Burn, Deborah, Hoey, Andrew S., Pisapia, Chiara, Chandler, Josie F., Thompson, Cassandra A., and Pratchett, Morgan S. (2024) Comparison of juvenile coral assemblages between Australia’s Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks. Coral Reefs, 43. pp. 1331-1343.

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Abstract

Densities of juvenile corals (≤ 50 mm diameter) are expected to vary between geographically isolated and more spatially proximate reefs, and may constrain local recovery potential. This study compared juvenile coral densities and their relationships with local abundance of adult congenerics at geographically isolated reefs within Australia’s Coral Sea Marine Park (CSMP) versus highly connected reefs within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP). Three latitudinal regions and two habitats (reef crest and slope) were examined within both marine parks to test for spatial variation. Densities of juvenile corals in the CSMP (13.99 ± 0.72 juveniles 10 m−2) were significantly lower compared to those in the GBRMP (23.72 ± 1.86 juveniles 10 m−2). Specifically, there were significantly less Acropora and Pocillopora juveniles on the reef crest in the central CSMP compared to the GBRMP. Relationships between juvenile abundance and percent coral cover were greatest for Acropora and Pocillopora in the GBRMP. This may be due to the low range of coral cover estimates recorded in the CSMP, especially for Acropora (0–15%). Low juvenile coral abundance, and in particular, the lack of fast-growing juvenile corals (e.g., Acropora) in the Central CSMP, in combination with low cover of broodstock (particularly Acropora) on CSMP reefs, poses a significant constraint on post-disturbance recovery capacity, possibly attributable to isolation and limited connectivity among reefs in this region.

Item ID:	85371
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-0975
Copyright Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC CE140100020
Date Deposited:	07 May 2025 00:33
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