10.5061/DRYAD.MT7BH
Suchley, Adam
National Autonomous University of Mexico
Alvarez-Filip, Lorenzo
National Autonomous University of Mexico
Data from: Herbivory facilitates growth of a key reef-building Caribbean coral
Dryad
dataset
2018
2018-11-09T00:00:00Z
2018-11-09T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3620
56261 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The decline of reef-building corals in conjunction with shifts to
short-lived opportunistic species has prompted concerns that Caribbean
reef framework-building capacity has substantially diminished. Restoring
herbivore populations may be a potential driver of coral recovery;
however, the impact of herbivores on coral calcification has been little
studied. We performed an exclusion experiment to evaluate the impact of
herbivory on Orbicella faveolata coral growth over 14 months. The
experiment consisted of three treatments: full exclusion cages; half cage
procedural controls; and uncaged control plates, each with small O.
faveolata colonies. We found that herbivorous fish exclusion had a
substantial impact on both macroalgal cover and coral growth. Fleshy
macroalgae reached 50% cover within some exclusion cages, but were almost
absent from uncaged control plates. Critically, O. faveolata calcification
rates were suppressed by almost half within exclusion cages, with monthly
coral growth negatively related to overgrowth by fleshy macroalgae. These
findings highlight the importance of herbivorous fishes for coral growth
and the detrimental impact of macroalgal proliferation in the Caribbean.
Policy makers and local managers should consider measures to protect
herbivorous fishes and reduce macroalgal proliferation to enable coral
communities to continue to grow and function.
Suchley 2017 Ecology and Evolution DataExcel spreadsheet contains 4 tabs.
1) Monthly_Plate_Data: Monthly plate algal coverage, coral polyp count and
algal-coral overgrowth data. 2) Coral_Initial_Data: Initial coral area,
mass and polyp count. 3) Overall_Calcification: Coral calcification over
study period for 6 coral colonies in cages, 6 coral colonies in half
cages, and 5 coral colonies on control plates. 4) Light_Data: Light
intensity time series for one day in one cage, one half cage and on one
control plate.Suchley 2017 - Data.xlsx