DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.10.007
论文题名: Multi-scale records of reef development and condition provide context for contemporary changes on inshore reefs
作者: Ryan E.J. ; Lewis S.E. ; Smithers S.G. ; Clark T.R. ; Zhao J.-X.
刊名: Global and Planetary Change
ISSN: 0921-8181
出版年: 2016
卷: 146 起始页码: 162
结束页码: 178
语种: 英语
英文关键词: Chronostratigraphy
; Great Barrier Reef
; Middle Island
; Reef cores
; Stone Island
; U-Th dating
Scopus关键词: Catchments
; Photography
; Chronostratigraphy
; Great Barrier Reef
; Middle Island
; Photographic comparison
; Quantitative assessments
; Sedimentological analysis
; Stone Island
; Structural diversity
; Reefs
; Anthozoa
英文摘要: Comparisons between historical and contemporary photographs of coral reef flats from the inshore Great Barrier Reef (GBR) have been cited by various authors and agencies as evidence of reef degradation since European settlement and have been presented as proof of widespread reef decline. The diminished condition is inferred from reduced live coral cover and structural diversity depicted in the contemporary photographs. Anthropogenic causes for this deterioration are most often proposed, usually because it is argued to have coincided with modifications to coastal catchments by European settlers. However, changes in reef condition inferred from photographic comparisons have rarely been verified against quantitative assessments of reef geomorphic state or current reef status. Photographs taken in the late 1800s of the reef flat at Stone Island, located in Edgecumbe Bay in the inshore central GBR, have been compared by others with more recent images to interpret significant reductions in coral cover and diversity over the past 120 or so years. We examined the internal structure of fringing reefs at two locations on Stone Island by collecting 14 percussion cores across the reef flats. Sedimentological analyses coupled with uranium-thorium dating allowed for the reconstruction of reef development over the past ~ 7000 years. Both reefs at Stone Island initiated prior to 7000 calendar years before present (yBP, where present is 1950 AD) and both reef flats were almost entirely emplaced by 4000 yBP. Surveys of the benthic ecology of reefs at Stone Island and at Middle Island, also in Edgecumbe Bay, indicate that coral cover and diversity across reef flats and slopes was patchy and varied spatially within each location and throughout the region. Live coral cover on the Middle Island reef flat reached an average (± 1σ standard deviation) of 63.1 ± 20.2%. This was much higher than the live coral cover on Stone Island reef flats, where only a few small living coral colonies were recorded. We evaluate the use of photographic records from Stone Island to depict regional changes in reef condition by comparing the trends in reef condition determined from photographic records with underlying reef geomorphic state reconstructed from reef cores. We conclude that inferred changes in reef condition at Stone Island are localised and should not be used as evidence of widespread regional decline on the GBR. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. URL: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84992093068&doi=10.1016%2fj.gloplacha.2016.10.007&partnerID=40&md5=fd28755dc967d7ff333aee6691aa5efd
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资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/11608
Appears in Collections: 全球变化的国际研究计划 气候变化与战略
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作者单位: College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
Recommended Citation:
Ryan E.J.,Lewis S.E.,Smithers S.G.,et al. Multi-scale records of reef development and condition provide context for contemporary changes on inshore reefs[J]. Global and Planetary Change,2016-01-01,146.