Despite widespread climate-driven reductions of coral cover on tropical reefs, little attention has been paid to the possibility that changes in the geographic distribution of coral recruitment could facilitate beneficial responses to the changing climate through latitudinal range shifts. To address this possibility, we compiled a global database of normalized densities of coral recruits on settlement tiles (corals m(-2)) deployed from 1974 to 2012, and used the data therein to test for latitudinal range shifts in the distribution of coral recruits. In total, 92 studies provided 1253 records of coral recruitment, with 77 % originating from settlement tiles immersed for 3-24 mo, herein defined as long-immersion tiles (LITs); the limited temporal and geographic coverage of data from short-immersion tiles (SITs; deployed for <3 mo) made them less suitable for the present purpose. The results from LITs show declines in coral recruitment, on a global scale (i.e. 82% from 1974 to 2012) and throughout the tropics (85% reduction at <20 degrees latitude), and increases in the sub-tropics (78% increase at >20 degrees latitude). These trends indicate that a global decline in coral recruitment has occurred since 1974, and the persistent reduction in the densities of recruits in equatorial latitudes, coupled with increased densities in sub-tropical latitudes, suggests that coral recruitment may be shifting poleward.
1.Bigelow Lab Ocean Sci, East Boothbay, ME 04544 USA 2.Nagasaki Univ, Grad Sch Fisheries Sci & Environm Studies, Nagasaki 8528521, Japan 3.Sorbonne Univ, Lab & Oceanog Villefranche, CNRS, F-06230 Villefranche Sur Mer, France 4.Univ Maine, Darling Marine Ctr, Sch Marine Sci, Walpole, ME 04353 USA 5.Australian Inst Marine Sci, PMB 3, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia 6.Univ Melbourne, Sch BioSci, Parkville, Vic 3010, Australia 7.Carnegie Inst Sci, Dept Global Ecol, Stanford, CA 94305 USA 8.Chinese Univ Hong Kong, Sch Life Sci, Marine Sci Lab, Shatin, Hong Kong, Peoples R China 9.Calif State Univ Northridge, Dept Biol, Northridge, CA 91330 USA 10.Natl Museum Marine Biol & Aquarium, Pingtung 944, Taiwan 11.Univ Hawaii, Hawaii Inst Marine Biol, Kaneohe, HI 96744 USA 12.Univ Ryukyus, Trop Biosphere Res Ctr, Sesoko Stn, Motobu Cho, Nishihara, Okinawa 9050227, Japan 13.Okinawa Inst Sci & Technol Grad Univ, OPen Biol Unit, Onna, Okinawa 9040495, Japan 14.Univ Ryukyus, Fac Sci, Biol Program, Nishihara, Okinawa 9030213, Japan 15.Okinawa Inst Sci & Technol Grad Univ, Marine Biophys Unit, Onna, Okinawa 9040495, Japan 16.Univ Washington, Sch Aquat & Fishery Sci, Seattle, WA 98105 USA 17.Seikai Natl Fisheries Res Inst, Res Ctr Subtrop Fisheries, Ishigaki, Okinawa 9070451, Japan 18.Calif Acad Sci, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA
Recommended Citation:
Price, N. N.,Muko, S.,Legendre, L.,et al. Global biogeography of coral recruitment: tropical decline and subtropical increase[J]. MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES,2019-01-01,621:1-17