Institution
James Cook University
Education•Townsville, Queensland, Australia•
About: James Cook University is a education organization based out in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Coral reef. The organization has 9101 authors who have published 27750 publications receiving 1032608 citations. The organization is also known as: JCU.
Topics: Population, Coral reef, Reef, Coral, Coral reef fish
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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James Cook University1, Institut de recherche pour le développement2, University of Western Australia3, Department of Environment and Conservation4, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science5, Australian Institute of Marine Science6, Wildlife Conservation Society7, Stockholm University8, Newcastle University9
TL;DR: A novel predictive framework of species extinction vulnerability was developed and applied to coral reef fishes and indicated that the entire community is vulnerable on the many reefs where both stressors co-occur.
Abstract: With rapidly increasing rates of contemporary extinction, predicting extinction vulnerability and identifying how multiple stressors drive non-random species loss have become key challenges in ecology. These assessments are crucial for avoiding the loss of key functional groups that sustain ecosystem processes and services. We developed a novel predictive framework of species extinction vulnerability and applied it to coral reef fishes. Although relatively few coral reef fishes are at risk of global extinction from climate disturbances, a negative convex relationship between fish species locally vulnerable to climate change vs. fisheries exploitation indicates that the entire community is vulnerable on the many reefs where both stressors co-occur. Fishes involved in maintaining key ecosystem functions are more at risk from fishing than climate disturbances. This finding is encouraging as local and regional commitment to fisheries management action can maintain reef ecosystem functions pending progress towards the more complex global problem of stabilizing the climate.
215 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors quantitatively review recovery rates of coral cover from pulse disturbance events among 48 different reef locations, testing the relative roles of disturbance characteristics, reef characteristics, connectivity and anthropogenic influences.
Abstract: Coral reef ecosystems are degrading through multiple disturbances that are becoming more frequent and severe. The complexities of this degradation have been studied in detail, but little work has assessed characteristics that allow reefs to bounce back and recover between pulse disturbance events. We quantitatively review recovery rates of coral cover from pulse disturbance events among 48 different reef locations, testing the relative roles of disturbance characteristics, reef characteristics, connectivity and anthropogenic influences. Reefs in the western Pacific Ocean had the fastest recovery, whereas reefs in the geographically isolated eastern Pacific Ocean were slowest to recover, reflecting regional differences in coral composition, fish functional diversity and geographic isolation. Disturbances that opened up large areas of benthic space recovered quickly, potentially because of nonlinear recovery where recruitment rates were high. The type of disturbance had a limited effect on subsequent rates of reef recovery, although recovery was faster following crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks. This inconsequential role of disturbance type may be in part due to the role of unaltered structural complexity in maintaining key reef processes, such as recruitment and herbivory. Few studies explicitly recorded potential ecological determinants of recovery, such as recruitment rates, structural complexity of habitat and the functional composition of reef-associated fish. There was some evidence of slower recovery rates within protected areas compared with other management systems and fished areas, which may reflect the higher initial coral cover in protected areas rather than reflecting a management effect. A better understanding of the driving role of processes, structural complexity and diversity on recovery may enable more appropriate management actions that support coral-dominated ecosystems in our changing climate.
215 citations
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Deakin University1, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science2, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration3, Bedford Institute of Oceanography4, Wildlife Conservation Society5, University of South Alabama6, University of Pisa7, Parks Victoria8, University of California, Santa Cruz9, Autonomous University of Carmen10, Mammal Research Institute11, International Sleep Products Association12, BirdLife International13, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology14, Duke University15, Swansea University16, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research17, University of Exeter18, James Cook University19, University of Miami20, Macquarie University21, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute22, Australian Institute of Marine Science23, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources24, Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom25, University of Cambridge26, University of Washington27, University of Tasmania28, Tethys Research Institute29, Oregon State University30, Natural Environment Research Council31, University of East Anglia32, Suffolk University33, Queen Mary University of London34, University of Southampton35, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton36, National Institute of Polar Research37, Chicago Zoological Society38, Florida State University39, University of Western Australia40
TL;DR: A broad range of case studies from diverse marine taxa are compiled to show how tracking data have helped inform conservation policy and management, including reductions in fisheries bycatch and vessel strikes, and the design and administration of marine protected areas and important habitats.
