Supporting resilience-based coral reef management using broadscale threshold approaches
Burt, April J., Koester, Anna, Bunbury, Nancy, Haupt, Philip, Walton, Rowana, Fleischer-Dogley, Frauke, and Chong-Seng, Karen M. (2025) Supporting resilience-based coral reef management using broadscale threshold approaches. Scientific Reports, 15 (1). 25836.
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Abstract
Resilience-Based Management of coral reefs aims to maintain ecosystem function and maximise resilience. This requires identification of resilience indicators and clear ecological reference thresholds for reef managers to maintain or aim for. In the absence of local thresholds, managers can assess reef condition by comparing locally collected indicator data to broadscale thresholds, which account for spatial and temporal variability. This study assesses reef condition at Aldabra Atoll, a remote MPA in the western Indian Ocean, relative to broadscale thresholds for structural complexity, fish biomass, herbivore biomass, juvenile coral density, and trophic-level fish biomass. Results were synthesized into a resilience index, and sites were classified into ‘management strategies’ using a published reef management framework. Resilience scores were then compared to observe coral cover changes following the 2016 bleaching event, tracking recovery through to 2022. Findings showed that seven of the eight assessed seaward reefs at Aldabra displayed the resilience expected of a remote, well-managed marine reserve. The research station and associated human activity appeared to have minimal negative impacts on reef resilience. We recommend expanding the range of broadscale threshold categories and integrating site-specific factors to improve future assessments and management decisions.
| Item ID: | 87729 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
| Keywords: | Coral bleaching, Coral reef conservation, Coral reef recovery, Ecological thresholds, Resilience indicators, UNESCO world heritage |
| Copyright Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. 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. |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Feb 2026 05:33 |
| FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180504 Marine biodiversity @ 100% |
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