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Density-associated recruitment mediates coral population dynamics on a coral reef

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Abstract

Theory suggests that density-associated processes can modulate community resilience following declines in population size. Here, we demonstrate density-associated processes in two scleractinian populations on the outer reef of Moorea, French Polynesia, that are rapidly increasing in size following the effects of two catastrophic disturbances. Between 2006 and 2010, predation by the corallivorous crown-of-thorns sea star reduced coral cover by 93 %; in 2010, the dead coral skeletons were removed by a cyclone, and in 2011 and 2012, high coral recruitment initiated population recovery. Coral recruitment was associated with coral cover, but the relationship differed between two coral genera that are almost exclusively broadcast spawners in Moorea. Acroporids recruited at low densities, and the density of recruits was positively associated with cover of Acropora, whereas pocilloporids recruited at high densities, and densities of their recruits were negatively associated with cover of Pocillopora. Together, our results suggest that associations between adult cover and density of both juveniles and recruits can mediate rapid coral community recovery after large disturbances. The difference between taxa in sign of the relationships between recruit density and coral cover indicate that they reflect contrasting mechanisms with the potential to mediate temporal shifts in taxonomic composition of coral communities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Moorea Coral Reef LTER (Grants OCE 04-17412 and OCE 10-26851), gifts from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and NSF grant OCE 08-44785. We thank two anonymous reviewers and S. Sandin for comments that improved an earlier draft of this paper and S. Dudgeon and K. Gross for statistical advice. This is contribution number 236 of the marine biology program of California State University, Northridge.

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  1. Laboratoire d’Ecogéochimie des Environnements Benthiques (LECOB - UMR8222), Observatoire Océanologique, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, 66650, Banyuls/Mer, France

    Lorenzo Bramanti

  2. Department of Biology, California State University, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA, 91330-8303, USA

    Lorenzo Bramanti & Peter J. Edmunds

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  1. Lorenzo Bramanti
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Correspondence to Lorenzo Bramanti.

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Communicated by Ecology Editor Dr. Stuart A. Sandin

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Bramanti, L., Edmunds, P.J. Density-associated recruitment mediates coral population dynamics on a coral reef. Coral Reefs 35, 543–553 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-016-1413-4

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