Flattening of Caribbean coral reefs: region-wide declines in architectural complexity

By L. Alvarez-Filip, N. Dulvy, J. Gill, Isabelle M. Côté, A. Watkinson. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences, 2009

921 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bfb3b64558ef928e9e875f6c2cd45fc849e67175

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Citations in the corpus

Habitat complexity: approaches and future directions (2011, background): “…critical role of habitat complexity is also the reason for growing concern over destruction of complex habitats as a result of fishing activities (Alvarez-Filip et al., 2009; Buhl-Mortensen et al., 2010), as well as over the ocean-wide reduction in habitat-forming organisms due to climate change…”
The importance of structural complexity in coral reef ecosystems (2012, background): “2003) is being accompanied by a reduction in overall reef structural complexity (Alvarez-Filip et al. 2009).”
Predatory fish invaders: Insights from Indo-Pacific lionfish in the western Atlantic and Caribbean (2013, background): “At the same time, it has given rise to a significant new threat to the persistence of native reef fishes and their habitats in a region where coastal ecosystems in general, and coral reefs in particular, are already degraded by multiple stressors (Alvarez-Filip et al., 2009; Gardner et al., 2003).”
Regional restoration benchmarks for Acropora cervicornis (2017, background): “The decline of acroporids leads to the loss of reef function and structural complexity, both of which are critical for reef growth, fisheries habitat, coastal protection, and overall reef biodiversity (Bruckner 2002; Alvarez-Filip et al. 2009).”
Bioerosion: the other ocean acidification problem: Towards a Broader Perspective on Ocean Acidification Research Part 2 A special issue of the ICES Journal of Marine Science (2017, background): “…et al., 2005; Carreiro-Silva and McClanahan, 2012), possibly leading to negative CaCO3 budgets, degradation of reef three-dimensional structure, loss of diversity, and associated ecosystem services and functional collapse (ReakaKudla et al., 1996; Alvarez-Filip et al., 2009; Newman et al., 2015).”
Complex reef architecture supports more small‐bodied fishes and longer food chains on Caribbean reefs (2011, positive): “14 The ongoing decline in reef architectural complexity throughout the Caribbean may 15 have profound effects on fish communities (Alvarez-Filip et al. 2009a, Paddack et al. 2009).”
Temporal changes in benthic assemblages on Florida Keys reefs 11 years after the 1997/1998 El Niño (2013, background): “However, reef accretion, topographic complexity, and rugosity will be altered when stony corals are not the principal constituent (Alvarez-Filip et al. 2009), which could lead to changes in the behavior, distribution, and abundance of commensal organisms (Precht et al. 2010).”
The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems: Motivations, Challenges, and Applications (2015, background): “…variables include: measures of structural complexity or abundance of foundation species in forest or reef systems threatened by disturbance (Alvarez-Filip et al. 2009; Burns et al. 2014); trends in hydrological or water quality variables where there is evidence of biotic dependency in…”
Motile cryptofauna associated with live and dead coral substrates: implications for coral mortality and framework erosion (2012, background): “may have widespread implications for coral reef cryptofauna (Gardner et al. 2003; Hughes et al. 2003; Baker et al. 2008; Alvarez-Filip et al. 2009).”
Fish conservation in freshwater and marine realms: status, threats and management (2016, background): “Caribbean coral reefs have lost 80% of coral cover and complexity in the past half century, owing to a combination of urchin outbreak and die-off, hurricanes, disease and coral bleaching induced by climate change (Gardner et al., 2003; Alvarez-Filip et al., 2009), which has led to annual declines in”
Impacts of a Regional, Multi-Year, Multi-Species Coral Disease Outbreak in Southeast Florida (2018, background): “Additionally, declines in diversity and density contribute to the loss of reef architecture, which can lead to decreased biodiversity of the reef system, specifically with respect to fish communities (Roberts et al., 2002; Alvarez-Filip et al., 2009).”