Coral Reef Population and Community Structure Changes in Recent Times: Causes, Consequences and Future

Dear Colleagues,

There is an urgency to understand the processes triggering observed deterioration trends, their potential consequences and possible remediation at different spatial and temporal scales so that proper management tools can be developed. The key to these goals comprises the clear understanding of the life history traits of modular (clonal) foundational species, their genetic variability and connectivity, population- and community responses and how these are correlated with trends in global warming and local environmental deterioration. The foundational species of coral reefs are structurally simple, long-lived modular organisms (colonies) with complex life histories depending on size rather than age.

There is abundant data on modern coral reef communities, their structure and dynamics, but how do these compare to those of fossil reef communities and ecosystems? Can we detect “resilience”? Ecological resilience implies the capacity of a community to return to its original community structure and function after a major disturbance. This term has been confused with “ecological resistance”, or the capacity of populations and communities to resist change. However, in reality, we do not know if today’s reef communities are resilient. To test resilience, a particular reef community will have to be monitored for a long time, more than 30-50 years, and at a larger spatial scales than a few square meters.

Modern coral reefs were initially built by very old colonies, some surviving thousands of years. Therefore, these communities have been exposed to many natural disturbances over time, and they might be resistant to those threats. Today, these conditions are different; they are a combination of natural and anthropogenic threats with no significant periods of beneficial conditions for recovery. The short-term studies in community changes are just “points in time” in the long trajectory of coral reef communities.

The speed of decline of coral reef communities worldwide and their exposure to continuous and increasingly stressful conditions is of major concern. In this Special Issue entitled “Coral Reef Population and Community Structure Changes in Recent Times: Causes, Consequences and Future", we would like authors provide research on changes in coral reef communities, considering questions such as the following: How degraded can coral reef communities become before environmental conditions change for the better? What is the “point of no return”? How correlated are these factors to changes in environmental conditions? How are these factors affecting the integrity and functionality of the communities and their ecological services? And, finally, what are your thoughts on potential partial or total recovery to similar structural, composition and functionality as they had before prior to disturbances? And does this equal “resilience”?

Prof. Dr. Ernesto Weil
Dr. Aldo Croquer
Guest Editors

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• ecological resistance
• ecological resilience
• coral reef community dynamics
• climate change
• water temperature anomalies
• anthropogenic stress
• mass mortalities
• bleaching
• coral diseases
• coral reef deterioration
• restoration and recovery