Population decline and recovery in coral populations
Terry Hughes
Department of Marine Biology
James Cook University, Townsville, Qld. 4811, Australia
terry.hughes@jcu.edu.au
Population decline, local extinction and recovery of coral populations are profoundly influenced by variation in their demography and life-history traits (e.g. growth, mortality). Changes in patterns of larval recruitment will also have a major influence on the size of local populations, particularly for short-Iived species. I will present an overview of our current knowledge of the role of life histories in determining differing susceptibilities of corals to natural and human impacts. Furthermore, I will argue that understanding the consequences of large scale impacts (e.g. Major bleaching events) requires a better understanding of regional-scale processes. For example, the resilience of coral reefs to global climate change will depend on the scale of larval dispersal, and on the impact of large-scale mortality of adults on stock-recruitment relationships. There is an urgent need to "scale-up" research to address these larger-scale phenomena. I will present new findings on regional-scale (＞1000km) patterns of diversity and abundance, recruitment and reproduction in corals, and discuss their implications for managing reefs into the 21st century.