Abstract: There have been efforts around the globe to track individuals of many marine species and assess their movements and distribution, with the putative goal of supporting their conservation and management. Determining whether, and how, tracking data have been successfully applied to address real-world conservation issues is, however, difficult. Here, we compile a broad range of case studies from diverse marine taxa to show how tracking data have helped inform conservation policy and management, including reductions in fisheries bycatch and vessel strikes, and the design and administration of marine protected areas and important habitats. Using these examples, we highlight pathways through which the past and future investment in collecting animal tracking data might be better used to achieve tangible conservation benefits.
215 citations
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TL;DR: This framework makes explicit how unevenness in the abundances of species in real communities influences the DSR, which occurs both through effects on community synchrony, and effects on weighted average population variability.
Abstract: A major ecosystem effect of biodiversity is to stabilise assemblages that perform particular functions. However, diversity–stability relationships (DSRs) are analysed using a variety of different population and community properties, most of which are adopted from theory that makes several restrictive assumptions that are unlikely to be reflected in nature. Here, we construct a simple synthesis and generalisation of previous theory for the DSR. We show that community stability is a product of two quantities: the synchrony of population fluctuations, and an average species-level population stability that is weighted by relative abundance. Weighted average population stability can be decomposed to consider effects of the mean-variance scaling of abundance, changes in mean abundance with diversity and differences in species' mean abundance in monoculture. Our framework makes explicit how unevenness in the abundances of species in real communities influences the DSR, which occurs both through effects on community synchrony, and effects on weighted average population variability. This theory provides a more robust framework for analysing the results of empirical studies of the DSR, and facilitates the integration of findings from real and model communities.
214 citations
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TL;DR: It is shown that coral assemblages differ markedly from neutral-model predictions for patterns of community similarity and the relative abundance of species, which supports spatio-temporal environmental stochasticity as a major driver of diversity patterns on coral reefs.
Abstract: The global decline of coral reefs highlights the need to understand the mechanisms that regulate community structure and sustain biodiversity in these systems. The neutral theory, which assumes that individuals are demographically identical regardless of species, seeks to explain ubiquitous features of community structure and biodiversity patterns. Here we present a test of neutral-theory predictions with the use of an extensive species-level data set of Indo-Pacific coral communities. We show that coral assemblages differ markedly from neutral-model predictions for patterns of community similarity and the relative abundance of species. Within local communities, neutral models do not fit relative abundance distributions as well as the classical log-normal distribution. Relative abundances of species across local communities also differ markedly from neutral-theory predictions: coral communities exhibit community similarity values that are far more variable, and lower on average, than the neutral theory can produce. Empirical community similarities deviate from the neutral model in a direction opposite to that predicted in previous critiques of the neutral theory. Instead, our results support spatio-temporal environmental stochasticity as a major driver of diversity patterns on coral reefs.
214 citations
Authors
Showing all 9184 results
Name | H-index | Papers | Citations |
---|---|---|---|
Christopher J L Murray | 209 | 754 | 310329 |
Hui-Ming Cheng | 147 | 880 | 111921 |
Joseph T. Hupp | 141 | 731 | 82647 |
Graeme J. Hankey | 137 | 844 | 143373 |
Bryan R. Cullen | 121 | 371 | 50901 |
Thomas J. Meyer | 120 | 1078 | 68519 |
William F. Laurance | 118 | 470 | 56464 |
Staffan Kjelleberg | 114 | 425 | 44414 |
Mike Clarke | 113 | 1037 | 164328 |
Gao Qing Lu | 108 | 546 | 53914 |
David J. Williams | 107 | 2060 | 62440 |
Tim J Peters | 106 | 1037 | 47394 |
Michael E. Goddard | 106 | 424 | 67681 |
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg | 106 | 425 | 63750 |
John C. Avise | 105 | 413 | 53088 |