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Disturbance-induced changes in size-structure promote coral biodiversity

Mariana Álvarez-Noriega, View ORCID ProfileJoshua S. Madin, Andrew H. Baird, Maria Dornelas, Sean R Connolly
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.094797
Mariana Álvarez-Noriega
1College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811 Australia
2ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811 Australia
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  • For correspondence: mariana.alvareznoriega@monash.edu
Joshua S. Madin
3Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 46-007 Lilipuna Rd, Kaneohe, Hawai’i 96744 USA
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Andrew H. Baird
2ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811 Australia
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Maria Dornelas
4Centre for Biological Diversity, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9TH UK
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Sean R Connolly
1College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811 Australia
2ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811 Australia
5Naos Marine Laboratories, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancón, Panamá
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Abstract

Reef-building coral assemblages are typically species-rich, yet the processes maintaining coral biodiversity remain poorly understood. Disturbance has long been believed to promote coral species coexistence by reducing the strength of competition. However, such disturbance-induced effects have since been shown to be insufficient on their own to prevent competitive exclusion. Nevertheless, Modern Coexistence Theory has revealed other mechanisms by which disturbance and, more generally, environmental variation can favour coexistence. Here, we formulate, calibrate, and analyze a size-structured, stochastic coral competition model using field data from two common colony morphologies. These two coral morphologies, tabular and digitate, differ in their size-dependent vulnerability to dislodgement caused by wave action. We confirm that fluctuations in wave action can promote coral species coexistence. However, using a recently proposed partitioning framework, we show that, contrast to previous expectations, temporal variability in strength of competition did not promote coexistence. Instead, coexistence was enabled by differential fluctuations in size-dependent mortality among competitors. Frequent and intense disturbances resulted in monocultures of digitate corals, which are more robust to wave action than tabular corals. In contrast, infrequent or weak disturbances resulted in monocultures of tabular corals. Coexistence was only possible under intermediate levels of disturbance frequency and intensity. Given the sensitivity of coexistence to disturbance frequency and intensity, anthropogenic changes in disturbance regimes are likely to affect biodiversity in coral assemblages in ways that are not predictable from single population models.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted May 22, 2020.
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Disturbance-induced changes in size-structure promote coral biodiversity
Mariana Álvarez-Noriega, Joshua S. Madin, Andrew H. Baird, Maria Dornelas, Sean R Connolly
bioRxiv 2020.05.21.094797; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.094797
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Disturbance-induced changes in size-structure promote coral biodiversity
Mariana Álvarez-Noriega, Joshua S. Madin, Andrew H. Baird, Maria Dornelas, Sean R Connolly
bioRxiv 2020.05.21.094797; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.21.094797

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