). pp. 359-360.

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Abstract

[Extract] Our study revealed that approximately half a trillion corals inhabit three reef habitats across the Pacific biodiversity gradient, similar to the number of trees in the Amazon. We documented a five-orders-of-magnitude spectrum of commonness and rarity among species, and showed that the existing Red List assessments for 80 of these species3 are poorly correlated with their abundances. We found, for example, that many of the coral species listed at present as being the most vulnerable to global extinction are also numerically hyperabundant and geographically widespread. Conversely, many species that we found to be rare, are nonetheless not currently considered to be at risk. The purpose of our study was not to create a new Red List assessment of corals but rather to argue that, on the basis of the poor correspondence between abundances in our surveys and the current Red List classifications, a major revision to the Red List is needed.

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