Global | Reef Resilience

Prioritizing Key Resilience Indicators to Support Coral Reef Management in a Changing Climate

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

The authors of this study ranked coral reef resilience factors based on their perceived importance by 28 coral reef experts and based on scientific evidence from a literature review. The top 11 factors for resilience management were determined to be: resistant coral...

Human and Coral Reef Use Interactions: From Impacts to Solutions?

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

This article reviews current scientific preferences in coral reef research to determine if information needed to solve problems associated with coral reef and reef fisheries persistence is being generated. The review finds that recommendations for reef management are...

Global Gradients of Coral Exposure to Environmental Stresses and Implications for Local Management

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

In this study, researchers aimed to identify global spatial gradients of thermal and eutrophication stressors, and the key factors that reduce these stressors, to develop a broad-scale metric of environmental exposure for coral reefs. Main considerations of this...

A Framework for Comparing Coral Bleaching Thresholds

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

The authors found that the “MMMmax” method for predicting bleaching has the highest predictive power at all spatial and temporal resolutions.Coral reef managers who subscribe to NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch can better rely on real-time bleaching alerts. Author: Logan,...

Caribbean Acropora Restoration Guide: Best Practices for Propagation and Population Enhancement

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

This practical guide for coral reef managers and practitioners provides best practice methods for Acropora coral restoration projects to ensure maximum propagation and survival. This guide, which is based on scientific, in-field experiences gathered by Nature...

New paradigms for supporting the resilience of marine ecosystems

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

This review article discusses the emergence of a multi-system approach for MPA management including managing for social-ecological resilience. Hughes et al. discuss the need to move towards a new framework of adaptive governance that does the following: embraces...

Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

Levels of atmospheric CO2 continues to rise and threaten coral reefs globally. This is because atmospheric CO2 reacts with water in the ocean to produce carbonic acid which in turn forms bicarbonate ions that react with carbonate ions to produce more bicarbonate ions...

Placing Marine Protected Areas onto the Ecosystem-based Management Seascape

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

Despite the important overlap and common goals between marine protected areas (MPAs) and marine ecosystem-based management (EBM), the two approaches have remained separated in conservation and management efforts. The authors of this paper explore the role and...

Matching Marine Reserve Design to Reserve Objectives

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

Halpern and Warner discuss various stakeholder interests and suggest potential reserve designs that meet the needs of both conservation efforts and stakeholders. Management for ecotourism and conservation should enclose genetically diverse populations and contain...

Heterotrophic Plasticity and Resilience in Bleached Corals

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

This paper aims to understand the mechanisms responsible for differential success of various coral species after bleaching. The following species were examined: branching corals including Montipora capitata and Porites compressa, and the mounding coral Porites lobata....

Coral Reef Resilience and Resistance to Bleaching

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

A comprehensive overview and synthesis of coral bleaching and potential effects of climate change, discussions regarding the meaning of resistance and resilience, and future research opportunities are presented here. This papers reviews initiatives that are working on...

Global Assessment of Coral Bleaching and Required Rates of Adaptation Under Climate Change

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

The authors of this paper conducted a global assessment of coral bleaching by adapting the NOAA Coral Reef Watch bleaching predation method. The results of their model suggest that most coral reefs will be exposed to annual or biannual bleaching events and will need...

A Simple Approximation for Larval Retention Around Reefs

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

Estimating larval retention at individual reefs by local scale three-dimensional flows is a concern for managers trying to understand and predict larval dispersal. This study models variation in larval retention times for a range of reef shapes and circulation...

Principles for the Design of Marine Reserves

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

Useful to marine reserve designers, this paper by Botsford et al. describes four principles that address the following two questions: (1) how will the outcome of marine reserves compare to conventional fishery management through size limits and effort control, and (2)...

A Framework for Responding to Coral Disease Outbreaks that Facilitates Adaptive Management

by reefres | Apr 1, 2014

In this study, investigators develop and present a framework for responding to coral disease outbreaks with implications for reef ecosystem health. The framework contains four components, including an early warning system, a tiered impact assessment program, scaled...

Ocean Acidification and Warming will Lower Coral Reef Resilience

by reefres | Mar 26, 2014

In this study, the authors quantitatively analyzed how different combinations of CO2 and fishing pressure on herbivores will affect the ecological resilience of a benthic reef community consisting of three common groups: branching corals, fleshy macroalgae and turfs...

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