| 要旨トップ | 目次 | 日本生態学会第64回全国大会 (2017年3月、東京) 講演要旨
ESJ64 Abstract


一般講演(口頭発表) K02-07  (Oral presentation)

Potential consequence from Interaction among coral, macroalgae and reef physical structures

*Pak yin CHEUNG(National Taiwan University), Yoko Nozawa(Academic Sinica), Takeshi Miki(National Taiwan University, Academic Sinica)

Recent studies reported that higher habitat complexity might enhance coral resilience (recovery capability from disturbance). However, how coral resilience would change across the levels of habitat complexity under different conditions remains unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the potential importance of habitat complexity on coral resilience by incorporating the habitat complexity into the conventional coral resilience model focusing on the interactions among the three key functional groups, corals, macroalgae, and herbivores. In our model, habitat complexity increases by coral skeletal growth, which  provides habitats for herbivores, while that is reduced by bioerosion. Results showed that higher habitat complexity readily enhances the recovery of coral reefs (high coral cover state) after disturbance, especially under unfavourable conditions (e.g. eutrophication and overfishing). This occurred because complex habitats support more herbivores that suppress the macroalgal increase after disturbance. Moreover, coral reefs with higher habitat complexity could tolerate greater disturbance and recover over a wider range of unfavourable conditions. These results suggested that when coral reefs are flattened, their resilience might decrease and become more vulnerable to future disturbance than previously expected.


日本生態学会